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Permalink Reply by Martin Seven on January 27, 2010 at 1:49pm

Before you dive into a full out project I recommend you first build a test rig - just a breadboard with a magnetometer and something to log the data, and then go out and run around the town. See if you measure anything at all. See if it's worth doing. Then you should add a motor, a radio and other EM gear to the test board to see how their interference influences the result.

Personally (speculation) I don't think you'll get too close to the microtesla resolution if you'll have it running on a small self-propelled plane.

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Permalink Reply by Matias Rajkay on January 27, 2010 at 1:51pm

Thanks Martin, sounds like a good idea!

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Permalink Reply by Edouard H on January 27, 2010 at 3:45pm

You might want to look at PNI micromag which is supposed to have a better resolution.

Also, a wide scale magnetic model is freely available (see WMM here). Although there certainly are local variations, the magnetic field is supposed to remain pretty close to this model. See here for more details)

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Permalink Reply by Clinton P on January 29, 2010 at 5:34am

You write that you are not prospecting for anything in particular, so I assume you don't just want to map Earth's magnetic field but want to map anomalies or constructions like power lines, railways or whatever.

Aeromagnetic surveys have been done before using 3 Axis Fluxgare mags even the NASA tried it years ago at the Itturalde crater in Bolivia using a small UAV. To my knowledge its also been done looking for mineral deposits or even buried treasure.
However whether the 3 axis Mag Jordi presented or the Micromag suggested by Edouard is sensitive enough I wouldn't know.
Be interesting to see how well it works if you try it !

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