Phoenix Geophysics MTU-8A User manual

MTU-8A
Quick Start Guide for MT
MTU-8A (components) ……...…………….. 2
MTU-8A …………………………..……........ 3
MT acquisition……...…………………..….... 4
Electric Channel Settings ……...………….. 5
Magnetic Channel Settings ……...……...… 6
Mixing Magnetic Sensor Types ….……...… 7
Saving a Configuration File ……………….. 8
MTU-8A Connections ……………………... 9
SD Card - Recording Data ………………... 10
Stopping a recording ……………………..... 11
Importing - Field QC ……………………….. 12
Field QC …………………………………...... 13
Process MT Data …………….……………... 14
Recording Details ………….………………. 15
Contact Support ….……………………….... 16
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Version: 230208 ID: DAA34

Components
1Power/Record button and indicator
2Display
3
E1 (Ex) electrode connectors
E2 (Ey) electrode connectors
4Ground electrode connector
512V DC power input
6LAN connector
7GPS antenna connector
8
H1 - H4 (Hx) magnetic sensor connector
H2 - H5 (Hy) magnetic sensor connector
H3 - H6 (Hz) magnetic sensor connector
9 SD card button and indicator
10 SD card slot and cover
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MTU-8A
The MTU-8A UMT (Ultra-Wideband MT) system,
supersedes older separate AMT, MT, BMT and
Long Period MT systems.
With 6 Magnetic channels, there is no longer any
need for expensive, separate deployments of
different systems to capture the necessary
spectrum; simplifying and saving money on
procurement, training, operation and
maintenance.
Designed with versatility in mind, the 8-channel
MTU-8A UMT receiver is compatible with all
Phoenix magnetic sensors and common
three-axis fluxgate sensors in the market.
This manual is intended for MT operations. The
MTU-8A can also be used for CSAMT recordings.
For more information on CSAMT consult the
CSAMT Operation manual (DAA31).
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1
Creating a Configuration File for
MT Acquisition
4
1. Click Prepare and select the Receiver
type as MTU-8A and click the MT button
2. Select the Schedule
2.1. Manual or Automatic Start
2.2. For a specific schedule, select Single Shot,
Daily or Weekly, and set the desired time
and date, and Save
○To add additional schedules, select Add
Schedule and define the additional times
and/or dates
3. Ethernet port (see the Networking Settings
manual)
4. Define the Channel Settings
5. Define the Receiver Settings
○ Sampling Mode
○Sampling Rate
6. Configuration Layout
To use the magnetic sensor data from a different recording or use a remote reference, all recordings must have a matching Sampling Mode
and Sampling Rates. Otherwise, EMpower will not allow to process the data using borrowed channels or remote reference
This section is used for inputting the
parameters and instrument details
that will be used for the recording Additional information
2.1
2.2
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3

Creating a Configuration File - Electric Channel Settings
1. Select the Electric channel
2. Enable or Disable the channel(s)
○Disable channels that you do not plan to
use during the recording. This will save
space on the SD card.
3. Select the desired Gain and Low Pass
Filter (LPF)
○For most applications, Normal Gain and 10
kHz Low Pass Filter are best
4. Type distances to the electrodes of
this channel, if known
○if not, they will need to be corrected later
before processing the data
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2Some settings can be configured by using the right-click menu

Creating a Configuration File - Magnetic Channel Settings
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1. Select a Magnetic channel
2. Enable or Disable channel(s)
○Disable channels that are not meant to be used for
recording data. This will save space on the SD card.
3. Select the correct Sensor Type
○If the sensor type is incorrect in the configuration file, the
receiver will display a warning message. However, the
recording will not be interrupted
○ Mixing sensor types is possible (Phoenix + Bartington /
Lemi) more details in the next page
4. Select the desired Gain and LPF
○For most broadband applications with MTC-100 series
sensors, Normal Gain and 10 kHz LPF are best
5. Type the Serial Number of the sensor if required
○There is no need to type serial number for sensors
MTC-155/MTC-185, since it will be automatically detected
by the receiver.
○For older sensors, type the serial number of each sensor.
If you don’t know this information in advance, keep field
notes to add this information later, after the recording is
imported into EMpower
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2
Some settings can be configured by using the right-click menu

Mixing Magnetic Sensor Types
EMpower allows to mix different sensor types,
with sets divided into two groups of three,
H1-H3 and H4-H6. It is possible to work with
mixed groups of Phoenix's new generation,
Phoenix legacy, Bartington, or Lemi sensors.
1. Select the sensor type for H1-H3 and
H4-H6
1.1. It is possible to work with a combination of
Phoenix’s new generation and legacy for
Example
H1-H3 MTC-50H+MTC-50H+MTC-185
H4-H6 MTC-150+MTC-155+MTC-80H
1.2. Lemi and Bartington works in groups of three
sensors at the time, can’t be mixed within the
same group
2. Configure each magnetic channel as
described in the previous slide
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H1-H3 H4-H6
It doesn’t apply
to Lemi or
Bartington. 1.1
1.2

