A Review on Multirotor UAV-based Magnetic Surveys for Near-Surface Targets

The development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has led to extensive investigations of the applicability of magnetic surveys using various UAV systems, such as a recent multirotor UAV-based magnetic survey. Herein, we analyzed studies that focused on the detection of near-surface targets. In particular, recent studies have examined the installation position and configuration of the magnetometer, and the usage of sensors to improve the positioning accuracy of the multirotor UAVs. We introduced data analysis and processing methods to consider noise generated by multirotor UAVs, and various interpretation methods. The cases presented here show that multirotor UAV-based magnetic surveys have strengths in small-scale target detection with close-to-surface flight and that high-resolution data can be acquired through precise flight for the survey area. This technology is expected to be particularly useful for the detection of man-made objects and subsurface infrastructures, and for archaeological prospection.