Compact Quantum Magnetometer System on an Agile Underwater Glider

Abstract

This paper presents results from the integration of a compact quantum magnetometer system and an agile underwater glider for magnetic survey. A highly maneuverable underwater glider, ROUGHIE, was customized to carry an increased payload and reduce the vehicle’s magnetic signature. A sensor suite composed of a vector and scalar magnetometer was mounted in an external boom at the rear of the vehicle. The combined system was deployed in a constrained pool environment to detect seeded magnetic targets and create a magnetic map of the test area. Presented is a systematic magnetic disturbance reduction process, test procedure for anomaly mapping, and results from constrained operation featuring underwater motion capture system for ground truth localization. Validation in the noisy and constrained pool environment creates a trajectory towards affordable littoral magnetic anomaly mapping infrastructure. Such a marine sensor technology will be capable of extended operation in challenging areas while providing high-resolution, timely magnetic data to operators for automated detection and classification of marine objects.

Detection and Characterisation of Conductive Objects Using Electromagnetic Induction and a Fluxgate Magnetometer

“…This method can potentially be application to the detection of unexploded ordnance. For outdoor measurements, our setup could be mounted on a moving platform on land, or alternatively on an underwater glider [17] or an airborne drone [26,27]. Technical difficulties may arise due to additional noise from a moving platform.…”

“…It takes time and resources to identify the object, especially due to false signals from other metal objects and cultural features such as metal buildings, pipelines, and oil well casings. By measuring the secondary magnetic field of an electrically conductive object which is placed in a low frequency primary magnetic field, distinct spectral characteristics such as electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, object geometry, and size can be obtained [15][16][17].…”

A Robust Tracking Method for Multiple Moving Targets Based on Equivalent Magnetic Force

“…An essential application of magnetometers is the real-time tracking of magnetic targets [12]. The current development trend mainly has two aspects: firstly, the magnetic targets to be tracked are more and more abundant, and their motion states are more and more complex [13,14]; secondly, the tracking methods have gradually developed from the initial use of the total field magnetometer to the combination of multiple magnetometers [15,16], such as the combination of vector magnetometer and tensor magnetometer. This is because the total field magnetometer can only recognize the targets' existence within its detection range through changing magnetic field value from the magnetic anomaly, but it cannot track moving targets due to lack of directivity [17,18].…”

Detection and characterisation of conductive objects using electromagnetic induction and a fluxgate magnetometer

“…It takes time and resources to identify the object, especially due to false signals from other metal objects and cultural features such as metal buildings, pipelines and oil well casings. By measuring the secondary magnetic field of an electrically conductive object which is placed in a low frequency primary magnetic field, distinct spectral characteristics such as electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, object geometry and size can be obtained [12][13][14].…”