Drones in a race to find the earth's hidden resources

Two drones in pairs will analyze the subsurface from the air and contribute to solving key societal challenges such as pollution, raw material shortages and water management. This is the goal of a new project in which Innovation Fund Denmark has invested DKK 19.3 million.

The new drone system will scan the subsurface and provide precise information about, for example, pollution, raw materials, landslide risk, and mapping of water resources and shallow soils. And it will be able to do so in areas that are otherwise inaccessible or environmentally vulnerable.

The technology is based on so-called transient electromagnetic measurements (TEM), which is a powerful technology for providing information in the upper few hundred meters below the ground surface. The technique is already in use from helicopters or pulled by ATVs.

But there is not yet an ultralight TEM system that can be flown with small drones. The project aims to meet this need over the next three and a half years.

- In the project, we will exploit the world-leading position that we have in Denmark in the development and application of TEM technology. We have seen how large parts of the world need easy-to-use instruments to provide information about the subsurface, which is absolutely crucial for a number of societal interests. We will take the current technology and transfer it to a drone-based system, which together with advanced computer codes and the use of AI will make it usable for a much wider audience than is the case today, says Anders Vest Christiansen, who is leading the project. He is a professor of geophysics at Aarhus University.

Technology opens up a growing international market

More precisely, the new system will be based on two drones, which, with a synchronized transmitter and receiver pair, fly in formation and adapt to the terrain. The drones will be small and simple, without requiring special flight permits. The system will include advanced functions that enable groundbreaking data processing and compression. The results are combined with a unique multidimensional data interpretation and can thus deliver high-resolution images of the soil layers – even in difficult-to-access or dangerous terrain where larger units cannot be driven or flown.

- We see great international demand pressure for this technology and anticipate that we will gain a huge advantage in being first to market with our solution, says Esben Auken, CEO of TEMcompany.

The partners in the project are Aarhus University, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), the high-tech company TEMcompany ApS and the Central Denmark Region.

Facts

• Innovation Fund's investment: DKK 19.3 million.
• Total budget: DKK 26 million.
• Duration: 3.5 years
• Official title: DREAM - DRone-based Electromagnetic Aerial Mapping

About the partners

Two departments at Aarhus University are involved in the project:

The Department of Geoscience is a world leader in TEM technology and in particular in the development of data handling and interpretation algorithms, which are also the elements that are included in the project.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Technology will develop the advanced control of the drones and provide code for AI-controlled interpretation of data that can provide information in real time.

TEMcompany is a spin-out from Aarhus University and is the leading company in the world in the development and sale of small TEM systems for either handheld, walking or driving surgery.

GEUS develops new methodologies to process subsurface data in the best possible way, ensuring the end user a reliable result that includes all available information about the subsurface from drone measurements as well as other information from, for example, drilling.

The Central Denmark Region is a key player in the Danish landscape in the use of subsurface data in connection with soil contamination and identification of new mineral deposits. They therefore have a great interest in using improved mapping methods in their daily work.