Airborne Field Trials of the Wee-g MEMS gravimeter and Wee-grad MEMS gradiometer

该项目的主要成果将是在固定翼无人机平台上飞行封装的Wee-g(MEMS重力仪)和Wee-Grad(MEMS梯度仪)，以及集成的隔振功能，以增强惯性加速的减振。利用第一年的现场试验数据，我们将在第二年进一步提高隔离性能和目标1mGal(10-5m/s2)灵敏度(油气和矿产测量所需的加速灵敏度水平)。第二组现场试验和数据集的BP反演将分别构成第二年和第三年的数据集。演示毫伽级加速度灵敏度将在自主测量方面迈出重要和革命性的一步，目前自主测量需要在有人驾驶的飞机上安装大型重型仪器。在石油、天然气和矿产勘探领域有重大的后续机会需要追寻。

Key outputs of the project will be to fly packaged Wee-g (MEMS gravimeter) and Wee-grad (MEMS gradiometer) on a fixed wing drone platform, together with integrated vibration isolation for enhanced reduction from inertial accelerations. Using the data from field trials in the 1st year of the studentship, we will further enhance the isolation performance and target 1milliGal (10-5 m/s2) sensitivity (required level of acceleration sensitivity for both oil & gas and mineral surveying) during year 2. A second set of field trials, together with inversion of the datasets with BP, will form the 2nd and 3rd years of the studentship respectively. Demonstrating milliGal acceleration sensitivity will make a significant and transformative step in autonomous surveying, which currently requires large heavy instrumentation to be flown on piloted aircraft. There are significant follow-on opportunities to pursue in the oil & gas and mineral prospecting sectors.