@mastersthesis {zhang2018THlss,
	title = {Large-scale seismic data compression: application to full waveform inversion and extended image volume},
	year = {2018},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {04},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {Conventional oil and gas fields are increasingly difficult to explore and im- age, resulting in a call for more complex wave-equation based inversion al- gorithms that require dense long-o↵set samplings. Consequently, there is an exponential growth in the size of data volumes and prohibitive demands on computational resources. In this work, we propose a method to com- press and process seismic data directly in a low-rank tensor format, which drastically reduces the amount of storage required to represent the data. We first outline how seismic data exhibits low-rank structure in a particular transform-domain, which can be exploited to compress the dense data in one extremely storage-efficient tensor format when the data is fully sampled. In the more realistic case of missing data, we can use interpolation techniques based on the same tensor format to recover fully sampled data volume in compressed form. In either case, once we have our data represented in its compressed tensor form, we design an algorithm to extract source or receiver gathers directly from the compressed parameters. This extraction process can be done on-the-fly directly on the compressed data, in the full wave- form inversion context, and does not require scanning through the entire dataset in order to form shot gathers. To the best of our knowledge, this work is one of the first major contributions to working with seismic data applications directly in the compressed domain without reconstructing the entire data volume. We use a stochastic inversion approach, which works with small subsets of source experiments at each iteration, further to reduce the computational and memory costs of full waveform inversion. We also demonstrate how this data compression and extraction technique can be ap- plied to forming full subsurface image gathers through probing techniques.},
	keywords = {compression, extended image volume, FWI, hierarchical tucker, MSc, multilinear algebra, on-the-fly, thesis},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2018/zhang2018THlss/zhang2018THlss.pdf},
	presentation = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2018/zhang2018THlss/zhang2018THlss_pres.pdf},
	author = {Yiming Zhang}
}
@mastersthesis {bougher2016THmla,
	title = {Machine learning applications to geophysical data analysis},
	year = {2016},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {08},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The sedimentary layers of the Earth are a complex amorphous material formed from chaotic, turbulent, and random natural processes. Exploration geophysicists use a combination of assumptions, approximate physical models, and trained pattern recognition to extract useful information from complex remote sensing data such as seismic and well logs. In this thesis I investigate supervised and unsupervised machine learning models in geophysical data analysis and present two novel applications to exploration geophysics. Firstly, interpreted well logs from the Trenton-Black River study are used to train a classifier that results in a success rate of 67\% at predicting stratigraphic units from gamma ray logs. I use the scattering transform, a multiscale analysis transform, to extract discriminating features to feed a K-nearest neighbour classifier. A second experiment frames a conventional pre-stack seismic data characterization workflow as an unsupervised machine learning problem that is free from physical assumptions. Conventionally, the Shuey model is used to fit the angle dependent reflectivity response of seismic data. I instead use principle component based approaches to learn projections from the data that improve classification. Results on the Marmousi II elastic model and an industry field dataset show that unsupervised learning models can be effective at segmenting hydrocarbon reservoirs from seismic data.},
	keywords = {AVA, machine learning, MSc, PCA, scattering transform, thesis, well logs},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2016/bougher2016THmla/bougher2016THmla.pdf},
	presentation = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2016/bougher2016THmla/bougher2016THmla_pres.pdf},
	author = {Ben B. Bougher}
}
@mastersthesis {li2015THwmd,
	title = {A weighted $\ell_1$-minimization for distributed compressive sensing},
	year = {2015},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {09},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {Distributed Compressive Sensing (DCS) studies the recovery of jointly sparse signals. Compared to separate recovery, the joint recovery algorithms in DCS are usually more effective as they make use of the joint sparsity. In this thesis, we study a weighted l1-minimization algorithm for the joint sparsity model JSM-1 proposed by Baron et al. Our analysis gives a sufficient null space property for the joint sparse recovery. Furthermore, this property can be extended to stable and robust settings. We also presents some numerical experiments for this algorithm.},
	keywords = {distributed compressive sensing, MSc, thesis, weighted $\ell_1$},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2015/li2015THwmd/li2015THwmd.pdf},
	author = {Xiaowei Li}
}
@mastersthesis {petrenko2014THaih,
	title = {Accelerating an iterative Helmholtz solver using reconfigurable hardware},
