Hello Bob and All: I have finally received some relatively decent technical information regarding the EM Sounder technology. Please forgive any OCR/typing errors etc. I am providing it for reference only. It is taken from a document that I believe NAMX Worldwide is providing to prospective customers as part of a corporate profile. I consider this piece a gold mine of tech info. Invest wisely. Do your due diligence.
And Go NAMX.
Enjoy,
marty
NORTH AMERICAN EXPLORATION CORPORATION
Employing EM Sounder to increase the successful exploration of Hydrocarbons and Minerals
"We expect our technology will revolutionize oil and gas exploration in the same way the CAT-Scan revolutionized medical diagnostics."
Michael Stamm, Chairman and CEO
Electro-magnetic Imaging technology by North American Exploration corporation is an airborne echo sounding technique used to detect the presence of hydrocarbons and minerals in situ. EM Sounder Is the electro-magnetic analog to 3D Seismic.
What We Do.
NAMX employs tile EM Sounder to increase the success rate of drilling for hydrocarbons and mining fling minerals in North America by running task specific exploration missions. Electro Magnetic Sounding Technology measures flit distribution of Hydrocarbons in a alluvial Reservoir by using the low frequency configuration, a combination of radar technologies, of the sounldin8 instruments together with the ultra high precision OPS location technology for data acquisition and data reduction in which the computer processes the data for the signatures of Hydrocarbons using a number of image processing and signature extraction techniques. Then a geologist examines and interprets the data to determine which of the data corresponds to the hydrocarbons of no interest (example: Coal), eliminating it prior to the generation of a finished map. All hydrocarbons have the same signature, therefore, the data must be combined with the knowledge and experience of a geologist to obtain a reliable distribution for cost effective exploration.
EM Sounder Technology (GPR)
The Electro-Magnetic Sounder is a proprietary method and the basis for an advantage over the rest of the hydrocarbon and mineral exploration industry. EM Sounder, the Electro Magnetic analog to 3-P Seismic, is an airborne echo sounding technique that can identify' the presence of hydrocarbons ii) situ
Developed at a cost of USD 90 million, EM Sounder can be classified as the first breakthrough in the effort to find a direct method for locating economic hydrocarbon deposits. However, it does not qualify as a general direct method. In any event, when EM Sounder is used in areas of applicability it has increased the success rate to one in three.
Technically, the EM-Sounder is a frequency agile, mono-cycle ground probing radar, that is three single cycle pulses (at 125 MHz, 250 MHz, and 500 MHz) are transmitted and the echoes received to make a sounding into the ground at each measurement location. It accomplishes this at a rate of 100 soundings per second. Being an airborne device it takes data at an average rate of 100 kilometers per hour, an extremely fast method of data acquisition. Seismic teams, as a comparison measure approx. 30 kilometers of data per day under good conditions.
The transmitted pulses reflect a portion of their energy back to the antenna at each interval or discontinuity in the ground. For each frequency, this locates each layer in time, not in absolute distance.
The EM Sounder measures the reflected electromatic signatures of subterranean features These features may consist of underground water, sedimentary rocks, mineral deposits and hydrocarbon bearing deposits.
The resolution of the process can scan 10 X 10 X 2 m to depths of approximately 4,000 m (13,000 ft).
Unlike seismic, as each frequency travels through the ground at different velocities it is a simple matter to locate each layer in absolute distance. Additionally, the dielectric constant is measured. This measurement affords the ability to do measurement arid signature analysis. A
be made having one variable dielectric constant of the material and another variable the per meter.
Certain substances have unique, characteristic signatures when looked at in this mariner Water, for example, has a dielectric constant of 80, and an absorbivity of from 0.001 dB per meter for flesh water to 654a4 per meter for sea water. Metals are another substance with a ~ signature and have infinite dielectric constants which reflect the entire pulse back. Hydrocarbons have dielectric constants in the range of 2.2 to 2.6, arid essentially no loss per meter and this is the signature of' importance.
How Electro Magnetic Sounding Technology Works
The EM Sounder data acquisition system consists of flight instrumentation, ground support equipment and installation procedures to install and calibrate the instrumentation in a C 130 aircraft.
Airborne electromagnetic subsurface profiling systems are different from aerospace radar systems. Their operating frequencies are low as the attenuation in the earth increases with high frequencies Their plus lengths are extremely short (one cycle) so that their resolving power can he maximized. The data acquisition system consist of state of the art electronic and antenna technology. it is bused on space born radar technology consisting of a modified VM.CW pulse compression device which transmits and receives three different frequencies simultaneously with a time band width product for the center frequency of 3,000 MHz of 30,000,000 to 1. Signal to noise ratios of greater than 50dB are easily achieved in the ground for the resolution of the subsurface targets. This is accomplished with the best real time signal processing available, I 'he antenna subsystem was designed specifically for the task of subsurface measurement.
The Instruments
Transmitter-Receiver, LCD Color Monitors, Data Forward Camera, Signal Processor, Beam Former and Power Conditioner.
The Data Acquisition System
The data acquisition system consists of all of tile flight instrumentation as well as the ground support equipment and procedures necessary to install and calibrate the instrumentation on the aircraft.
The System Includes state of the art design in both electronic and antenna technology.
The Electronics Subsystem consists of a Ultra High Precision Global Positioning System. This unit records the position within 10 centimeters and time position twice per second. An independent Radar Altimeter measures the above ground elevation in such a manner that the Mean Sea Level Elevation of the data is preserved.
The Antenna Subsystem was designed specifically for the task of &subsurface measurement and is specific to the aircraft utilized and is aircraft dependent. Consisting of the UPS, Radar Altimeter, and EM Sounder antennas and mountings, the number and placement of the antennas are chosen to give the highest accuracy measurement for the specific mission to be accomplished. Additionally, there is a high resolution color video camera mounted under the aircraft which records tile "footprint)' of the EM Sounder on the ground.
The Ground Support System consists of the necessary oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, multi-meters and other tools and spares to install the equipment on the aircraft, calibrate the system before and after each data flight, or to do field repairs. |
