AIRCAS Completes Field Tests of Newly Developed UAV‑borne Transient Electromagnetic System
23 Jul 2026
A research team led by Prof. LIU Lihua from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has recently completed field tests of a newly developed UAV‑borne transient electromagnetic (TEM) system in Inner Mongolia and other regions.
The field campaign was designed to evaluate the system's data acquisition capability, operational stability, and adaptability under complex environmental and geological conditions.
During the campaign, the researchers conducted multiple survey flights over representative geological areas. Key aspects of system performance, including electromagnetic transmission and signal reception, flight attitude monitoring, data synchronization, and subsurface inversion imaging, were systematically assessed.
The results showed that the system operated stably and produced reliable, high‑quality geophysical data. All major performance targets were achieved, confirming the system's overall performance and reliability.
The system is expected to support deep mineral and energy resource exploration, detailed investigation of complex geological structures, and the identification of geological hazards. It also provides a new technical approach for surveys in areas that are difficult or unsafe to access by conventional ground geophysical surveys.
The successful field tests mark an important milestone toward the engineering application of UAV‑borne transient electromagnetic technology and will help advance the development of indigenously developed airborne geophysical exploration equipment in China.
The research was conducted under the National Key Research and Development Program project "Ground–Airborne Electromagnetic Technologies for Subsurface Structure Detection".
Scenes of the field compaign. (Image by AIRCAS)
Research team members during the field campaign. (Image by AIRCAS)
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AIRCAS Completes Field Tests of Newly Developed UAV‑borne Transient Electromagnetic System
A research team led by Prof. LIU Lihua from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS) has recently completed field tests of a newly developed UAV‑borne transient electromagnetic (TEM) system in Inner Mongolia and other regions.
The field campaign was designed to evaluate the system's data acquisition capability, operational stability, and adaptability under complex environmental and geological conditions.
During the campaign, the researchers conducted multiple survey flights over representative geological areas. Key aspects of system performance, including electromagnetic transmission and signal reception, flight attitude monitoring, data synchronization, and subsurface inversion imaging, were systematically assessed.
The results showed that the system operated stably and produced reliable, high‑quality geophysical data. All major performance targets were achieved, confirming the system's overall performance and reliability.
The system is expected to support deep mineral and energy resource exploration, detailed investigation of complex geological structures, and the identification of geological hazards. It also provides a new technical approach for surveys in areas that are difficult or unsafe to access by conventional ground geophysical surveys.
The successful field tests mark an important milestone toward the engineering application of UAV‑borne transient electromagnetic technology and will help advance the development of indigenously developed airborne geophysical exploration equipment in China.
The research was conducted under the National Key Research and Development Program project "Ground–Airborne Electromagnetic Technologies for Subsurface Structure Detection".
Scenes of the field compaign. (Image by AIRCAS)
Research team members during the field campaign. (Image by AIRCAS)