	year = {2014},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {04},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {An implementation of seismic wave simulation on a platform consisting of a conventional host processor and a reconfigurable hardware accelerator is presented. This research is important in the field of exploration for oil and gas resources, where a 3D model of the subsurface of the Earth is frequently required. By comparing seismic data collected in a real-world survey with synthetic data generated by simulated waves, it is possible to deduce such a model. However this requires many time-consuming simulations with different Earth models to find the one that best fits the measured data. Speeding up the wave simulations would allow more models to be tried, yielding a more accurate estimate of the subsurface. The reconfigurable hardware accelerator employed in this work is a field programmable gate array (FPGA). FPGAs are computer chips that consist of electronic building blocks that the user can configure and reconfigure to represent their algorithm in hardware. Whereas a traditional processor can be viewed as a pipeline for processing instructions, an FPGA is a pipeline for processing data. The chief advantage of the FPGA is that all the instructions in the algorithm are already hardwired onto the chip. This means that execution time depends only on the amount of data to be processed, and not on the complexity of the algorithm. The main contribution is an implementation of the well-known Kaczmarz row projection algorithm on the FPGA, using techniques of dataflow programming. This kernel is used as the preconditioning step of CGMN, a modified version of the conjugate gradients method that is used to solve the time-harmonic acoustic isotropic constant density wave equation. Using one FPGA-based accelerator, the current implementation allows seismic wave simulations to be performed over twice as fast, compared to running on one Intel Xeon E5-2670 core. I also discuss the effect of modifications of the algorithm necessitated by the hardware on the convergence properties of CGMN. Finally, a specific plan for future work is set-out in order to fully exploit the accelerator platform, and the work is set in its larger context.},
	keywords = {CG, CGMN, FPGA, Helmholtz, Kaczmarz, linear solver, Maxeler, MSc, thesis, wave equation},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2014/petrenko2014THaih/petrenko2014THaih.pdf},
	presentation = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2014/petrenko2014THaih/petrenko2014THaih_pres.pdf},
	author = {Art Petrenko}
}
@mastersthesis {miao2014THesi,
	title = {Efficient seismic imaging with spectral projector and joint sparsity},
	year = {2014},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {03},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {In this thesis, we investigate the potential of improving the eciency of seismic imaging with two advanced techniques: the spectral projector and the {\textquoteright}joint sparsity{\textquoteright}. The spectral projector offers an eigenvalue decomposition free computation routine that can filter out unstable evanescent wave com- ponents during wave equation based depth extrapolation. {\textquoteright}Joint sparsity{\textquoteright} aims to improve on the pure sparsity promoting recovery by making use of additional structure information of the signal. Besides, a new sparsity optimization algorithm - PQNL1 - is proposed to improve both theoretical convergence rate and practical performance for extremely large seismic imaging problems.},
	keywords = {MSc, thesis},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2014/miao2014THesi/miao2014THesi.pdf},
	presentation = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2014/miao2014THesi/miao2014THesi_pres.pdf},
	author = {Lina Miao}
}
@mastersthesis {hargreaves2014THssr,
	title = {Sparse signal recovery: analysis and synthesis formulations with prior support information},
	year = {2014},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {04},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The synthesis model for signal recovery has been the model of choice for many years in compressive sensing. Various weighting schemes using prior support information to adjust the objective function associated with the synthesis model have been shown to improve the recovery of the signal in terms of accuracy. Generally, even with no prior knowledge of the support, iterative methods can build support estimates and incorporate that into the recovery which has also been shown to increase the speed and accuracy of the recovery. However when the original signal is sparse with respect to a redundant dictionary (rather than an orthonormal basis) there is a counterpart model to synthesis, namely the analysis model, which has been less popular but has recently attracted more attention. The analysis model is much less understood and thus there are fewer theorems available in both the context of non-weighted and weighted signal recovery. In this thesis, we investigate weighting in both the analysis model and synthesis model in weighted $\ell_1$-minimization. Theoretical guarantees on reconstruction and various weighting strategies for each model are discussed. We give conditions for weighted synthesis recovery with frames which do not require strict incoherency conditions, this is based on recent results of regular synthesis with frames using optimal dual $\ell_1$ analysis. A novel weighting technique is introduced in the analysis case which outperforms its traditional counterparts in the case of seismic wavefield reconstruction. We also introduce a weighted split Bregman algorithm for analysis and optimal dual analysis. We then investigate these techniques on seismic data and synthetically created test data using a variety of frames.},
