AirMAG - McPhar International

Pico Envirotec Inc.
AirMAG
AirMAG test flight near Toronto, Canada
During demonstration flights of an
integrated system, PEI recorded
magnetic data over a test survey block
in the Aliston area, Ontario, located
approximately 80 km North-West from
Toronto, Canada.
The area is represented mostly with
Quadrennial deposits overlaying upper
Ordovician bedrock. The bedrock is
located at depths reaching 280 meters
from the surface in the North-East part
of the area, and coming to the surface
on the West.
There is a number of farms, cottages
AStar 350 with a towed bird
and industrial constructions in the
area.
This small, one-day survey was
flown in 2010. The survey block
consists of 10 survey lines and 7 tielines. The total survey area is about
200 line km.
On the results of measurements,
we can see reflection of industrial
construction: power-line in the East
part, a factory to the East from the
center and train-yard to the west
from the center of the map; and
geological response in the West
part of the area.
AirMAG
Airborne high-sensitivity magnetic survey system
Total Magnetic field of the survey block in Aliston area.
ABOUT PICO ENVIROTEC
Pico Envirotec Inc. (PEI) is a Canadian company, established in 1992. Since 1998 it has been engaged primarily in
manufacturing advanced instrumentation for use in airborne and ground geophysical surveys for mining, oil and gas and
environmental applications. PEI’s core expertise is the development and manufacture of instrumentation for remotely
measuring magnetic, electromagnetic, gravity and gamma-ray radiation data, using real-time data acquisition and precise
satellite (GPS) navigation and positioning. Because of PEI’s close co-operation with other geophysical companies, it provides
complete, integrated, turnkey airborne or ground geophysical systems for acquiring data for mining, oil and gas or
environmental applications. This is made possible by its development of "intelligent" instruments, using advanced state-ofthe-art technology, which facilitates easy and safe integration of just about any sensor or measuring device into a system.
The AGIS (Airborne Geophysical Information System for airborne geophysical exploration), IRIS (Integrated Radiation
Information System for environmental monitoring), P-THEM (Pico Envirotec Transient Helicopter EM System) and PeiCore
(Ground Data Acquisition based on mobile technologies) are PEI’s most successful systems based on this “intelligent”
philosophy.
During the many years PEI has been in business, it has installed more than 100 airborne systems on a wide variety of aircraft
and helicopters, for clients that include mining companies, exploration services companies, and government agencies.
Airborne systems designed, built, integrated and installed by PEI are flying in many countries around the world, including
Canada, USA, UK, Austria, Australia, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Libya, Mexico,
Norway, Russia, Sweden, South Africa and other.
During the same time frame, PEI has also delivered many portable, mobile and base station systems based on advanced
mobile technologies. These systems included sensors for magnetic and/or magnetic gradient measurements and gamma-ray
spectrometry, equipped with GPS synchronization and compact data logger unit. The systems are widely used in geological
exploration, archaeology, environmental and radiation protection tasks around the world.
23/02/2012
AirMAG is a highly integrated and self contained,
high resolution magnetometer survey system for
installation on a fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter.
The system is available in either a towed-bird or
stinger configuration for installation.
system can be integrated with other airborne
geophysical equipment supplied by Pico Envirotec
(Gamma-ray spectrometry, TDEM, etc).
AirMAG can be configured as a total-field
magnetometer or magnetic gradiometer system
AirMAG provides an easy and inexpensive way to according to your requirements. The system can
obtain high-quality magnetic survey data. The support up to eight (8) magnetic cesium sensors
system is designed for geological mapping, at sample rates of up to 100 Hz.
mineral and oil explorations and much more. The AirMAG features multiple magnetic sensors (CS-3
or similar), magnetometer signal processor,
magnetic compensation module, data acquisition
PICO ENVIROTEC INC
system, real-time GPS navigation/positioning with
222 Snidercroft Road
1 pps synchronization, a radar altimeter, pilot
Concord, ON
navigation guidance system. The state-of-the-art
L4K 2K1, Canada
magnetic base station BPM is available to acquire
Phone: +1.905.760.9512
magnetic field diurnal variations. Pico Envirotec
Fax:
+1.905.760.9513
airborne instrumentation can be provided with
E-mail: pei@picoenvirotec.com
Transport Canada STC certification on a variety of
www.picoenvirotec.com
aircraft and helicopters.
Pico Envirotec Inc.
AirMAG
are custom designed and certified for
each specific aircraft type.
Airborne Magnetometry System
The
airborne
high-sensitivity
magnetometer survey system can
be installed on a fixed-wing aircraft,
a helicopter as a single sensor totalfield magnetometer or as a
magnetic gradiometer (horizontal,
vertical, or spatial).
The total-field system for a fixedwing aircraft is typically installed as
a rigid-boom “stinger”, extending
from the tail of the aircraft or a wing
-tip pod.
