Non‐oriented cesium sensors for airborne magnetometry and gradiometry

Geophysics ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 2024-2031 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Hardwick

Optically pumped magnetometers are characterized by an optimal angle between their optical axes and the direction of the magnetic field they are sensing. Departure from the optimal angle causes a shift in the Larmor frequency with a corresponding error in the scalar value of the magnetic field being measured. To minimize this error, magnetometers are conventionally either mounted in multiple sensor clusters such that the errors tend to cancel, or they are mechanically oriented to maintain the optimal angle with respect to the magnetic field vector. Recent cesium vapor magnetometers using a split‐beam technique have a sufficiently flat error characteristic that they can be flown in a non‐oriented or “strap‐down” configuration. This configuration has advantages with respect to conventional methods in terms of reduced size and weight and of greatly reduced cost. This paper describes two fixed orientations for a particular split‐beam magnetometer and calculates the allowable maneuver envelope for all dip angles from 0 to 90 degrees. It is shown that the residual orientation errors can best be handled by the conventional type of magnetic interference compensation model that must, in any case, be implemented in digital form for high‐sensitivity magnetometry or for any type of gradiometry. The National Aeronautical Establishment (NAE) of the National Research Council of Canada has flown strap‐down magnetometers in a three‐axis gradiometer array in a Convair 580 for several years. Results for the entire normal maneuver envelope of the aircraft, including 30 degree bank turns, have equalled or surpassed those obtained with oriented magnetometers. Several typical maneuver compensation results are presented that gave root‐mean‐square (rms) (one‐sigma) residual errors as low as 0.03 gammas (γ) for total field and 3.5 mgammas/m (mγ/m) for lateral gradient.

1972 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bhowmik

The influence of finite Larmor frequency on the stability of a viscous, finitely conducting liquid in a downward gravitational field under the influence of a uniform magnetic field directed along or normal to gravity, is investigated. The solution in each case is shown to be characterized by a variational principle Based on the variational principle, an approximate solution is obtained for the stability of a layer of fluid of constant kinematic viscosity and an exponentia density distribution. It has been found that finite resistivity and finite Larmor frequency do not introduce any instabifity in a potentially stable configuration. However, for a potentially unstable configuration we find that, for an ideal Hal plasma, the results depend on the orientation of the magnetic field, though the instability persists for all wave-numbers in the presence of non-ideal (finite resistivity and viscosity) effects. For the field aligned with gravity, it is found that a potentially unstable field-free configuration is stabilized if the buoyancy number B ( = gβ/12 V2) is less than unity. For B > 1, the instability arises for wave-numbers exceeding a critical value, which decreases on allowing for Hall terms in the generalized Ohm's law, suggesting a destabilizing influence of finite Larmor frequency. For an ambient horizontal magnetic field, it is found that an ideal plasma is stable, even for B > 0, for perturbations confined to a cone about the magnetic field vector. The angle of the cone of stable propagation, however, decreases on account of finite Larmor frequency.


2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A191 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Benko ◽  
S. J. González Manrique ◽  
H. Balthasar ◽  
P. Gömöry ◽  
C. Kuckein ◽  
...  

Context. It has been empirically determined that the umbra-penumbra boundaries of stable sunspots are characterized by a constant value of the vertical magnetic field. Aims. We analyzed the evolution of the photospheric magnetic field properties of a decaying sunspot belonging to NOAA 11277 between August 28–September 3, 2011. The observations were acquired with the spectropolarimeter on-board of the Hinode satellite. We aim to prove the validity of the constant vertical magnetic-field boundary between the umbra and penumbra in decaying sunspots. Methods. A spectral-line inversion technique was used to infer the magnetic field vector from the full-Stokes profiles. In total, eight maps were inverted and the variation of the magnetic properties in time were quantified using linear or quadratic fits. Results. We find a linear decay of the umbral vertical magnetic field, magnetic flux, and area. The penumbra showed a linear increase of the vertical magnetic field and a sharp decay of the magnetic flux. In addition, the penumbral area quadratically decayed. The vertical component of the magnetic field is weaker on the umbra-penumbra boundary of the studied decaying sunspot compared to stable sunspots. Its value seem to be steadily decreasing during the decay phase. Moreover, at any time of the sunspot decay shown, the inner penumbra boundary does not match with a constant value of the vertical magnetic field, contrary to what is seen in stable sunspots. Conclusions. During the decaying phase of the studied sunspot, the umbra does not have a sufficiently strong vertical component of the magnetic field and is thus unstable and prone to be disintegrated by convection or magnetic diffusion. No constant value of the vertical magnetic field is found for the inner penumbral boundary.


