Laurent Ameglio - EXIGE - Airborne Geophysics. From greenfield to paddock

Over the past 40 years, airborne geophysics using conventional aircraft has become an effective and accepted technology for mapping various signatures on the Earth’s surface and at depth. The last decade, Light Sport Aircraft aviation have also matured into operational tools providing new horizons compared to conventional aircraft, with lower capital outlay and operational cost as added values. At the same time, miniaturization of geophysical technologies led to reduction in size, weight and power while increasing sensitivity. Improved camera image stabilization, resolution and shutter speed also make TIR, NIR, SWIR and LiDAR sensors a practical addition to geophysical packages. Hybrid geophysics and geomatics airborne remote sensing manned platform are becoming a reality together with processing software integrating multiple data streams and machine learning algorithms enhancing data interpretation. Natural resource exploration and also precision agriculture projects can now advance faster and more efficiently than ever before.