SENSYS MAGDRONE R4

Introduction

The EOKHUB team had an excellent opportunity to test the brand new UAV survey system produced by SENSYS GmbH. Many of us already have experience with SENSYS equipment, so our expectations from FGM3D/75 Fluxgate sensors were already high. But the system as a whole was an untold story for us.

A little bit of history

For the last couple of years, the use of UAV (or UAS) has become a global trend, and they are used in many different areas and industries, with new surveying tools continually being developed to fit virtually any specific need. This article will focus on the explosive ordnance sector only, with emphasis on magnetometers.

Initially sensors were bulky and too heavy to mount onto cheap off-the-shelf UAVs, while big systems were too expensive for broader use. From the early beginning, on top of sensors’ weight, other significant problems were flight altitude (which should be as low as possible, ideally around 50cm), flight stability, wind speed, temperature, etc.

Further development of sensors and UAVs made it possible to:

• mount several sensors onto a single system (2, 3, 4 or 5);
• manufacture basic universal survey kits, which could be mounted onto almost any commercial UAV’s;
• conduct stable flight;
• fly at low altitude.

SENSYS GmbH decided to develop an independent survey kit and made a breakthrough with its MagDrone R4. To be honest, in the beginning, this system came across as a mystery to us, but a mystery that will become clear by the end of the article.

Photo 1: Mounted MagDrone R4

MagDrone R4

This was not the first system built by SENSYS. Today, we can speak of a family of MagDrone systems. Everything started a couple of years ago with the MagDrone One. It is an ultra-portable magnetometer survey kit, that can be mounted onto any fixed-wing aircraft with 1+ kg payload. The kit consists of a carbon fiber sensor tube with a built-in 3-axis Fluxgate, a customizable sensor cable, a 1-button data logger with an internal SD card, rechargeable batteries, and an integrated GPS. 

The MagDrone R3 was the following survey kit. It’s an ultra-portable magnetometer that can be mounted onto any UAV/drone with a 1+kg payload. The kit consists of a carbon fiber sensor tube with two built-in 3-axis Fluxgates, a 1-button data logger with internal SD card, rechargeable batteries, an integrated GPS as well as serial live data output.

Finally, we came to the MagDrone R4 

MagDrone R4 is a portable magnetometer survey kit with five 3-axis Fluxgate sensors. Developers opted for the integration of the already proven FGM3D/75 sensors. These five sensors are set into a folding mechanism, with spacing between sensors of 25cm, 50cm, and a total length of 2m

Features:

• Total weight 3 kg
• Autarky system with 5 FGM3D/75 Fluxgate sensors, GPS input, and battery
• Attachable to any UAV/drone with 3+ kg payload 
• 8GB internal memory card 
• Data loss prevention  
• 200 Hz recording rate 
• 2 Hz live data output rate 
• WLAN download interface 
• Data processing

Photo 2: One-button system

At the heart of the system lie the Sensys FGM3D/75 Fluxgate sensors. Throughout the years, these sensors have proven their worth and were thus a logical choice for the company. These sensors, at the moment, are among the top sensors on the market.

• Measurement range                                  ± 75.000nT
• Resolution                                                 ˂150pT
• Noise: < 15 pTrms/√Hz @0.1…10Hz
• Stability                                                       < 5 nT
• Linearity                                                     < 20 ppm
• Sensitivity                                                  0.13 V/µT
• Current consumption                                  ±26 mA
• Operating temperature                               -20 °C to +75 °C
• Weight w/o cable                                        112g
  

Recording rate is set to the standard 200Hz, but can potentially reach 10.000Hz. The 200Hz is more than enough for a flight to be made at any drone speed without compromising the quality of data collected (considering the sensor itself).

We are particularly fond of the “one-button” control for the system, which means that no settings have to be made on the UAV – you just mount it and press the button!

Everything else is done through your computer, which brings us to the next essential part, which is SENSYS software.

MagDrone R4 comes in excellent, robust packing. 

Photo 3: Robust packing of MagDrone R4

MonMX

MonMX is a data acquisition software developed by SENSYS. Its focus is on efficient and intuitive configuration, acquisition, and handling of measurement data received from the multi-channel magnetometer system, such as the MAGNETO MX or the MAGNETO MX V3.

MonMX offers sophisticated methods for conducting surveys with GNSS coordinates, or on local grids.

MonMX runs on any Windows OS devices such as rugged tablets or laptops. It makes it possible to survey from vehicle-towed systems in order to cover the largest of areas in the shortest time.

The MagDrone DataTool is software for importing raw data from all MagDrone models, and it automatically detects the tracks flown and turning maneuvers, while at the same time directly visualizing those tracks. A cut and trim tool can be used to narrow down an area for further processing. The data from the area can then be filtered and compensated to eliminate noise coming from net frequencies or the UAV/drone itself. Furthermore, the tool easily exports the results into .uxo or .csv files as well as into ASCII format.

The exported .uxo data can be further processed with the SENSYS software MAGNETO.

Photo 4: Automatically detects the tracks flown in the MagDrone DataTool

SENSYS MAGNETO® is a software for comprehensive analysis and interpretation of measurement data from magnetic and electromagnetic area and borehole surveys. It makes it possible to calculate the position and size of suspicious objects.

MAGNETO® is available as desktop software for processing and interpretation of all data. In that case, it is installed onto a rugged PDA and will directly show the measurement data and tracks.

MAGNETO® is the right choice for processing measurement data from contaminated sites survey, for UXO detection as well as for archaeological and geophysical prospections.

All measurement data will be displayed in color-coded maps or tracks. All maps and survey lines can be freely rearranged in the workspace like any other elements such as text, objects, pictures, or frames.

The software can also be used to link multiple data sets from various surveys into a single workspace, which allows combining into one all the work done in numerous survey sessions on a field.

With its text editor functions, MAGNETO® facilitates reporting and documentation.

At first glance, this can be somewhat confusing, but it all follows the SENSYS’ logic of “keeping it simple.” It should be noted that MAGNETO® is the “main” software, while all other programs are used to prepare raw data for use by MAGNETO®. All SENSYS equipment has this idea in common – that all data processing is performed in MAGNETO.

The MagBase is a base station for magnetic measurements.

This system consists of a data logger, an FGM3D/75 Fluxgate magnetometer, and a tripod. 

The magnetometer is a 3-axial Fluxgate magnetometer, measuring all three components of the Earth‘s magnetic field. The sensor has a measurement range of +/- 75,000 nT and is mounted into a carbon fiber tube.

The data logger has a built-in GPS receiver, which sends the position to the logger once per second. The device comes with its power supply.

Summary

All the time, SENSYS follows the idea to build a survey kit, and it’s was one of the main questions for us.

SENSYS has the idea to build a stand-alone survey kit, which could easily be mounted onto virtually any UAV, unlike pre-packaged integrated survey systems. Relying on its powerful software base, SENSYS made it uniquely easy to set up the device with its all-in-one-button approach, while leaving all compatibility settings to the familiar environment of your computer.

An additional question is the national legal frame for UAV use. In the future, we can expect more and harsher laws about UAS use. For sure, that will limit the global approach of integral survey systems.  

From the early beginning, we were pretty skeptical, or, to be honest, we didn’t believe in this approach. BUT ( with capital letters) testing and global legal frame show to us that SENSYS had a clear vision from the beginning and that MagDrone R4 has a bright future. 

Photo 5: MagDrone R4 kit