GeoMag II = Miniature, high resolution, Caesium Beam Magnetometer

我们正在开发小型无人机(UA)，用于世界各地的科学、商业(石油和矿产勘探)和国家(边境巡逻)应用。在与壳牌、BP、挪威国家石油公司和埃尼等石油和天然气勘探和生产公司的员工讨论时，我们注意到人们对使用UA地磁测量越来越感兴趣。为了测量地球磁场的横向梯度，在UA的每个机翼尖端安装了一个精密的铯原子束磁强计(CBM)。为了测量所有三个轴的倾斜度，至少需要四个昂贵的CBM(每个13,200 GB)。根据著名航空测量公司Sander地球物理有限公司总裁斯蒂芬·桑德的说法，地磁测量的成本主要取决于宇航员在勘测现场停留的天数和船员的人数。如果我们用一群无人驾驶飞机代替一架载人飞机进行地磁调查，调查将在很短的一段时间内完成。在集群中的每个UA上使用低成本、高性能的CBM将带来显著的成本降低。美国NIT最近的工作已经实现了一个12毫升的小CBM。大学的工作人员研究了使用硅MEMS技术和半导体激光器来实现进一步的尺寸和电力消耗。我们的目标是引入高能效处理器和惯性测量单元，使我们能够将基于物理的方法应用到测量的Larmor信号处理中，以提高测量的准确性。我们看到了在UA集群上开发、制造和部署微型CBM的机会，用于成本效益高的地磁测量应用。我们建议调查全球市场的性质，量化投资回报，并确定利用这一机会的下一步步骤。

We are developing small unmanned aircraft (UA) for use throughout the world in scientific,commercial (oil and mineral exploration) and state (border patrol) applications.In our discussions with staff at oil and gas exploration and production companies such asShell, BP, Statoil and ENI, we have noticed a growing interest in the use of UA ingeomagnetic surveys. To measure the lateral gradient in the Earth's magnetic field, a precisionCaesium Beam Magnetometer (CBM) is mounted at the end of each wing tip on a UA. Tomeasure the gradient in all three axes, at least four of these expensive (£13,200 each) CBMsare necessary.According to Stephan Sander, the President of Sander Geophysics Ltd, a well-known airbornesurvey company, the cost of a geomagnetic survey is dictated primarily by the number of daysthe crew spends at the survey site and how many people are in the crew. If we were to use aswarm of UA in place of a single manned aircraft to perform a geomagnetic survey, thesurvey would be performed in a fraction of the time. The use of low cost, high performance,CBMs on each UA in a swarm would introduce a significant cost reduction.Recent work at the N.I.S.T. in the USA has resulted in the realisation of a small, 12 cc CBM.Work at universities has investigated the use of silicon MEMS technology and semiconductorlasers to achieve further reductions in size and electrical power dissipation. We aim tointroduce energy efficient processors and an Inertial Measurement Unit to enable us to apply aphysics based approach to the processing of the measured Larmor signal, to increase theaccuracy of the measurements made.We see an opportunity to develop, manufacture and deploy miniature CBMs on a swarm ofUA for use in cost-effective geomagnetic survey applications. We propose to investigate thenature of the global market, quantify the returns on investment and define the next steps toexploit this opportunity.