Finite element based inversion of AEM data using stochastic optimization

doi:10.1071/ASEG2012ab248

Finite element based inversion of AEM data using stochastic optimization

Christoph Schwartzbach and Eldad Haber

ASEG Extended Abstracts 2012(1) 1 - 4
Published: 01 April 2012

Abstract

Modern data acquisition technology in airborne electromagnetic (AEM) produces huge data sets which cover areas of considerable extent. Both the large size of the domain of interest, in general a three-dimensional volume, and the large number of transmitters and receivers pose challenges to any type of modelling or inversion software. Solutions to the inverse problem requires repeated solves of the forward problem. The time to solve one forward problem in turn scales linearly with the number of transmitters. In this paper we examine scholastic optimization techniques for the solution of the inverse problem which essentially allows us to work with small subsets of transmitters/receivers and, thus, reduce the computational load significantly.