System Test Engineer at STRYDE, Yassine Elhallaoui, started his career in 2007 after he was entitled with a master's in artificial intelligence and machine learning from LJMU in Liverpool. He joined STRYDE from ARGAS, where he worked for 10 years as an Equipment Supporter and Technology Champion, supporting technical innovation, development and research and field deployment coordination for onshore seismic acquisition programmes.
Before that, Yassine spent 6 years at CGG as a Seismic Observer and Crew Interventionist, where he gained valuable experience helping seismic crews with instrumentation preparation, troubleshooting and technical support.
We sat down with Yassine to learn more about his experience with seismic technology, common challenges he has seen in the field and how he believes seismic acquisition contractors and the end users of the seismic data will benefit from STRYDE's nodal technology...
Could you briefly tell me a bit about yourself please?
"I was born and raised in Morocco, and I'm currently living in Marrakech. Soon, I will be moving to Norway to join the STRYDE team which I am very excited about.
"My passions include technology, particularly artificial intelligence and mechatronics, which is a powerful combination that is already changing the world. I also love exploring the wild and going out in nature—which I'm lucky I get to do a lot of in my job, due to being out in the field most of the time."
Can you tell me a little about your education and career history that led you to working with STRYDE?
"I have a background in mechatronics and a master's degree in artificial intelligence and machine learning from LJMU Liverpool. I also have the intention of pursuing a PhD in technology soon.
"I have 16 years of experience in the seismic industry (6 years with CGG and 10 with ARGAS), working on various operations in diverse environments, including deserts, savannahs, mountains, rainforests, underground mining, also from transition zones to shallow and deep-water operations.
"Throughout my career, I have focused on recording and source equipment; progressing from a technician to an observer, technical support, and crew start-up roles - eventually ending up in a technology champion position. As a technology champion I use available technologies as solutions to solve field operation problems to automate and optimise tasks related to productivity on the recording and sources systems side.
"I also contribute to the seismic industry by presenting papers and projects at conferences such as ADIPEC, as well as developing innovative field solutions that are still in use today and leading many leader boards in AI hackathons and competitions."
How do you think your previous work experience and related skills will bring value to STRYDE's customers?
“Coming from an end-user environment (a client and customer side), as well as from some of the largest seismic operators in the industry, it has helped me gain valuable knowledge and expertise in a variety of terrains and operations that I believe will be very useful in testing and improving STRYDE products available to the market."
We saw you previously evaluated seismic recording technology in your role at ARGAS in Saudi Arabia... what were the most important specifications for this market? And what concerns did they have about recorded technology?
“Every seismic operator dreams of achieving zero equipment downtime during their 24 or 12-hour production—but with the current technologies on the market, this is a difficult goal to achieve.
"High-count channel crews have kept the same project period for years, but the dramatic increase in equipment has posed many challenges. This increase requires more resources, which in turn increases the need for supervision, logistic, troubleshooting, maintenance costs and poses more hazards on the field, especially when using cable systems.”
In your opinion, how do cables systems compare to nodal systems?
“The operational cycle for both systems remains the same: deploy, record, and pickup, while simultaneously testing and maintaining the equipment. However, in my experience, the cable system requires significantly more resources and physical effort for field handling and storing than the nodal system, which gives the nodal system an advantage in this area.
"The cable system's only advantage is real-time monitoring, allowing operators to detect failures instantly, whereas most nodal system technologies are "blind systems" that cannot perform real-time monitoring. For high-channel count crews, quality can only be assessed after nodes are recovered from the field and brought back to the harvesting units.
"However, most clients are starting to adjust to this option since it’s a trade-off to have a more dense and quicker operation, and from my previous projects with the nodal system, the probability of losing or having corrupted data is significantly very low.”
What were the top challenges you witnessed or experienced when supporting seismic crews using cabled geophones?
"Using cable geophones creates significant problems when it comes to high-density operations and lacks scalability in the seismic industry.
"Physical damages from both internal and third-party sources are inevitable, resulting in production downtime, in addition, geophones contain a coil and a mass, which with years of handling (drops and logistics) can lead to decreased performance which mean it will need to be replaced.
"The high frequency of connect/disconnect also causes bad contacts over time, requiring continuous maintenance and part changes for external geophones."
How do you think companies can benefit from nodal technology?
"Nodal technology enables denser seismic operations, which can increase the data resolution with ease, while this can result in larger data volume, but current hardware technologies can handle this challenge without problems.
"Moreover, the nodal system is modular, allowing for the creation of any required pattern, including single or multiple axis traces in the field, this versatility makes the nodal system ideal for other non-seismic operations, such as geothermal, vertical seismic profiles (VSPs), and acquisition and monitoring in up and down holes and many more."
Do you think there is anything that STRYDE does differently compared to other land seismic technology companies that is particularly unique?
"STRYDE manufactures lightweight onshore nodal equipment, which is the lightest node in the industry, and can resolve the problems of scalability, storage, and make high-density seismic operations possible.
"Based on my previous experience with other nodal systems, STRYDE has the most optimised charging and harvesting solution as it can handle a couple of hundred nodes at once in a small space, and this can be done in parallel to increase the number to thousands easily."
Where did you learn about STRYDE and what made you decide to work for STRYDE?
“I first learned about STRYDE in 2020 while reviewing the available nodal systems on the market for ARGAS in my previous role, which involved selecting the best technologies for future projects. A friend of mine also had notified me about a STRYDE job on LinkedIn, and when I read the job description I just knew it was the perfect fit for me.
"For me, STRYDE represents the opportunity to build the technology that the seismic industry needs to overcome the problems we have faced for decades and, after many years of field experience, this is what I have always wanted to be a part of.”
What are your main responsibilities in your new role at STRYDE?
“As a system test engineer, my focus will be on creating test plans and cases based on product requirements and design specifications. In general, my role will be to collaborate with the software and hardware development teams to ensure that products meet internal quality standards or any other clients’ requirements.
"I will also participate in product design reviews, integration, and release by providing input based on my field expertise. My duties will include testing the integration of hardware and software systems and assessing the end-to-end performance of the products.”
What are you most looking forward to achieving/ experiencing in your new journey at STRYDE?
"I want to be part of the industry's evolution and gain more knowledge from the other side of this business. I'm eager to utilise my skills and experiences to contribute to STRYDE's technology, which I believe will revolutionise the seismic industry."