The magnetic gradiometer for a
fixed-wing aircraft can be installed
either as a tail “stinger” assembly,
extending from the tail of the
aircraft and/or wing-tip pod
assemblies
of
different
configuration. The pod assemblies
Typical fixe-wing mag rigid-boom “stinger”
The total-field system for a helicopter
can be installed either as a rigid-boom
“stinger” attached to the landing gear
skids, the cargo hook attachment
points (depending on the helicopter) or
a
towed-bird
fiberglass
airfoil
suspended from the cargo hook
assembly.
AirMAG features Scintrex CS-3 cesium
vapor magnetometer sensors with a
sensitivity of better than 1 picoTesla.
Any optically pumped cesium or
potassium sensor can be integrated, if
required. The signal from the sensor is
processed by a Pico Envirotec MMS-8
Smart Magnetometer Processor,
delivering magnetic data with 1 pT
resolution, at sampling rates from 5 to
Typical helicopter mag “stinger” or towed-bird 100 Hz.
Magnetometer Sensor: CS-3
The Scintrex CS-3 is a self-oscillating,
split-beam Cesium Vapor (nonradioactive Cs-133) magnetometer with
an ambient range of 15,000 nT to
105,000 nT. Some of its features
include:
Pico Envirotec Inc.
AirMAG
instruments”, as well as third party The stinger or towed birds for
sensors and instruments, to be magnetic sensors are custom
quickly interfaced.
designed and build by Pico Envirotec
Precise
time
synchronization to match the make and model of the
provides recording of data and aircraft to be used, as well as specific
aircraft coordinates into a single file. customer requirements (attachment
All data is synchronized internally, point to the aircraft, number of
and is ready for processing and sensors, etc). The stingers and birds
assemblies can be provided by Pico
interpretation immediately after the
Envirotec with or without a Transport
survey flight.
Canada STC approval.
Magnetic Compensation: PEIComp
compensation profile from a
calibration test flight (FOM – Figureof-Merit). The compensation can be
applied to the collected data in a real
-time mode or during post-mission
processing. Even if the compensation
data is applied during the survey
flight, the raw (uncompensated) data
is recorded as a separate channel.
This allows the data to be recompensated later, if required.
When sensors are installed in a rigid
-boom “stinger” or wing-tip pods on
affixed-wing aircraft or a helicopter,
the collected data is influenced by
the magnetic field of the aircraft
itself. This magnetic field constantly
changes with the movement of the
aircraft in any axis. This constantly
changing magnetic field has to be
compensated for and removed from
the total field data. Pico Envirotec’s The compensation test flight should
PEIComp magnetic compensation be performed each time the
module is designed to calculate a
AirMAG featuring:
 IMPAC Data Acquisition consol
 MMS-8 Magnetometer Processor
 STC approved instrument rack
 CS-3 Sensors (or equivalent)
 PEI Compensation module
 GPS Navigation and altimetry
sensors
 Survey planning and data processing
software
Please refer to the appropriate brochure for full
details.
configuration of the aircraft changes,
after any major component of the
system is changed, or if there are any
changes/replacements of the aircraft
avionics or engine components.
Compensation is not required in the
case of a towed bird magnetometer
system.
The
bird
with
the
magnetometer sensor(s) is usually
towed on a cable at least 30 meters
away from the aircraft, where the
observed data will not be affected by
aircraft movement.
 Automatic Hemisphere switching;
 a sensitivity of 0.0006 nT √Hz rms;
 a noise envelope of typically 0.002
nT peak-to-peak and 0.1 to 1 Hz
bandwidth
CS-3 Magnetometer Sensor
Typical airborne gradientometers
Data Acquisition: IMPAC/MMS-8
The
new
MMS-8
Smart
Magnetometer Processor is an
intelligent high sensitivity, high
resolution magnetometer processor
designed by Pico Envirotec. MMS-8
can manage and process up to eight
(8)
cesium
magnetometers
simultaneously. It contains a
continuous frequency processing
input module with a signal
decoupler and power control
circuitry.
KingAir with a rigid-boom tail gradientometer
IMPAC (MMS-8 integrated)
IMPAC is a new real-time data
acquisition and navigation system
designed for airborne geophysical
exploration and environmental
science
applications.
IMPAC
combines multiple field proven
technologies into a single rackmountable console. IMPAC follows
PEI’s modular design structure
which allows the system to be
highly
flexible
and
easily
reconfigurable. The modular design
allows for integration of a wide
variety
of
PEI
“intelligent
MD500 with a stinger
AStar 350 with a stinger
Lama with a stinger
Wing-tip pod gradientometers
Cessna Caravan with wing-tip Magnetometers
Robinson 44 with a towed Bird
Bell Ranger with a stinger