Author(s):  
Yu.V. Maslennikov ◽  
◽  
◽  

There are a large number of sensors for measuring the magnetic field of biological objects. They are characterized by the type of the measured physical parameter (magnetic field strength, magnetic flux, etc.), the level of intrinsic sensitivity, and the frequency range of the recorded signals. The long-term practice of studying biomagnetic signals shows that only SQUID-based magnetometers and optically pumped magnetometers have sensitivity levels sufficient for recording biomagnetic signals with the required signal-to-noise ratio. This chapter reflects the main directions of using such magnetometers and methods of magnetic measurements in biomedical research, gives examples of existing technical solutions, and shows possible ways of their further development.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 6450
Author(s):  
Sharanabasaweshwara Asundi ◽  
Norman Fitz-Coy ◽  
Haniph Latchman

Pico- and nano-satellites, due to their form factor and size, are limited in accommodating multiple or redundant attitude sensors. For such satellites, Murrell’s implementation of the extended Kalman filter (EKF) can be exploited to accommodate multiple sensor configurations from a set of non redundant attitude sensors. The paper describes such an implementation involving a sun sensor suite and a magnetometer as attitude sensors. The implementation exploits Murrell’s EKF to enable three sensor configurations, which can be operationally commanded, for satellite attitude estimation. Among the three attitude estimation schemes, (i) sun sensor suite and magnetometer, (ii) magnetic field vector and its time derivative and (iii) magnetic field vector, it is shown that the third configuration is better suited for attitude estimation in terms of precision and accuracy, but can consume more time to converge than the other two.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (24) ◽  
pp. eaba8792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Yudong Ding ◽  
Yulong Feng ◽  
Xiang Peng ◽  
...  

Understanding the relationship between brain activity and specific mental function is important for medical diagnosis of brain symptoms, such as epilepsy. Magnetoencephalography (MEG), which uses an array of high-sensitivity magnetometers to record magnetic field signals generated from neural currents occurring naturally in the brain, is a noninvasive method for locating the brain activities. The MEG is normally performed in a magnetically shielded room. Here, we introduce an unshielded MEG system based on optically pumped atomic magnetometers. We build an atomic magnetic gradiometer, together with feedback methods, to reduce the environment magnetic field noise. We successfully observe the alpha rhythm signals related to closed eyes and clear auditory evoked field signals in unshielded Earth’s field. Combined with improvements in the miniaturization of the atomic magnetometer, our method is promising to realize a practical wearable and movable unshielded MEG system and bring new insights into medical diagnosis of brain symptoms.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nak Ko ◽  
Seokki Jeong ◽  
Suk-seung Hwang ◽  
Jae-Young Pyun

This paper proposes a method of estimating the attitude of an underwater vehicle. The proposed method uses two field measurements, namely, a gravitational field and a magnetic field represented in terms of vectors in three-dimensional space. In many existing methods that convert the measured field vectors into Euler angles, the yaw accuracy is affected by the uncertainty of the gravitational measurement and by the uncertainty of the magnetic field measurement. Additionally, previous methods have used the magnetic field measurement under the assumption that the magnetic field has only a horizontal component. The proposed method utilizes all field measurement components as they are, without converting them into Euler angles. The bias in the measured magnetic field vector is estimated and compensated to take full advantage of all measured field vector components. Because the proposed method deals with the measured field independently, uncertainties in the measured vectors affect the attitude estimation separately without adding up. The proposed method was tested by conducting navigation experiments with an unmanned underwater vehicle inside test tanks. The results were compared with those obtained by other methods, wherein the Euler angles converted from the measured field vectors were used as measurements.


2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2713-2732 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Carr ◽  
P. Brown ◽  
T. L. Zhang ◽  
J. Gloag ◽  
T. Horbury ◽  
...  

Abstract. One of the primary objectives of the Double Star mission is the accurate measurement of the magnetic field vector along the orbits of the two spacecraft. The magnetic field is an essential parameter for the understanding of space plasma processes and is also required for the effective interpretation of data from the other instruments on the spacecraft. We present the design of the magnetic field instrument onboard both of the Double Star spacecraft and an overview of the performance as measured first on-ground and then in-orbit. We also report the results of in-flight calibration of the magnetometers, and the processing methods employed to produce the final data products which are provided to Double Star investigators, and the wider community in general. Particular attention is paid to the techniques developed for removing magnetic interference generated by the solar arrays on the first (equatorial orbiting) spacecraft. Results from the first year of operations are reviewed in the context of combined observations by Double Star and Cluster, and examples given from the different regions visited by the spacecraft to date.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (25n26) ◽  
pp. 1542041
Author(s):  
Yujie Qin ◽  
Yiyun Lu

In this paper, the magnetic fields end-face effect of high temperature superconducting (HTS) bulk over a permanent magnetic guideway (PMG) is researched with 3D-modeling numerical method. The electromagnetic behavior of the bulk is simulated using finite element method (FEM). The framework is formulated by the magnetic field vector method (H-method). A superconducting levitation system composed of one rectangular HTS bulk and one infinite long PMG is successfully investigated using the proposed method. The simulation results show that for finite geometrical HTS bulk, even the applied magnetic field is only distributed in [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] plane, the magnetic field component Hz which is along the [Formula: see text]-axis can be observed interior the HTS bulk.


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