Full name: Long-Range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for High-Quality Magnetic Surveying
Period: 2017-2021
Partners: DTU Space, Royal Danish Navy EOD Services, Sky-Watch A/S, Ørsted A/S, Geo
Budget: 14 mill DKK (Innovation Fund Denmark, Ørsted A/S, Geo)
Summary: High-resolution magnetic surveying is used e.g. for finding Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in relation to cable laying for offshore wind farms, commercialization of former military test sites, and humanitarian projects in former war zones. 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 drone-based magnetometer systems for UXO mapping. The systems are intended to replace and surpass most heliborne and ground magnetic survey platforms in terms of data quality, operating flexibility and operating costs. 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 areas related to cable laying from Ørsted offshore wind farms in UK, and finally in Greenland at a former military test site.
