I have a good idea, need some advanced help.

[ScubaFinder]

I have worked in the UAV industry, and have designed "radio controlled airplanes" to do some pretty amazing things, and carry some serious payload. I've been using one of my old models with an airborne wireless video tranmission system to survey areas that I think are promising. I can cruise down to take a closer look, and today I found a REALLY old, and quite large house with a cellar pit and barn. This thing is so far off the beaten path that I doubt anyone other than the land owner even knows it's there.

I've done a fair amount of reading on magnetometers, and i love the images they make of ship wrecks taken from 40 feet above and such. It got me thinking, could a detector of some sort be built that could detect from say 100 feet above ground level? I'm guessing it would only pick up fairly large targets if it's possible, but I'd like to try it, or at least discuss if it could work.

For reference, all aircraft are electric, and virtually silent and vibration free. My record to date for payload is just over 20 pounds. Flight times are just over 1 hour, range is about 2 miles, airspeed would be roughly 15mph, could get it a bit slower if need be, but probably not down to 3mph like most mags require. I have built big stuff that can maintain altitude at 5mph, but they can't do that speed with the kind of payload I think we will be talking about. I use Lithium Polymer batteries, so volts and amps are not really a problem, and these batteried are incredibly light weight.

I am a serious electronics tinkerer, not a silly guy with an RC airplane. I already have GPS coordinates, airspeed, battery voltage, and altitude overlayed onto the video image. This is transmitted to the ground station real time via a board I designed and built myself, so I'm not a complete idiot. I just don't know enough about detecting equipment to know if something like this is even feasible.

Basically, is it possible to make a low altitude detection device (hey, LADD will be the project name...LOL). Would it be of any practical use for treasure hunting, or should I just continue to use it for video recon?

Jas

 

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[ScubaFinder]

I didn't think the altitude thing through very well when I said 100 feet up. Theoretically, it could skim the treetops at 15 - 20 feet up. Probably 30 feet would be a good target altitude. If altitude doesn't effect much, higher might be better to get a wider scan. Since it's realtime, I could see the targets, and go down lower to get a closer look.

And I forgot to say a thanks in advanced to anyone smart enough to give me some direction or thoughts on my silly idea.

Jason

 

[Kentucky Kache]

In my opinion, thinkers is what we need. If your idea doesn't fit the mold,
some here will say it's impossible. But, I say, if it doesn't fit the mold, invent
a new mold. Nothing is impossible. Go for it.
Sorry, no technical support here, just a word of encouragement.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Actually what you have is a brilliant concept and you need to talk to people on this forum who invent things and are the detectorists....try Jeffro or Seeker for the details on making this work for detecting purposes. I can really see the possibilities here and love your idea. I hunt in the boonies and get tired of crossing rivers and streams in order to find my spots. This idea of yours would definately eliminate alot of leg work. What about over shallow water? Would it work there also to scope out a beach or island?

 

[ScubaFinder]

Thanks for the words of encouragement...I spoke with my buddy from Lockheed Martin (UAV dept.) and he had some interesting points. He obviously couldn't give me any details, but they have a UAV that can detect underground weapons stores up to 30ft. deep from 2,000+ feet up. If he told me this, that means that it probably goes 5 times as high, and can detect 3 times deeper. He did say it was only for very large targets (tanks, weapons stores, underground bunkers, etc.).

Based on this, the idea is indeed possible. They built it into a small pod (looks like a mag towfish) that is just an attachment to an "existing UAV"...he didn't SAY Predator, but we know what he meant. 8) This was naturally a Dept. of Defense project, which means it probably cost us 4 billion dollars, but the technology is there...whether us civilians have it, I'm not sure. Hopefully some of the smart DIYer's here will give us there thoughts soon.

Jason

 

[Hoss KGC]

I'm not sure from your original post if you actually are talking about a magnetometer because you talked about the images they make of shipwrecks and mags don't create images. Side scan sonars create images that are pretty darn good. If you do indeed want to put a magnetometer on your RC airplane for detecting ferrous targets, you may need something other than a proton mag because they have a charge listen time and are not continuous like a fluxgate or cesium mag. I'm saying this because you will be moving at 15mph and may miss a target. You would also need to get it some distance away from your airplane so that the electric motor doesn't cause problems since it will have a significant magnetic field.

Personally I think having the live video is probably more useful unless you have something specific or a special situation in mind. I fly RC airplanes but have a couple spots I'd like to get aerial video of and bought a couple electric helis. I sure find them a lot more difficult to fly. I just want to be able to hover up over the trees a minute or 2 and transmit some video.
Good luck,
Boattow

 

[ScubaFinder]

Thanks Boattow! I got a few PM's from this thread, and have done a little more research on my own. The magnetic feild of the motor was one of my bigger worries...tried to make an aerial tow that could glide behind the aircraft on a line. In theory, it worked, it sat lower than the motor and didn't hinder flight performance too bad. The weight involved in a mag makes this not very feasible. I think I'll stick to the video for now, it's easy and has helped me quite a bit so far.

I think maybe down the road I will try to somehow do a DIY Ground penetrating radar or infrared system, but as of now, I don't really think these could spot coins underground from the altitudes I'm talking about. I seem to find things in groups a lot, and was thinking if I could at least find the areas where those groups were, I could save myself some time. Really I'm just a tinkerer who loves thinking outside the box, no matter how far outside that may take me

I have a Shogun 400 heli....and I agree about the difficulty. I think I have as much invested in new blades and tail booms as I have in the heli itself

Jason