Air-Deliverable Geologic Sensors for Tunnel Detection Applications

The use of underground facilities has become increasingly common with organizations that seek to conceal themselves and their activities. With the increased prevalence of these clandestine facilities comes an increased need for a detection and localization capability. Most sizable underground facilities incorporate an electrical power source and means for distribution. Power distribution engenders electrical current, which in turn produces magnetic fields, which oscillate at the AC line frequency. Magnetic fields at this frequency are difficult to shield, and their propagation is virtually unaffected by soil or ground cover. Therefore, magnetic field sensors are a logical choice for monitoring underground facilities, and have been deployed for this purpose in various forms. QUASAR Federal Systems proposes to design and build a compact, air deployable system for localizing underground tunnels/facilities. The cornerstone of the system will be our highly sensitive 3-axis magnetic field sensor. Prior air deployable magnetic sensors have been single-axis. Measuring all 3 field components offers the capability to determine the total field magnitude and direction, thus facilitating the determination of tunnel direction and location. Seismic sensors based on piezoelectric cable sensors will be also be integrated to reject background noise and enhance the detection capability of the magnetic sensors. BENEFIT: The result of this project will be a system of air dropppable sensors and processing to acquire and interpret electromagnetic data for the purpose of detecting and localizing underground targets of interest to the DoD. The benefit to the DoD will be ease of depolyment, covertness, and target detection. Commercial applications exist in resource exploration and geophysics.