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

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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.