BlueCap Australia
BlueCapBird® is a BlueCap-operated drone magnetometer system using QuSpin QTFM Gen 2 sensing, active terrain control, matched ground reference and live QC.
Quantum total-field sensing · controlled sensor geometry · live field QC
Airborne magnetic data lose value when carrier noise, uncertain suspended-sensor height, orientation effects or an isolated logger can look like geology. BlueCapBird® is BlueCap's purpose-built drone magnetometer system for BlueCap-operated magnetic survey services; it is not sold or rented separately.
The system combines a QuSpin QTFM Gen 2 Quantum Rubidium Atomic Magnetometer, certified non-magnetic power, controlled separation from the carrier, active terrain following, measured sensor AGL and synchronised field evidence. The result is not simply a sensitive instrument: it is a magnetic survey record the client can audit and use.
The problem is aerodynamic mismatch. A compact payload suits lower-speed detail and smaller carriers; sustained high-speed lines and steep descents need greater stability and downward authority. BlueCapBird® Light and Fast solve those different jobs without changing the sensing or data architecture.
Best suited to local infill, follow-up and flat open ground with low vegetation — including desert and bush terrain in Western Australia — where a lightweight electric carrier and lower survey speed are practical.
Designed for long line-kilometres, steep downhill profiles and large survey areas where aerodynamic downward authority and BlueCapWinch® work together.
Clients compare complete airborne systems, not sensor names in isolation. These four photographs identify the architectures discussed below — passive suspended bodies, a rigid carrier-mounted array and BlueCap's actively controlled suspended system.
Dual MFAM caesium sensing with onboard GPS and storage in a lightweight passive aerodynamic body.
Long passive bird with a scalar magnetometer, onboard flight channels and local RadioLink to GEMDAS.
Rigid fluxgate-boom system whose vertical path follows the carrier's own climb and descent manoeuvre.
QuSpin QTFM sensing with active descent surfaces, independent Range LiDAR, fused RTK positioning and a protected server-side record.
Commercial systems make different choices about sensor placement, sensing physics and data handling. BlueCapBird® starts with the failure each choice can create in a real survey, then we integrate the hardware and workflow needed to control that risk in a BlueCap survey.
A highly sensitive magnetometer measures every nearby magnetic field — not only the geology below. The batteries themselves, their cell cans and tabs, wiring, electronics, motors and the carrier all add platform noise. In conventional magnetometer assemblies, that noise can merge with small, weak anomalies and remove usable detail before processing begins. Post-processing cannot recreate a geological signal once it has been buried inside platform noise.
BlueCap places the QTFM at least 20 m below BlueCapHeli®, limits the complete bird to just 12.2 g of metal, keeps electronics and power more than one metre from the sensor and uses certified fully non-magnetic Li-ion cells.
The client receives a higher-detail magnetic dataset with weak, compact anomalies still visible for interpretation and targeting. These weak responses can be the only surface expression of a deeper magnetic source. Preserving them gives the exploration team a more defensible picture of where drilling is supported — and where an unnecessary hole should be avoided.
MagArrow II and GEM AirBIRD have no active control surfaces; rigidly mounted SENSYS MagDrone must follow every vertical drone manoeuvre. On steep descents, these architectures can force the carrier from approximately 15 m/s towards 5 m/s while sensor height above terrain still repeatedly leaves its target AGL corridor, with field-observed height errors reaching 5–6 m. Daily line production then falls sharply and the survey becomes economically inefficient.
BlueCap selects Light for approximately 3–15 m/s detail or Fast for approximately 10–40 m/s production, then coordinates the BlueCapHeli® manoeuvre, motorised BlueCapWinch® and Fast's four active non-magnetic surfaces. An independent 120 m Range LiDAR measures the magnetometer's actual ground clearance.
The client gets lower sensor-height error without sacrificing field productivity — the terrain-controlled, production-scale magnetic result mineral exploration teams expect in 2026. The measured improvement depends on relief and is compared with the slowed electric-multicopter profile. This combination of control and production is one reason a suitable BlueCap survey can sometimes cost around half as much as a competing service.
MagArrow II and SENSYS MagDrone centre their standard workflows on onboard recording and subsequent download. GEM AirBIRD can radio data to a range-bound local field computer, but that feed stops at GEMDAS rather than continuing into a protected server workspace available to the client at any distance. With local-only or post-flight review, a gap, disturbance or degraded line may be discovered only after the opportunity to re-fly it has passed.
