Firefly Algorithm for Transient Electromagnetic Inversion

Transient electromagnetic (TEM) method is widely used in regional mineral resources surveys, environmental engineering geological surveys and shallow surface geophysical exploration, and so on. However, interpretation and inversion of TEM data is a complicated process. The traditional algorithm of TEM inversion employs the “smoke ring” fast imaging method, which can only reflect the approximate morphology of the stratigraphic model, and the inversion accuracy is low. Therefore, this method cannot meet the requirements of high-precision inversion. In this article, we present the firefly algorithm (FA) technology for TEM inversion. First of all, the response of the rectangular loop source TEM based on electric dipole integration was calculated and compared with the analytical solution results of the rectangular loop source and the accuracy of the algorithm was verified. Then, a layered medium model was established. The FA technology and “smoke ring” fast imaging method were used to perform inversion calculation, and the influence of random noise on the accuracy of the FA algorithm was analyzed. The results show that the FA has a high degree of fitting to the model, good anti-noise property, and fast search speed. Next, to illustrate the application effect of the FA algorithm in pseudo 2-D inversion, the 2-D model was established. The results show that the FA algorithm can reflect the distribution of the anomalous body more accurately, especially for the low-resistance anomalous body. Finally, we examined the effectiveness of the FA for TEM data processing by inverting survey data and comparing the results with those from the “smoke ring” fast imaging and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms. The research works provide new methods and techniques for TEM data processing.