Receivers: The Zonge ZEN Rx6 was the world's first ultra wide-band EM geophysics receiver system. It was co-developed by Zonge International, Inc. (Tucson, Arizona), and Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) under a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation award. Please see NGF Equipment Request Form under "NGF Request/Info" menu on the left to reserve ZEN Rx6 instruments for your survey or experiment.

The Zonge ZEN Rx6 (shown above with NGF manufactured electrodes and a custom LEMI fluxgate magnetometer) is a flexible system that can be configured two different ways:

  1. Up to 16 units (plus 3 more under construction) of dc and micro-Hz to 4 KHz data acquisition with 32 bit precision at 256 Hz sample rates (approximately 130 dB signal-to-noise ratio on input). The data can be recorded continuously at full speed. The system has 10^9 ohms input impedance, and typically is configured to acquire 5 channels of sensors (electric field, magnetic field or others), although other configurations are possible. Please contact us for custom configurations.
  2. Up to 10 units of 1 KHz to 1.8  MHz high frequency data acquisition  with 24 bit precision (approximately 100-110 dB signal-to-noise ratio on input, depending on frequency). The data can either be recorded continuously at lower speeds, or it can be recorded in bursts at higher speeds. Other parameters are as described above.

Sensors: The NGF can equip Zonge ZEN Rx6 receivers with custom-designed LEMI fluxgate magnetometers covering the frequency range of micro-Hz to 0.1 Hz, or Zonge ANT/6 induction coil magnetic field sensors covering the range of 0.1 Hz to 300 KHz, or ANT/4 induction coils covering the range of 0.00001 Hz to 650 Hz, or any combination thereof. Newly designed ANT/7 induction coils, with performance similar to ANT4 coils, but physically more compact, are also now available. We have 30 internally powered ANT/6 coils, 18 externally powered (by Rx6 receivers) ANT/4 coils, and 27 externally powered (by Rx6 receivers) ANT/7 coils. Six of our Rx6 receivers are modified to provide power to the ANT/4 and ANT/7 coils, while ten are unmodified so currently can only operate with the ANT/6 coils. The unmodified Rx6 receivers allow signal inputs from both MILSPEC cable harnesses and from Pomona (banana) plugs. The modified Rx6 receivers have allow only for MILSPEC cable harness inputs. The modified Rx6 receivers have improved noise spec and reduced crosstalk between channels, but otherwise have the same technical specifications as the unmodified units.

We can  provide stable and environmentally benign OSU-manufactured dual chamber Pb-PbCl2 gel-type electrodes to use in measuring electric field variations. (Note - a new generation of electrodes is currently in development that uses non-toxic materials and that will be shippable around the world - check back for more details).

Field computers can be supplied, if available, equipped with a newly developed Python-based instrument graphical user interface (GUI), or with our legacy LabView Virtual Instrument GUI to set up and operate the Zonge ZEN Rx6 and the Narod NIMS receiver systems, or the software can be loaded on to your field computers.