	keywords = {analysis, MSc, sparse, synthesis, thesis, weighted $\ell_1$},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2014/hargreaves2014THssr/hargreaves2014THssr.pdf},
	author = {Brock Hargreaves}
}
@mastersthesis {johnson2013THswr,
	title = {Seismic wavefield reconstruction using reciprocity},
	year = {2013},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {03},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The primary focus of most reflection seismic surveys is to help locate hydrocarbon recourses. Due to an ever increasing scarcity of these recourses, we must increase the size and quality of our seismic surveys. However, processing such large seismic data volumes to accurately recover earth properties is a painstaking and computationally intensive process. Due to the way reflection seismic surveys are conducted there are often holes in the collected data, where traces are not recorded. This can be due to physical or cost constraints. For some of the initial stages of processing these missing traces are of little consequence. However processes like multiple prediction and removal, interferometric ground roll prediction, and migration require densely sampled data on a regular grid. Thus the need to interpolate undersampled data cannot be ignored. Using the fact that reflection seismic data sets obey a reciprocal relationship in source and receiver locations, combined with recent advances in the field of compressed sensing, we show that properly regularized the wavefield reconstruction problem can be solved with a high degree of accuracy. We exploit the compressible nature of seismic data in the curvelet domain to solve regularized l1 recovery problems that seek to match the measured data and enforce the above mentioned reciprocity. Using our method we were able to achieve results with a 20.45 dB signal to noise ratio when reconstructing a marine data set that had 50\% of its traces decimated. This is a 13.44 dB improvement over using the same method run without taking reciprocity into account.},
	keywords = {MSc, thesis},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2013/johnson2013THswr.pdf},
	author = {James Johnson}
}
@mastersthesis {ghadermarzy2013THups,
	title = {Using prior support information in compressed sensing},
	year = {2013},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {08},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {Compressed sensing is a data acquisition technique that entails recovering estimates of sparse and compressible signals from $n$ linear measurements, significantly fewer than the signal ambient dimension $N$. In this thesis we show how we can reduce the required number of measurements even further if we incorporate prior information about the signal into the reconstruction algorithm. Specifically, we study certain weighted nonconvex $\ell_p$ minimization algorithms and a weighted approximate message passing algorithm. In Chapter 1 we describe compressed sensing as a practicable signal acquisition method in application and introduce the generic sparse approximation problem. Then we review some of the algorithms used in compressed sensing literature and briefly introduce the method we used to incorporate prior support information into these problems. In Chapter 2 we derive sufficient conditions for stable and robust recovery using weighted $\ell_p$ minimization and show that these conditions are better than those for recovery by regular $\ell_p$ and weighted $\ell_1$. We present extensive numerical experiments, both on synthetic examples and on audio, and seismic signals. In Chapter 3 we derive weighted AMP algorithm which iteratively solves the weighted $\ell_1$ minimization. We also introduce a reweighting scheme for weighted AMP algorithms which enhances the recovery performance of weighted AMP. We also apply these algorithms on synthetic experiments and on real audio signals.},
	keywords = {compressed sensing, MSc, thesis, weighted $\ell_1$},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2013/ghadermarzy2013THups.pdf},
	author = {Navid Ghadermarzy}
}
@mastersthesis {jumah2012THdre,
	title = {Dimensionality-reduced estimation of primaries by sparse inversion},
	year = {2012},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {02},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {Data-driven methods{\textemdash}such as the estimation of primaries by sparse inversion suffer from the curse of dimensionality that leads to disproportional growth in computational and storage demands when moving to realistic 3D field data. To remove this fundamental impediment, we propose a dimensionality-reduction technique where the data matrix is approximated adaptively by a randomized low-rank factorization. Compared to conventional methods, which need passes through all the data possibly including on-the-fly interpolations for each iteration, our approach has the advantage that the passes is reduced to one to three. In addition, the low-rank matrix factorization leads to considerable reductions in storage and computational costs of the matrix multiplies required by the sparse inversion. Application of the proposed formalism to synthetic and real data shows that significant performance improvements in speed and memory use are achievable at a low computational overhead required by the low-rank factorization.},
	keywords = {MSc, thesis},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2012/jumah2012THdre.pdf},
	author = {Bander Jumah}
}
@mastersthesis {almatar10THesd,
	title = {Estimation of surface-free data by curvelet-domain matched filtering and sparse inversion},