BlueCap delivers the airborne QTFM, independent Range LiDAR, fused GNSS and RTK position, attitude, telemetry and separate same-model QTFM ground station through encrypted internet links to the secure server in real time at 60 Hz. Automated algorithms analyse the combined stream while office-based BlueCap and authorised client geophysicists inspect it from any distance, so the field crew can correct or re-fly an acquisition error before leaving site.
The exploration team receives a field-qualified, more complete set of magnetic lines with fewer hidden gaps and a lower risk of a second mobilisation. Coverage, raw and filtered line behaviour, reference variation, 3D KML and heatmaps are available sooner for magnetic gridding, target ranking and drill planning.
MagArrow II, GEM AirBIRD and SENSYS MagDrone workflows can leave survey data on a removable card, onboard storage or a client-readable field file. Anyone with physical access may then have an opportunity to copy the paid magnetic dataset before the client receives it. This is a real chain-of-custody risk in contractor-operated surveys, not only an IT policy question.
BlueCapBird® does not retain the client's survey as a downloadable dataset on the bird. Measurements move immediately through encrypted communications into BlueCap's server-side big-data environment, with protected transit handling if connectivity is interrupted.
Authorised client users see their project through the secure BlueCap Survey Portal. Pilots and other field personnel can operate and monitor acquisition without receiving permission to extract, duplicate or distribute the client's magnetic map.
Better than 3 pT/√Hz is the practical BlueCap balance for drone magnetic acquisition at 25–50 m AGL. It keeps intrinsic sensor noise below the important field signals without pretending that a smaller standalone instrument figure automatically produces a better magnetic map. BlueCap uses QTFM free induction decay for scalar total magnetic-field magnitude, removes avoidable magnetic material and verifies the complete assembled system in flight.
The remaining metal is limited mainly to wiring and electronics positioned more than one metre from the sensor head. Heading sweeps and complete-system QC still verify the complete field configuration.
A 5 pT/√Hz sensor brings materially more intrinsic noise. A 0.2 pT figure stated at 1 Hz is more sensitive as an instrument specification, but it is not directly equivalent and does not make a real airborne line five times cleaner. BlueCap uses QTFM below 3 pT/√Hz, then verifies achieved noise in the complete survey configuration.
Readings inside the cone are automatically flagged invalid and resume when the sensor moves outside it.
Magnetic-field magnitude is recorded while position, altitude, heading and telemetry remain separate synchronised channels.
Airborne and ground-reference magnetic data enter the same project workspace for preview and processing.
MagArrow II, GEM AirBIRD and other passively suspended sensors cannot command their own descent. As terrain falls away, a conventional electric multicopter profile may slow from approximately 15 m/s towards 5 m/s to keep the bird near target AGL. BlueCap shares that vertical work between BlueCapWinch®, the helicopter manoeuvre and Fast's four active surfaces so production can remain closer to 40 m/s.
The suspended QTFM remains at least 20 m from the BlueCapHeli® airframe to reduce carrier magnetic influence.
Four active non-magnetic surfaces generate downforce so Fast can descend substantially faster than a passive bird falling under its own weight.
The carrier can stay near production speed because the winch, aircraft manoeuvre and active bird share the vertical work.
Route and speed-control algorithms hold the suspended sensor close to its modelled terrain-relative profile.
BlueCap route and speed-control algorithms keep the suspended sensor within a one-metre height-error corridor relative to the modelled surface.
An independent sensor-to-ground measurement records the actual clearance alongside every magnetic observation.
For a compact magnetic source, anomaly amplitude changes approximately with the inverse cube of distance, so residual height error matters.
Post-processing uses the measured Range LiDAR channel to compensate residual height variation more precisely instead of assuming the planned trajectory was the exact sensor trajectory.
Sharing the vertical work reduces unnecessary aggressive carrier manoeuvring. That lowers the sustained load on the helicopter and avoids spending fuel only to make the aircraft reproduce a movement that the winch and active bird can perform more efficiently.
Move the QuSpin QTFM Gen 2 through the 25–50 m AGL range used in BlueCap's field experiment. This explorer applies a first-order 1/r³ compact-source model against the 35 m reference; it is not the observed four-site series.
