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

该项目的关键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），以及集成的隔振装置，以增强减少惯性加速度。利用学生第一年现场试验的数据，我们将进一步提高隔离性能，并在第二年实现1毫克（10-5米/秒）灵敏度（石油、天然气和矿产测量所需的加速度灵敏度水平）的目标。第二组现场试验，以及用BP对数据集进行反演，将分别在学生学习的第二和第三年进行。展示微加速度灵敏度将在自主测量领域迈出重要的变革一步，目前自主测量需要大型重型仪器在有人驾驶的飞机上飞行。在油气和矿产勘探领域有大量的后续机会。

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.