Saving a Configuration File
1. Insert the SD Card
○ The computer must be equipped with an SD
card slot or use a USB card reader
2. Click the File menu
○Save or Ctrl+S
○Select the SD card
○EMpower will automatically create the file
“config.json”
3. Save the configuration file (config.json)
in the root folder of the SD card
4. Open the file explorer
○ Right click SD card drive
○Select Eject option
○Pull out the SD Card
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MTU-8A
Connections - Single site MT
Start by connecting:
1. Ground electrode
2. Electrodes to channel E1(Ex) (N+, S-) and
channel E2(Ey) (E+, W-)
3. Magnetic sensors to channels H1(Hx),
H2(Hy), H3(Hz), H4(Hx), H5(Hy), and H6(Hz)
as required
4. GPS antenna
5. 12V DC Power Source
6. Network connector
In the field, it is often most efficient to connect the
components to the receiver following the order on the right 9

SD Card - Recording Data
10
SD Card - Recording Data
Briefly press and release the power button
Starting Acquiring GPS Ready
SD
Briefly press and release the power button
Ready Channels Recording
Detection
SD
Automatic Start
The recording starts automatically
according to the schedule
Recording
SD
Indicators
Rapid, equal pulses
Solid color / Off
*For any problem with the SD Card,
check the Troubleshooting manual
Recording
1. Insert the SD card and close the
cap
2. To turn on the receiver, press the
Power button briefly, wait until both
LEDs are solid blue
2.1. LED pattern for Automatic Start
recording
3. If the schedule type was configured
as Manual, press the Power button
briefly and release to start recording
1
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3
2.1
The receiver auto-detects serial and model for magnetic sensors of the new
generation (MTC-155/185). The information about the sensor is updated on
the receiver screen only at power on and right after each recording starts.

Stopping a recording
Keep pressing the power button 3 sec and
release
Ready Shutdown Off
SD
Briefly press and release the power button
Recording Saving Ready
SD
1. Press the Power button briefly and release to stop
recording
○Wait until both LEDs are steady blue
2. Turn off the receiver by pressing the Power button for
a few seconds, until the LEDs will flash red
○Wait until both LEDs turn off
3. Eject the SD card
○Press the SD card and release, pull the SD card
Rapid, equal pulses
Solid color / Off
Indicators
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Importing - Field QC
1. Click the Field QC button
2. Select View data
3. Select the SD card
○ The recording creates two folders, log
and recdata
4. Open the recdata folder
○ Select the recording file
○ Click Choose
Receiver
Serial
Number
Recording
Date
Recording Start Time
(GPS timezone)
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1. Review the Recording Information
2. Review the Electrode Resistance values and
make the necessary corrections
○Electrode Distance (m) to GND
○ Polarity
○ E Azimuth
○ External Filter
3. Ensure that the magnetic sensors were detected
and make the necessary corrections
○ Serial #
○ Polarity
○ H1-H3 Azimuth
○ H4-H6 Azimuth
4. View Recording Details (see page 16)
5. After reviewing the information, Process the data
Field QC
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MTC-155
MTC-155
57404
57408
The warning icon indicates that
something might be wrong with the
recording, review the recording
information and make necessary
changes if needed. Hover mouse
pointer over the warning icon for
more information.
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This section can also be used to input
additional field information if desired
There were warnings detected in H1, H4, H5, H6
View warning icons for more details

Process Data
6. Select the local Reference type for the
channels
7. Select the default group of magnetic
channels to be used for processing
7.1. Or use the Select Manually button to
choose specific channels, this can be
done for both magnetic and electric
channels
8. Define the segment of time series to be
processed, select the Start and End
date/time, or use the arrows to define
the time period
9. Select the electric power grid filter
that corresponds to the frequency
carried by the power lines in the survey
area (50Hz, 60Hz, or None)
10. Click the Process button
11. A live display of the resistivity curve will
appear after a few seconds 14
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EMpower will process
only 3 magnetic
channels at the time
This resistivity curve can only be saved
as image. It is purely for QC purposes
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TestSensorDetect Serial 10024
For more details about the use of
the parameters requested for the
Field QC, consult the Data
Management manual (DAA15).
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7.1
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View Recording Details
Review that the following levels are
within valid limits for quality control:
1. Battery Voltage
2. Internal Temperature
3. Number of Satellites
4. Saturated Frames for each
channel
○If saturation is not close to ~0%, review
the channel configuration (see pages 5 - 7),
the channel gain might be too high and/or
there is artificial noise on your site
5. Time Series Levels for each
channel
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Contact support
1616
Please check out the FAQs
https://phoenixgeophysics.freshdesk.com/
Or email us at: [email protected]