Magnetometer Survey

Use drone-based magnetometers to rapidly acquire resolute and accurate magnetometer data for the detection of potential UXO, identification of utilities and geological mapping.

Why do I need a drone UXO survey?

Drone-based magnetometers enable UXO surveys whilst minimising boots-on-ground activities and associated risks, increasing rate of progress and allowing for the survey of very large or inaccessible sites, such as salt marshes, shallow water settings, and heavily contaminated sites.

From various surrogate item trials, the hardware configuration and data processing workflow allows for 15 kg ferrous items to be identified at 6 m range.

Using state-of-the-art drone-based magnetometers to conduct non-intrusive magnetometer surveys over large and/or inaccessible areas allows for greatly increased productivity and reduced projects costs and schedules. Data is processed and interpreted in-house to provide comprehensive evaluations of potential UXO, buried infrastructure or geological variations.

Safety: Drone UXO magnetometer surveys enhance safety by eliminating the need for personnel to enter hazardous areas. The Drone's obstacles avoidance sensors and a downward-facing radar altimeter ensure that the drone can operate as close to the ground as possible, without risk of collision.

Efficiency: Acquiring a 2.5 m swathe of data at 0.5 m sensor spacing, at 5 m/s allows for up to 13 hectares of data to be acquired per day per drone.

Accuracy: The drone is flown on a pre-programmed flight grid, using RTK GNSS to maintain line-keeping and geotag the data, to ensure full site coverage and high data accuracy.

Hard-to-access sites: The drone can fly over ground which other techniques would struggle with, such as mud flats, estuaries, intertidal beaches, swamps, marshes etc.

What are the benefits of a drone-based magnetometer survey?

Geo-4D Magnetometer Survey

Geo-4D operate a fleet of professional quadcopter drones, equipped with radar altimeters to fly as low as 0.6 m above the ground, with a Sensys Magdrone R4 — a 2.5 m carbon fibre sensor with five inbuilt tri-axial fluxgate sensors spaced 0.5 m apart. The advanced magnetometer sensor operates at a 200Hz sampling rate and discerns motor noise, net frequencies, temporary interferences, and ground signals, enabling direct deployment beneath the drone without compromising data quality.

The Kit

We employ rigorous processes to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the magnetometer data. Our expert team begins by carefully processing the raw data utilising software to remove noise, enhance signal clarity and removing unwanted survey lines and line turns. The data is then ran through our in-house proprietary software to embed additional information, such as altimeter readings and unique line IDs. The data is then brought into industry standard Oasis Montaj software for further data QC, cleaning, target analysis and gridding.