Multi-scene mobile absolute gravity surveying by developing a vehicle-mounted static-base atom interferometry gravimeter

Abstract

Land-based absolute gravity measurement are of interest to various fields, including geodesy, geophysics, seismic observations, and military. Currently, indoor static, outdoor transportable or vehicle-mounted base-less absolute gravimeters are either lacking in mobility or precision, thus reducing practicality. Here, we propose and report a novel vehicle-mounted static-base atom interferometry absolute gravimeter, where the sensing section can be decoupled from the vehicle and rigidly coupled to the ground during gravity measurements by employing a liftable structure attached to the static-base platform. The measurement performances have been evaluated under on-board static conditions, illustrating sensitivity of 570 μGal/Hz, long-term stability of about 10 μGal, and precision of about 20 μGal. The system can determine the local absolute gravitational acceleration within mere minutes of parking, which has been demonstrated in different conditions with bias of 10 to 100 μGal, such as urban and mountain as well as highway spanning nearly 1000 kilometers. This gravimeter proves particularly suitable for point-to-point absolute gravity surveys in vehicle-mobile form during broad-area or long-travel missions.