Loupe - A Portable Time Domain EM Systems for Near Surface Investigations

Loupe is a new, portable, time-domain electromagnetic system specifically designed for rapid reconnaissance, near-surface conductivity measurements. The receiver and transmitter are each carried by one person on a backpack. Loupe incorporates a 3-component coil sensor with 100 kHz bandwidth, a fast-switching transmitter loop, a simple user-interface and the ability to navigate and recover position using RTK GPS. Using intelligent signal processing, carried out in real-time and in post-acquisition processing, Loupe operates in the presence of interference from power transmission lines and other sources of noise that traditionally degrade the performance of EM systems in urban areas. A completely portable time-domain EM system of this nature is unique. This paper will discuss the design and features of Loupe and likely applications for it.

We have completed a geotechnical investigation, wetland study, saline incursion and a shallow mineral exploration study. Results are being processed and by the time of the conference, we will present results from this work. This system, and its results, will be compared against other techniques to illustrate the increase in near-surface resolution and speed of broadband data collection.