A revolutionary tool for subsurface exploration that uses ‘virtual boreholes’ to provide accurate data on rock layers has been officially recognised by the International Journal of Remote Sensing (IJRS). Adrok, the Scottish-based developers of Atomic Dielectric Resonance (ADR) technology, submitted the technical paper to the industry journal–which has been published in the latest edition.
ADR is used as a geophysical technique to provide a precision instrument for the accurate geological recognition of rock layers and identification of rock types. It uses low-power radio wave and microwave transmissions to achieve deeper subsurface penetration. The technology was developed by Dr G. Colin Stove, a founding member of Adrok in 1997, from his experience working with radar sensors on the Space Shuttle SIR-B experiment.
Having spent years commercialising the technology, Adrok offer the ADR scanner as a geophysical service to a number of exploration industries including oil and gas, coal, minerals and other group metals and has customers in the UK, Canada and Australia. It reduces the number of drill holes required during exploration saving companies time, money and also offers a non-destructive, environmentally friendly way of remotely deducing subsurface technology.
The technical paper reports on field tests carried out by Adrok in Central Scotland and recorded accurate measurements of the rock layers at a variety of penetration depths, the deepest being 700m. The results were confirmed from nearby boreholes.
Gordon Stove, Managing Director of Adrok and one of the authors of the paper, said: “We have always been confident in ADR technology and its potential to offer a cheaper, faster and greener alternative to existing exploration techniques. Our current customers have already recognised the benefits of ADR and as a result we recently received an investment of £3M from Canada’s Teck Resources to carry out more developments on the technology.
“However, to have the work accepted by our peers at the IJSR is a huge triumph for us in terms of establishing ADR as a real alternative to current testing methods and we are looking forward to developing the technology in the future.”
The International Journal of Remote Sensing is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to publishing research papers in all fields of the science and technology of remote sensing. The technical paper is called ‘Ground penetrating abilities of a new coherent radio wave and microwave imaging spectrometer’ can the full paper can be viewed here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01431161.2012.713529
ENDS
For further information:
Denise Fraser
Stirling Associates
[email protected]
0131 556 7977
About Adrok
Adrok was founded by Dr. Colin Stove, the inventor of the technology, and his sonGordon in 1997. Since then, in addition to government funding, Adrok has invested over£3 million to advance and commercialise the technology. Adrok launched its firstcommercial services offering, called “Predrilling Virtual Logging”, in the summer of 2007.
www.adrokgroup.com