Geophysicist Cites GEON E61’s Competitive Advantage

In the field of geophysics and more particularly the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in metal detection work, an endorsement from Ronald S. Bell is significant. 

For more than a decade, he has advocated the use of drones as vehicles for exploring extractable mineral resources and for characterizing subsurface environments. He has developed drone-enabled methods for locating inactive oil and gas wells and for detecting and mapping buried pipelines. 

Currently, he is focusing on using drones to map the electrical properties of soil and rock for environmental, agricultural and resource exploration projects. Dubbed the world’s only “geoDRONEologist,” Bell says about himself, “Simply put, I use drones to map geology and find the manmade objects present in it.” He holds a bachelor’s degree in applied physics and works for Denver-based Drone Geoscience. 

Bell has familiarized himself with the GEON E61 metal-detecting system, purpose built by ArroTech for pinpointing the locations of lethal landmines and other unattended weapons of war. In Bell’s view, the GEON E61’s capability for capturing and displaying data in real time sets it apart from other metal-detecting UAVs. 

“That’s a competitive advantage that no one else has,” Bell said during a recent visit to ArroTech offices at TechFarms in Panama City Beach, Florida. 

Additionally, the GEON E61, with its time-domain detection system, is unique in being ab le to “produce data of the quality needed for accurate surveys,” notes ArroTech co-founder and chief technology officer Tobias Leininger.  

The GEON E61 employs a high-sensitivity, high-resolution, time domain metal detector capable of detecting both ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The typical target response is a single, sharply defined peak, facilitating quick and accurate determinations of locations. 

Bell has been invited to speak at the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP), scheduled for April 13-17 in Denver. That meeting will be co-located with the third Munitions Response Meeting of the National Organization of Ordnance Contractors. 

Bell plans to introduce his symposium audience to the GEON E61 as part of remarks titled “Geophysics and Airborne Robotics.” He furnished ArroTech with an abstract of his proposed speech. 

“The future will be one in which autonomous mapping of the earth using airborne robots will become the rule rather than a novel concept,” the abstract reads in part. “I propose that the term ’drone geoscience’ be used to refer to this emerging subdiscipline of earth study based on the joint collection of geophysical and remote sensing data.” 

The abstract concludes, “I believe a review of where we started leading to the technology that is available today will inform consumers of drone geoscience data about what to expect in autonomous mapping technology in years ahead. If you are not already using geoscience data collected with small unoccupied aerial systems, you will be.”