This page summarizes the new user-facing features and the changes that can affect existing projects for every release after the last validated baseline, 15.3.29, up to and including 15.4.8. For the detailed, per-build list see the Release Notes.

New features since 15.3.29

Post-processing & classification

  • Decision Plots: new style (15.4.3). A higher-quality Decision Plot layout with a document-control header (site, document type/title/ID, prepared/approved), the measured and all three best-matching library polarizabilities, amplitude in uV/A, data-fit and classification details, and a per-model library comparison page. The Generate Dig List Reports dialog now includes a Filter selection: choosing the Dig List filter outputs all sources on the dig list, including redundant models (the Non-Redundant filter outputs only non-redundant sources). The Dig List Excel report also hyperlinks each Target / Fast ID to its Decision Plot PDF. New-style plots require a one-time Decision Plot runtime (installed automatically); when it is unavailable BTField produces the older-style plots. See Decision Plots.
  • Library source-file column (15.4.3). The Polarizability Library Configuration dialog now shows a Source H5 column with each item’s originating .h5 filename, and Export Library now exports every item in the configuration (including items hidden by an active filter). The library is installed separately, so re-import the updated library to populate the source filename. See Library Configuration.
  • Validation of System (VoS) Scoring report (15.4.5). A new Dig List and VoS Score option on the Generate Dig List Reports dialog scores a production survey against emplaced ground-truth validation targets and produces an Excel report with a ROC curve, supporting the Full VoS deliverable in the software-control SOP. Validation targets are drawn with a distinct outline colour and are excluded from inversion, and the report is built from the Non-Redundant Dig List. See Validation of System (VoS) Scoring.
  • Metric Navigator fixes (15.4.2). The Metric Navigator now populates on first load of a survey and no longer errors when the view is not present.
  • Non-redundant dig-list ordering (15.4.2). The Non-Redundant dig list is ordered by stage match so the polarizability display matches the assigned dig numbers (dig numbers themselves are unchanged).
  • Polarizability post-processing pipeline (15.3.45). BTField now runs a native port of the UXOLab QCZilla pol routines (zero/negative interpolation, initial whole-curve relabel, population de-spike, floor, and final sort). Both the raw (.polraw) and processed (.pol) polarizabilities are persisted on inversion, HDF5 import, and library import, and the processed curves are used for library matching. The default axis sort ranks axes by their summed response over the late-time gates (time > 0.262 ms); a per-gate sort option is also available. New Process Predicted Pols (per-survey) and Process Library Pols (shared library) flows are available with a settings dialog. See Polarizability Post-Processing.
  • UXOLab-parity Data Fit metric (15.3.43). A more robust Data Fit metric that matches the UXOLab calculation. See Metrics View.
  • Export Library button (15.3.35) in the Polarizability Library Configuration dialog, and the originating HDF5 filename is now recorded for imported library items. See Library Configuration.
  • Auto-MQO IVS background subtraction (15.3.42). Background subtraction is now allowed in an Auto MQO IVS survey. See IVS Processing.

Performance & reliability

  • Large-survey database handling (15.4.3). Performance and reliability improvements when committing large surveys to the database, reducing errors during Auto-Invert on large datasets.
  • Lower memory use on large projects (15.4.x). The Auto-Invert flow reclaims memory before inversion, and merged data can optionally be loaded unfiltered for faster processing on large surveys.
  • Team Processing cancellation refinements (15.4.6, 15.4.7). More reliable cancellation of a Team Processing session, with automatic cleanup of any blank inversions left behind and a refresh of the open survey. See Team Processing.
  • Cell extraction radius log units (15.4.6). The Cell extraction radius is now written to the log in metres (previously pixels).

