The project was initiated and first published on the Geotech forum in 2005 by Willy Bayot (Belgium) , Data Processing Engineer
He was soon joined by Jim Koehler (BC, Canada) , Doctor in Physics and retired professor at the Saskatchewan University.
During the period from 2005 to 2008, many prototype versions were developed and tested in lab and beta-tested on the field.
A first model, the Mark II was developed in 2008 and offered for sale .
Several successive versions were developed and released while a PC-based control program was developed in parallel .
Many improvements have been made through the development of micro processors and other components , but also in response to specific user requests.
System Upgrade History :
2008 : The Mark II version corresponds to the pair of new electronic cards
2009: first marine version of the sensor , PC connection through USB cable and first version of the PC-based control software, ‘GPS Viewer‘
End 2009 : MarkIII with Measurement function of magnetic field for tuning .
2010 : Integration of a GPS module with patch antenna
2011 : Second marine version of the sensor
2012 : Sensor coil wound with aluminum wire to make the underground sensors lighter to carry.
2012 : PPM Utility : redesign of the software , the new name
2013 : redesign of digital filtering for use in volcanic area
2013 : PPM Utility : geo-referencing function .
2013 : Mark IV with Automated Tuning function
2014 : Bluetooth connection prototyping
2014 : PPM Utility : 2D color grid generation function and contouring
2014 : Many specialized features developed for UXO detection operations including automatic targets marking and depth evaluation.
2014 : Mark VII : Color display, new keypad and integrated Bluetooth module.
The MarkVII model will probably be our last PPM device version as it is now mature enough to deal with all the types of operation our clients require.
New project ideas
See details here : Underwater PPM