	year = {2010},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {12},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {A recent robust multiple-elimination technique, based on the underlying principle that relates primary impulse response to total upgoing wavefield, tries to change the paradigm that sees surface-related multiples as noise that needs to be removed from the data prior to imaging. This technique, estimation of primaries by sparse inversion (EPSI), (van Groenestijn and Verschuur, 2009; Lin and Herrmann, 2009), proposes an inversion procedure during which the source function and surface- free impulse response are directly calculated from the upgoing wavefield using an alternating optimization procedure. EPSI hinges on a delicate interplay between surface-related multiples and pri- maries. Finite aperture and other imperfections may violate this relationship. In this thesis, we investigate how to make EPSI more robust by incorporating curvelet-domain matching in its formulation. Compared to surface-related multiple removal (SRME), where curvelet-domain matching was used successfully, incorporating this step has the additional advantage that matches multiples to multiples rather than predicated multiples to total data as in SRME.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2010/almatar10THesd.pdf},
	author = {Mufeed H. AlMatar}
}
@mastersthesis {kumar09THins,
	title = {Incoherent noise suppression and deconvolution using curvelet-domain sparsity},
	year = {2009},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {06},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {Curvelets are a recently introduced transform domain that belongs to a family of multiscale and also multidirectional data expansions. As such, curvelets can be applied to resolution of the issues of complicated seismic wavefronts. We make use of this multiscale, multidirectional and hence sparsifying ability of the curvelet transform to suppress incoherent noise from crustal data where the signal-to-noise ratio is low and to develop an improved deconvolution procedure. Incoherent noise present in seismic reflection data corrupts the quality of the signal and can often lead to misinterpretation. The curvelet domain lends itself particularly well for denoising because coherent seismic energy maps to a relatively small number of significant curvelet coefficents.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2009/kumar09THins.pdf},
	author = {Vishal Kumar}
}
@mastersthesis {alhashim09THsdp,
	title = {Seismic data processing with the parallel windowed curvelet transform},
	year = {2009},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {08},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The process of obtaining high quality seismic images is very challenging when exploring new areas that have high complexities. The to be processed seismic data comes from the field noisy and commonly incomplete. Recently, major advances were accomplished in the area of coherent noise removal, for example, Surface Related Multiple Elimination (SRME). Predictive multiple elimination methods, such as SRME, consist of two steps: The first step is the prediction step, in this step multiples are predicted from the seismic data. The second step is the separation step in which primary reflection and surface related multiples are separated, this involves predicted multiples from the first step to be matched with the true multiples in the data and eventually removed. A recent robust Bayesian wavefield separation method have been recently introduced to improve on the separation by matching methods. This method utilizes the effectiveness of using the multi scale and multi angular curvelet transform in processing seismic images. The method produced excellent results and improved multiple removal. A considerable problem in the seismic processing field is the fact that seismic data are large and require a correspondingly large memory size and processing time. The fact that curvelets are redundant also increases the need for large memory to process seismic data. In this thesis we propose a parallel approach based windowing operator that divides large seismic data into smaller more managable datasets that can fit in memory so that it is possible to apply the Bayesian separation process in parallel with minimal harm to the image quality and data integrity. However, by dividing the data, we introduce discontinuities. We take these discontinuities into account and compare two ways that different windows may communicate. The first method is to communicate edge information at only two steps, namely, data scattering and gathering processes while applying the multiple separation on each window separately. The second method is to define our windowing operator as a global operator, which exchanges window edge information at each forward and inverse curvelet transform. We discuss the trade off between the two methods trying to minimize complexity and I/O time spent in the process. We test our windowing operator on a seismic denoising problem and then apply the windowing operator on our sparse-domain Bayesian primary-multiple separation.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2009/alhashim09THsdp.pdf},
	presentation = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2009/alhashim09THsdp_pres.pdf},
	author = {Fadhel Abbas Alhashim}
}
@mastersthesis {maysami08THlcs,
	title = {Lithology constraints from seismic waveforms: application to opal-A to opal-CT transition},
