Recent advances in the research of autonomous vehicles have showed a vast range of applications, such as exploration, surveillance and environmental monitoring. Considering the mining industry, it is possible to use such vehicles in the prospection of minerals of commercial interest beneath the ground. However, tasks such as geophysical surveys are highly dependent on specific sensors, which mostly are not designed to be used in these new range of autonomous vehicles. In this work, we propose a novel magnetic survey pipeline that aims to increase versatility, speed and robustness by using autonomous rotary-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). We also discuss the development of a state-of-the-art three-axis fluxgate, where our goal in this work was to refine and adjust the sensor topology and coupled electronics specifically for this type of vehicle and application. The sensor was built with two ring-cores using a specially developed stress-annealed CoFeSiB amorphous ribbon, in order to get sufficient resolution to detect concentrations of small ferrous minerals. Finally, we report on the results of experiments performed with a real UAV in an outdoor environment, showing the efficacy of the methodology in detecting an artificial ferrous anomaly.

Abstract. Borehole temperature data from the eastern parts of Brazil has been examined in an attempt to extract information on surface thermal perturbations of the recent past at low latitudes. Forward models were employed in the analysis of temperature logs from 17 localities and, in addition, Bayesian inverse modeling was carried out for data from 14 selected sites. The model results have allowed determination of the magnitude as well as the duration of ground surface temperature (GST) changes in three major geographic zones of Brazil. Prominent among such changes are the warming episodes that occurred over much of the subtropical highland regions in the southeastern parts of Brazil. The present magnitude of GST changes in this region are in the range of 2 to 3.5 • C but have had their beginning during the early decades of the 20th century. Nearly similar trends are also seen in temperature-depth profiles of bore holes in the subtropical humid zones of the interior and coastal areas of southern Brazil. The data from semi arid zones of northeast Brazil also indicate occurrence of surface warming events but the magnitudes are in the range of 1.4 to 2.2 • C while the duration of the warming event is larger, extending back into the last decades of the 19th century. There are indications that changes in both climate and vegetation cover contribute to variations in GST. Thus the magnitudes of GST variations are relatively large in localities which have undergone changes in vegetation cover. Also there are indications that GST changes are practically insignificant in areas of tropical rain forest. Another important result emerging from model studies is that the climate was relatively cooler during the 17th and 18th centuries. The climate histories, deduced from geothermal data, are found to be consistent with results of available meteorological records in southern Brazil. Comparative studies also indicate that the magnitudes and duration of recent climate changes in southern and eastern Brazil are similar to those found in other continental areas such as North America, Asia and Europe.Correspondence to: V. M. Hamza (hamza@on.br)

A study was made of the variation of the magnetic properties of cobalt-based alloys using different compositions of CoFeSiB and CoFeSiBCr systems, which were produced by the melt-spinning technique and some of them subjected to a stress annealing treatment. A comparative study of core geometry and supporting material was also performed in order to obtain low noise fluxgate sensor core using amorphous magnetic ribbons of these alloys. The best alloy was a stress annealed Co67.5Fe3.5Si17.4B11.6 sample, which yielded fluxgate sensors with lower noise levels than those of commercial crystalline materials

Recebido em 11 de junho de 2015. Aceito em 8 de novembro de 2015 Cada vez mais, o uso de computadores (especialmente utilizando programas de acesso livre)é aproveitado no ensino de ciências em geral e, em particular, de física. Por outro lado, a instrumentação científica continua sendo cara e de difícil manutenção. Finalmente,é desejável que os estudantes consigam ir além da simples reprodução de resultados conhecidos e que, com as ferramentas ao seu alcance, consigam resolver problemas novos ou desenhar equipamentos que possam representar avanços originais. Por esta razão, sistemas versáteis de simulação (a custos relativamente baixos) são muito bem recebidos pela comunidade científica e acadêmica, seja para fins puramente didáticos, seja para fins de pesquisa científica ou desenvolvimento instrumental. Seguindo estas linhas, este artigo descreve a construção de um instrumento virtual usando um sistema de aquisição de dados que integra um conhecido software e um método físico particular. O dispositivo permite plotar as curvas dos dados adquiridos e fazer diferentes análises sobre os mesmos. Mesmo tendo sido desenvolvido para uma aplicação particular (obter curvas de histerese de fitas magnéticas macias), o sistemaé suficientemente flexível como para ser utilizado, após pequenas mudanças, em outras aplicações magnéticas, ou após mudanças um pouco mais trabalhosas, em instrumentos para a medição de outras grandezas físicas. O artigo, por fim, dá os passos necessários para a abordagem de outros problemas que envolvam a aquisição de dados e o processamento dos mesmos. Palavras-chave: instrumentação virtual, LabVIEW software/hardware, curva de histerese e caracterização magnética.Increasingly, the use of computers (especially using open-access programs) is tapped in science education in general and particularly in Physics. Furthermore, the scientific instrumentation remains costly and difficult to maintain. Finally, it is desirable that students are able to go beyond the simple reproduction of known results, and that with the tools at their disposal, can solve new problems or designing equipment that can represent unique advances. For these reasons, versatile simulation systems (at relatively low cost), are very well received by the scientific and academic communities, either for purely educational purposes, either for scientific research or instrumental development. Following these lines, this article describes the construction of a virtual instrument using a data acquisition system, which includes a well-known software and a particular physical method. The device allows to plot the curves of acquired data and make different analyzes on them. Although it was designed for a particular application (obtaining hysteresis curves of soft magnetic tapes), the system is flexible enough to be used after minor changes in other magnetic applications, or after changes slightly more laborious, as instruments for measuring other physical quantities.

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