In the UAV-QMS project, we are developing an UAV for high-quality magnetic surveying with the main purpose of detecting explosive remnants of war or unexploded ordnance (UXO).
In the UAV-QMS project, funded by a 4 year Grand Solutions grant from Innovation Fund Denmark, we are developing an UAV for high-quality magnetic surveying with the main purpose of detecting explosive remnants of war or unexploded ordnance (UXO). The project runs from 2017 to 2021 and is a collaboration between DTU Space, Sky-Watch A/S, Ørsted, Geo Subsurface Expertise and the Royal Danish Navy EOD Service.
High-quality magnetic surveying relates to surveys that offer magnetic data with high precision, high signal-to-noise ratio, and good spatial coverage.
High-quality magnetic surveying is used e.g. for finding Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in relation to cable laying for offshore wind farms, commercialization of military test sites, and humanitarian projects. Critical to UXO magnetic surveying is that measurements are done very close to ground, at minimum noise levels and with precise positioning.
Today, such low-altitude surveys are carried out often from helicopters or by ground personnel. While heliborne surveys are expensive and logistically challenging, ground surveys are often time consuming and incomplete and – in the case of UXO surveys – linked with high risk.
In the UAV-QMS project, we are developing a cost-efficient and long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for high-Quality Magnetic Surveying (the UAV-QMS). The UAV-QMS is intended to replace and surpass most heliborne and ground magnetic survey platforms in terms of data quality, operating flexibility and operating costs.
We intend to integrate (hardware & software-wise) UAV-compatible magnetometers from various manufacturers with various UAVs (hybrid VTOL fixed-wing as well as multirotor) in a novel way that reduces the overall weight of the system as compared to existing solutions on the market today.
We develop our own processing and interpretation software and test the systems at UXO imitation mine fields in Denmark, at real UXO fields in near-shore and shore areas related to cable laying from Ørsted offshore wind farms, and finally in Greenland at a former military test site.
Related Phd projects:
- UAV-based geophysics (Mick Emil Kolster, DTU Space)
- Relative positioning and attitude from UAVs (Xiao Hu, DTU Space)