	year = {2008},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {02},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {In this work, we present a new method for seismic waveform characterization, which is aimed at extracting detailed litho-stratigraphical information from seismic data. We attempt to estimate the lithological attributes from seismic data according to our parametric representation of stratigraphical horizons, where the parameter values provide us with a direct link to nature of lithological transitions. We test our method on a seismic dataset with a strong diagenetic transition (opal-A to opal-CT transition). Given some information from cutting samples of well, we use a percolation-based model to construct the elastic profile of lithological transitions. Our goal is to match parametric representation for the diagenetic transition in both real data and synthetic data given by these elastic profiles. This match may be interpreted as a well-seismic tie, which reveals lithological information about stratigraphical horizons.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2008/maysami08THlcs.pdf},
	author = {Mohammad Maysami}
}
@mastersthesis {yarham08THsgs,
	title = {Seismic ground-roll separation using sparsity promoting $\ell_1$ minimization},
	year = {2008},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {05},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The removal of coherent noise generated by surface waves in land based seismic is a prerequisite to imaging the subsurface. These surface waves, termed as ground roll, overlay important reflector information in both the t-x and f-k domains. Standard techniques of ground roll removal commonly alter reflector information as a consequence of the ground roll removal. We propose the combined use of the curvelet domain as a sparsifying basis in which to perform signal separation techniques that can preserve reflector information while increasing ground roll removal. We examine two signal separation techniques, a block-coordinate relaxation method and a Bayesian separation method. The derivations and background for both methods are presented and the parameter sensitivity is examined. Both methods are shown to be effective in certain situations regarding synthetic data and erroneous surface wave predictions. The block-coordinate relaxation method is shown to have ma jor weaknesses when dealing with seismic signal separation in the presence of noise and with the production of artifacts and reflector degradation. The Bayesian separation method is shown to improve overall separation for both seismic and real data. The Bayesian separation scheme is used on a real data set with a surface wave prediction containing reflector information. It is shown to improve the signal separation by recovering reflector information while improving the surface wave removal. The abstract contains a separate real data example where both the block-coordinate relaxation method and the Bayesian separation method are compared.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2008/yarham08THsgs.pdf},
	author = {Carson Yarham}
}
@mastersthesis {lebed08THssr,
	title = {Sparse signal recovery in a transform domain},
	year = {2008},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {08},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {The ability to efficiently and sparsely represent seismic data is becoming an increasingly important problem in geophysics. Over the last thirty years many transforms such as wavelets, curvelets, contourlets, surfacelets, shearlets, and many other types of x-lets have been developed. Such transform were leveraged to resolve this issue of sparse representations. In this work we compare the properties of four of these commonly used transforms, namely the shift-invariant wavelets, complex wavelets, curvelets and surfacelets. We also explore the performance of these transforms for the problem of recovering seismic wavefields from incomplete measurements.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2008/lebed08THssr.pdf},
	author = {Evgeniy Lebed}
}
@mastersthesis {dupuis05THssc,
	title = {Seismic singularity characterization with redundant dictionaries},
	year = {2005},
	note = {(MSc)},
	month = {07},
	school = {The University of British Columbia},
	type = {masters},
	address = {Vancouver},
	abstract = {We consider seismic signals as a superposition of waveforms parameterized by their fractional- orders. Each waveform models the reflection of a seismic wave at a particular transition between two lithological layers in the subsurface. The location of the waveforms in the seismic signal corresponds to the depth of the transitions in the subsurface, whereas their fractional-order constitutes a measure of the sharpness of the transitions. By considering fractional-order transitions, we generalize the zero-order transition model of the conventional deconvolution problem, and aim at capturing the different types of transitions. The goal is to delineate and characterize transitions from seismic signals by recovering the locations and fractional-orders of its corresponding waveforms. This problem has received increasing interest, and several methods have been proposed, including multi- and monoscale analysis based on Mallat{\textquoteright}s wavelet transform modulus maxima, and seismic atomic decomposition. We propose a new method based on a two-step approach, which divides the initial problem of delineating and characterizing transitions over the whole seismic signal, into two easier sub-problems. The algorithm first partitions the seismic signal into its major components, and then estimates the fractional-orders and locations of each component. Both steps are based on the sparse decomposition of seismic signals in overcomplete dictionaries of waveforms parameter- ized by their fractional-orders, and involve $\ell_1$ minimizations solved by an iterative thresholding algorithm. We present the method and show numerical results on both synthetic and real data.},
	keywords = {MSc},
	url = {https://slim.gatech.edu/Publications/Public/Thesis/2005/dupuis05THssc.pdf},
	author = {Catherine Dupuis}
}
