Advanced Wideband Electromagnetic Sensors Geophex, Ltd., Raleigh, NC

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Advanced Wideband Electromagnetic
SensorsGeophex, Ltd., Raleigh, NC

• Innovation
• Geophex has developed a prototype airborne
  sensor that can measure variations
• in the electrical conductivity in the Earth.
  

• Accomplishments
• The technology developed under this project
  produced the GEM-2, an airborne
• electromagnetic sensor to find mineral
  deposits.
• Geophex developed a handheld version, known as
  the GEM-3, which has been
• successfully used for investigating soil and
  groundwater contamination.
• The sensor is a strong candidate for inclusion
  in the future planetary rover missions by
• NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to detect ice
  or water, essential for supporting
• manned missions in the future.

GEM2a in Australia prior to takeoff

• Government/Science Applications
• The GEM-2 has been used for airborne
  geophysical surveys to
• explore mineral deposits.
• The handheld GEM-3 has been applied for
  detecting and identifying
• buried unexploded ordnance and landmines.
• Both the GEM-2 and GEM-3 have been used for
  environmental site
• characterization.
• Potential future applications include
  detection and identification
• of concealed weapons medical tomography for
  imaging
• conductivity of human bodies, and planetary
  exploration for water
• and other natural resources for sustaining
  human colonization.

• Commercialization
• Geophex received US Patent 5,557,206, entitled
  Apparatus and Method for Detecting a Weak
  Induced Magnetic Field by Means of Two Concentric
  Transmitter Loops.
• The patent has wide applications in geology,
  geophysics and biophysics.
• Currently, two GEM-2s are flying in Australia for
  mining companies looking for diamond deposits
  (known as Kimberlite pipes), precious metal (gold
  and silver), and base metals (copper, nickel,
  etc.). They expect to start a similar airborne
  geophysical operation out of the U.S. using the
  same sensors.
• The GEM-3 is also used for detecting and
  identifying buried landmines and unexploded
  ordnance. The cleanup cost related buried
  unexploded bombs for the U.S. alone is estimated
  to exceed 10B.

Points of Contact - NASA (Commercial
Technology Program, 228/688-1929) - Geophex,
Ltd. (Dr. I.J. Won, 919/839-8515) 1995
SBIR Phase2 NAS13-670
John C. Stennis Space Center May 2000