Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is widely used for geophysical survey like mining exploration, surveillance and environmental monitoring with the features of faster larger area survey and unlimited by terrain restraints, pilot safety, and the safety of inhabitants of the survey area for manned aircraft system. Integrating magnetic sensors with small UASs can greatly improve the achievable resolution for small survey areas and geophysical survey mapping. Fluxgate magnetometer is used for UAV aeromagnetic surveys due to small size, low cost, good sensitivity, low noise and low power consumption.

Through an extensive set of experiments performed to determine the mapping profile parameters, map generation methodology and adequate vehicle’s mounting configuration, the magnetic mapping was successfully generated.

Author information：Douglas G. Macharet, Department of Computer Science, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil

How do you think about using fluxgate magnetometer on UAVs?