Calculated source-distance interpretation shown separately from the processed experiment. BlueCapHeli® ascended above a QTFM Gen 2 on a pre-measured 20 m suspension while the stripped tubular bird completed free yaw rotations at each height level.
A magnetometer number is useful only when its noise, position, true height, motion and payload state are known on the same timeline. Each row compares reference systems with the BlueCap channel used by office-based client and BlueCap geophysicists for live QC and controlled post-processing.
| Measurement channel | Reference systems | BlueCap integrated record | Client result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01Sensitivity versus installed noise | MagArrow II states 5 pT/√Hz typical cesium noise. GEM AirBIRD states 0.2 pT sensitivity at 1 Hz for its GSMP-35U potassium option. SENSYS MagDrone R4 uses fluxgate sensors with resolution better than 150 pT. | BlueCap selects QTFM free-induction-decay total-field sensing below 3 pT/√Hz, then validates the complete low-metal payload rather than relying on the smallest stand-alone sensor number. | Field-balanced sensitivity preserves weak geological signals without letting platform noise dominate the line. |
| 02GNSS + RTK fusion | MagArrow II states 1.5 m GPS and up to 1.0 m with SBAS; GEM AirBIRD states 0.7 m GPS; SENSYS MagDrone can accept the drone's external GPS or RTK position. | BlueCap time-interpolates the suspended magnetometer trajectory and fuses it with BlueCapHeli® RTK, typically positioning accepted samples within 10–50 cm. | The magnetic sample receives its own fused spatial reference instead of simply inheriting a carrier coordinate. |
| 03120 m Range LiDAR | GEM AirBIRD includes a downward laser range finder in its front pod for height tracking and post-processing, but does not state its model or range. Standard MagArrow II and SENSYS MagDrone R4 systems do not include an independent sensor-to-ground range channel. | BlueCap synchronises an independent 120 m Range LiDAR measurement with each accepted magnetic observation for QC and project-specific height modelling; no universal scalar height correction is assumed. | True magnetometer AGL is retained as an observed geometry channel instead of being inferred only from the terrain model or carrier. |
| 04Acceleration, gyro and heading | MagArrow II records a 200 Hz accel/gyro and 100 Hz compass; GEM AirBIRD records pitch, roll and yaw for local GEMDAS display. Having an IMU alone is not unique. | BlueCap synchronises the bird's acceleration, gyro and heading with QTFM, height and position, then uses the motion record in line QC and controlled post-processing rather than merely storing or displaying it. | Office geophysicists can test whether a line feature follows geology, orientation or payload motion. |
| 05Power, payload and flight telemetry | MagArrow II and SENSYS centre on onboard storage and local access; GEM AirBIRD sends its multi-channel view by range-bound RadioLink to a field computer running GEMDAS. | BlueCap streams voltage, current, payload health and flight state through encrypted internet links into the same server-side 60 Hz project record. | Authorised client and BlueCap geophysicists can review acquisition health securely from the office at any distance. |
Also calledDiurnal correction station
Records non-geological temporal field variation on the same UTC timeline as the survey lines and streams it to the BlueCap server in real time through Starlink. Geophysicists inspect this record and apply it as the diurnal correction.
Same instrument in both roles. BlueCap uses the complete BlueCapBird® Light on the ground and suspended beneath a drone — not a different ground magnetometer.
No client-readable survey file remains on the bird. The encrypted link keeps flight operation and data entitlement separate: pilots can conduct and monitor acquisition, while only authorised project users can access the client's magnetic data through the secure portal.
The raw record is preserved. Automated checks can start after each flight; BlueCap geophysicists remain responsible for QC and interpretation-ready outputs.
A rejected line discovered after demobilisation costs another mobilisation or leaves a gap in the geological evidence. BlueCap makes coverage, incoming line behaviour and reference data visible during acquisition so the project team can act inside the field window.
Review coverage and incoming magnetic line data while acquisition continues, with the field team still able to respond.
Client and BlueCap geophysicists can inspect progress, raw and filtered views, 3D KML and magnetic heatmaps without travelling to site.
Identify gaps, degraded lines or acquisition issues before the mobilisation window closes.
Preserve the complete raw record while automated workflows and BlueCap geophysicist QC prepare usable outputs.
Related pages: turnkey airborne magnetic survey, BlueCapHeli® carrier, BlueCapLidar® terrain system and drone survey cost calculator.
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