Scientists of the Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty, NSTU NETI won a grant from the Russian Science Foundation for 6 million rubles to create computer programs for minerals searching by unmanned aerial vehicles. The software processes large amounts of data from search drones and builds accurate and detailed digital 3D models of deposits, thus reducing the cost of expensive drilling. The project is being developed jointly with colleagues from Irkutsk National Research Technical University who won the same grant.
"The easily discovered deposits in Russia and in the world are mostly exhausted, while the demand for solid minerals both in Russia and in other countries is constantly growing. New deposits have to be found in remote areas with complex geological and landscape conditions. Depletion of near-surface deposits forces to search, explore and develop "blind" fields that do not come to the surface. Geological study is very expensive and often involves business risk, so it requires a fundamental increase in the productivity of geological work and reducing their cost as well as survey time. In this situation, it is critical to apply the effective approaches at the risky initial stage of the site's geological study, so the geological forecast quality becomes especially important. Since drilling is the most expensive type of work and must be optimized to the maximum, an understanding of the site's geological structure both on the surface and in depth is required for its accurate navigation. Therefore, it is now urgent to create new methods and technologies that allow quick obtaining, high-quality processing and interpreting complex geodata at a low cost and under any conditions, as well as fixing ore-bearing properties, identifying promising areas and tracking them on the surface and in depth," explains Marina Persova, one of the project authors, Professor of the Applied Mathematics Department, NSTU NETI.
The scientists of NSTU NETI and IrNRTU offer to apply integrated approach to the deposits survey combining magnetic, gravity and geoelectrical exploration. The methods of magnetic and electrical exploration can be performed by the low-altitude UAV surveys. They quickly provide large amounts of detailed area information in a complex terrain or weather conditions at a low cost. The theory and practice of UAV-magnetic survey are already well developed, but the methods of electromagnetic sounding from UAVs are still at the initial stage of development. Their improvement, testing, efficiency evaluation and methodology development for the intelligent use in ore exploration as well as scientific substantiation of their role within the exploration procedure are one of the main tasks of NSTU NETI scientists.
Scientists of IrNRTU and NSTU NETI propose to install research equipment on ultra-light UAV. This can quickly provide large amounts of data about the deposit in any landscape and weather conditions. Now aerial prospecting is carried out with the help of manned aircraft; it involves the risk to the lives of pilots and is much more expensive than using UAVs. The implementation of the developed set of methods and technologies in the practice of geological survey will significantly improve the efficiency of deposits search and evaluation, and will give an impetus to the development of small exploration businesses which often lack resources for traditional prospecting. The project implies performing experimental and methodical studies on real objects, investigating advantages and disadvantages of the various UAV prospecting by electrical and radiowave sounding in comparison with traditional field and aerial survey methods, developing new methods and technologies for UAV survey with geological and geophysical mapping and ore search. For the first time, the role of radio-wave sounding and transient electromagnetic sounding will be scientifically substantiated and compared with traditional methods of geophysical surveys.
The use of robotic UAVs can quickly produce large volumes of geodata, but it in turn poses a problem for their rapid processing with access to 3D models of the geological environment necessary for effective navigation of search drilling. This is why we need new mathematical models that will be created by NSTU NETI scientists.
NSTU NENI scientists will create a program that will analyze the complex structure of deposits. "The use of one-dimensional models that are common today to determine the location and properties of target objects is already meaningless. Improving the quality of the geological forecast is possible by switching to more complex models for representing the geological environment and automating the recovery of their parameters based on registered geophysical data," says Marina Persova.
The equipment for conducting research will be created by the employees of the Geological Informatics Laboratory, IrNRTU with Alexander Parshin's (PhD Geology) supervision
"The team of scientists from NSTU NETI, headed by Professor Yuri Soloveychik, is one of the world leaders in the field of electromagnetic fields data modeling. In 2021, Novosibirsk scientists will prepare and test new methods of joint "multiphysical" 3D inversion. We will develop the technology and methodology of UAVs-electromagnetic sounding. The result of the project will be an innovative digital transformation of geological exploration. In future, we could sell licenses to the software, provide services for three-dimensional inversion and interpretation of data," says A. Parshin, the head of the researchers team from Irkutsk National Research Technical University.
Earlier, the team of NSTU NETI mathematicians led by Yu. Soloveichik created a program to search for oil in the Arctic.