Gridding, display & geospatial

  • Delaunay-linear gridding method (15.3.37), selectable per workspace.
  • Runtime colour-palette selector (15.3.36) in the Set Ranges form, the new Spectral (QGIS_1) palette, and a new default colormap.
  • Shapefile / WKT / GeoTIFF geospatial I/O (15.3.31) with a coordinate-reference-system (CRS) picker, plus site-polygon colour management and bulk edit.
  • Geospatial point-layer round-trip & automatic CRS labelling (15.4.8). Exported point layers re-import as points (not a connecting line) with their Type/Sub-type and per-point labels preserved, and exports label the .prj with the correct UTM zone automatically, even for surveys supplied already-projected or in UTM. See Geospatial Import & Export.
  • Overlay Easting/Northing points layer (15.3.38) with persistent per-point labels.
  • Configurable Polar-only tile layout (15.3.31) with auto-fit for up to 36 models.

Detection & picking

  • Tabbed Detect Targ dialog (15.3.38) separating grid-based and profile-based (Pick-on-Lines) controls, with tooltips on every setting.
  • Pick-on-Lines exposed as a checkbox with threshold/polarity fixes (15.3.37).

Acquisition & sensor support

  • UT5-firmware support (15.3.46): ALT sensor merge fix and support for merging three ALT sensors.
  • ALT2 / ALT3 merge fixes (15.4.1): additional ALT sensors are correctly included when merging.
  • 5Tx towed-array cleaning (15.4.3): the interp all members cleaning option is supported for 5-transmitter towed arrays.
  • New sensor/project registrations: Troodon-Screener-IV (15.3.32), UT4-SurfRover (15.3.33), UT4-TPH (15.3.39).
  • First-available Rx time base (15.3.30): surveys missing Rx1 data can still be snipped and detrended.

Reporting

  • Named Excel export sheets in the Dig List report (15.3.51): exports now use meaningful worksheet names (Cover Sheet, Dig List (All), Summary, Dig List (Non-Redundant)) instead of Sheet1/Sheet2/Sheet3.

Upgrade impact: read before upgrading an existing project

Project upgrades

Opening a project in a newer build automatically updates it in place, adding storage for the new features (gridding method and palette, imported-file tracking, overlay-point labels, and polarizability post-processing settings).

Changes that can affect results

  • Polarizability post-processing (15.3.45) changes the polarizability curves that feed library matching. Classification results for a project processed on 15.3.45+ can differ from the same project processed on an earlier build. Review the pol-processing defaults in Processing Defaults before reprocessing production data.
  • Gridding method (15.3.37) is now selectable and remembered per workspace. Because target picking runs on the permanent grid, changing the method can change detection results.
  • UXOLab-parity Data Fit metric (15.3.43) changes reported Data Fit values relative to earlier builds.
  • Bank time-base resilience (15.3.41): merges are now resilient to HalfSampTimeInc differences between bank streams that are not GPS-synchronized during collection, which can change merged output for affected surveys.

Environment & installation

  • Decision Plot runtime (15.4.3): new-style Decision Plots require an additional runtime that the installer sets up automatically during an administrator install or upgrade. On a machine with no internet access during installation, BTField produces the older-style Decision Plots until the runtime is added (via a Repair or a later upgrade). See Software Installation.
  • FIPS-enforced networks (15.3.40): license decryption now works on networks where the Windows FIPS policy is enforced, via a documented opt-out in the application configuration. See Software Installation.
  • Installer third-party signing (15.3.51): the installer now ships an Oracle-signed libmysql.dll and OpenSSL 3 pair, resolving anti-virus quarantine failures that could block gdal.dll from loading on some customer machines.
  • Startup install-integrity check (15.3.45): BTField verifies its installed native dependencies at startup.

Merged H5 V1 elevation (existing known issue)

Data exported as merged H5 V1 from a multi-receiver array on 15.3.19 or lower contains a double lever-arm elevation offset. Re-import affected data using 15.3.24 or higher so the correction is applied on import. See Known Issues.

Resolved known issues

The following previously documented issues are resolved in this range:

  • Metric Navigator not populating on first survey load (fixed 15.4.2).
  • IMLI inversions incorrect with “all lines” (fixed 15.3.32).
  • Secondary digs not getting selected / dig-list lock loss (fixed 15.3.49 and 15.3.51).
  • HDF5 import not updating survey extents (fixed 15.3.29).

See Known Issues for the current list.