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Geophex Airborne Unmanned Survey System
I.J. Won (102173.3625@compuserve; 919-839-8515)
Dean Keiswetter (102173.3625@compuserve; 919-839-8515)
Geophex, Ltd.
605 Mercury Street
Raleigh, NC 27603-2343Objectives
The purpose of this effort is to design,
construct, and evaluate a portable, remotely-
piloted, airborne, geophysical survey system.
This non-intrusive system will provide "stand-off"
capability to conduct surveys and detect buried
objects, structures, and conditions of interest at
hazardous locations.
This system permits rapid geophysical
characterization of hazardous environmental sites.
During a survey, the operators remain remote
from, but within visual distance of, the site. The
sensor system never contacts the Earth, but can be
positioned near the ground so that weak
geophysical anomalies can be detected.
System Approach
Geophysical surveys provide a non-
intrusive means of evaluating subsurface
conditions, but geophysical characterization of
many environmental sites is difficult or
impractical due to hazardous conditions. Ground-
based surveys place personnel at risk due to the
proximity of buried unexploded ordnance (UXO)
items or by exposure to radioactive materials and
Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's
Morgantown Energy Tchnology Center, under Contract DE-
AR21-93MC30358.hazardous chemicals. Use of elaborate personal
protective equipment increases cost and decreases
efficiency of a site characterization. These
inherent problems of ground-based surveys are
minimized by the use of a remotely operated
geophysical survey system.
The Geophex Airborne Unmanned Survey
System (GAUSS) is designed to detect and locate
small-scale anomalies at hazardous sites using
magnetic and electromagnetic survey techniques.
The system consists of a remotely-piloted, radio-
controlled, model helicopter (RCH) with flight
computer, light-weight geophysical sensors, an
electronic positioning system, a data telemetry
system, and a computer base-station.
Figure 1 depicts a model GAUSS survey
scenario in which a pilot maneuvers the radio-
controlled model helicopter over a survey site.
The helicopter traverses the site and positions
magnetic or electromagnetic sensors close to the
Earth without making contact.
Geophysical data, position data, and flight
status information are telemetered from the
helicopter computer to a base-station computer via
a digital radio communications link. The base
station records and processes the data. A cursor
on the real-time graphical video display indicates
the position of the moving helicopter. Each time
a sensor transmits a geophysical measurement, the/
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Won, I. L. & Keiswetter, Dean. Geophex Airborne Unmanned Survey System, article, Summer 1995; Raleigh, North Carolina. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc623679/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.