Design of the Magnetoresistive Magnetometer for ESA’s SOSMAG Project

Leitner, Stefan; Valavanoglou, A.; Brown, P.; Hagen, Chris; Magnes, W.; Whiteside, B.; Carr, C.; Delva, M.; Baumjohann, W.

doi:10.1109/tmag.2014.2358270

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…Magnetoresistance based devices usually involve magnetic field induced changes in resistance of complex layered ferromagnetic structures, some of which include ordinary (OMR), anisotropic (AMR), giant (GMR), and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR). Although many forms of magnetoresistive sensors exist, only a few have been considered for space missions, those mainly being AMR272829303132 and also TMR33. Though these sensors have shown much progress in the past few years (e.g.…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vectorized magnetometer for space applications using electrical readout of atomic scale defects in silicon carbide

Cochrane

Blacksberg

Anders

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Magnetometers are essential for scientific investigation of planetary bodies and are therefore ubiquitous on missions in space. Fluxgate and optically pumped atomic gas based magnetometers are typically flown because of their proven performance, reliability, and ability to adhere to the strict requirements associated with space missions. However, their complexity, size, and cost prevent their applicability in smaller missions involving cubesats. Conventional solid-state based magnetometers pose a viable solution, though many are prone to radiation damage and plagued with temperature instabilities. In this work, we report on the development of a new self-calibrating, solid-state based magnetometer which measures magnetic field induced changes in current within a SiC pn junction caused by the interaction of external magnetic fields with the atomic scale defects intrinsic to the semiconductor. Unlike heritage designs, the magnetometer does not require inductive sensing elements, high frequency radio, and/or optical circuitry and can be made significantly more compact and lightweight, thus enabling missions leveraging swarms of cubesats capable of science returns not possible with a single large-scale satellite. Additionally, the robustness of the SiC semiconductor allows for operation in extreme conditions such as the hot Venusian surface and the high radiation environment of the Jovian system.

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Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vectorized magnetometer for space applications using electrical readout of atomic scale defects in silicon carbide

Cochrane

Blacksberg

Anders

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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“…At the current noise levels, other technologies such as AMR sensors [e.g., Brown et al, 2012;Leitner et al, 2015] provide competitive performance and are well suited for CubeSat applications. The instrument comprises a sensor and 60 cm deployable boom, which stow along the outside of a 3U CubeSat and mount via a single exterior panel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Work is ongoing to produce lower noise cores for future fluxgate sensors by optimizing their manufacturing processes and the heat treatment of the permalloy foil. At the current noise levels, other technologies such as AMR sensors [e.g., Brown et al, 2012;Leitner et al, 2015] provide competitive performance and are well suited for CubeSat applications. However, with new core development work we believe that fluxgate sensors with significantly lower noise will be available for future applications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combinations of these approaches are also possible. For example, the European Space Agency Service Oriented Spacecraft Magnetometer aims to take high-fidelity measurements on larger spacecraft by combining one or two classic boom-mounted fluxgates with two small anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) sensors in the spacecraft body to characterize and remove interference from the spacecraft [e.g., Leitner et al, 2015].…”

Section: Current State Of Magnetic Sensors For Cubesatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A miniature, low‐power scientific fluxgate magnetometer: A stepping‐stone to cube‐satellite constellation missions

et al. 2016

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Difficulty in making low noise magnetic measurements is a significant challenge to the use of cube‐satellite (CubeSat) platforms for scientific constellation class missions to study the magnetosphere. Sufficient resolution is required to resolve three‐dimensional spatiotemporal structures of the magnetic field variations accompanying both waves and current systems of the nonuniform plasmas controlling dynamic magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling. This paper describes the design, validation, and test of a flight‐ready, miniature, low‐mass, low‐power, and low‐magnetic noise boom‐mounted fluxgate magnetometer for CubeSat applications. The miniature instrument achieves a magnetic noise floor of 150–200 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz, consumes 400 mW of power, has a mass of 121 g (sensor and boom), stows on the hull, and deploys on a 60 cm boom from a three‐unit CubeSat reducing the noise from the onboard reaction wheel to less than 1.5 nT at the sensor. The instrument's capabilities will be demonstrated and validated in space in late 2016 following the launch of the University of Alberta Ex‐Alta 1 CubeSat, part of the QB50 constellation mission. We illustrate the potential scientific returns and utility of using a CubeSats carrying such fluxgate magnetometers to constitute a magnetospheric constellation using example data from the low‐Earth orbit European Space Agency Swarm mission. Swarm data reveal significant changes in the spatiotemporal characteristics of the magnetic fields in the coupled magnetosphere‐ionosphere system, even when the spacecraft are separated by only approximately 10 s along track and approximately 1.4° in longitude.

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“…(2) "giant" AND "magnetoresistance" AND "sensor" as shown in Figure 5. According to the strength of the measured field, MR sensor applications can be divided into three major categories: 1) measuring the Earth's magnetic field (~μT) [123- 125,[129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][224][225][226][227][228][229][230][231][232][233], 2) measuring small variations of magnetic field (from ~μT to ~nT) [107,108,110,111,113,114,[116][117][118][119][120][121]234], and 3) measuring ultralow magnetic field (lower than ~nT) [16, 18-21, 23-31, 33-35, 37-40, 42-44, 46, 48, 50, 51, 53-56, 222, 235].…”

Section: Mr Sensormentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetoresistive Sensor Development Roadmap (Non-Recording Applications)

et al. 2019

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Magnetoresistive (MR) sensors have been identified as promising candidates for the development of high-performance magnetometers due to their high sensitivity, low cost, low power consumption, and small size. The rapid advance of MR sensor technology has opened up a variety of MR sensor applications. These applications are in different areas that require MR sensors with different properties. Future MR sensor development in each of these areas requires an overview and a strategic guide. A MR sensor roadmap (non-recording applications) was therefore developed and made public by the Technical Committee of The IEEE Magnetics Society with the aim to provide an R&D guide for MR sensors intended to be used by industry, government, and academia. The roadmap was developed over a three-year period and coordinated by an international effort of 22 taskforce members from 10 countries and 17 organizations, including universities, research institutes, and sensor companies. In this paper, the current status of MR sensors for non-recording

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Design of the Magnetoresistive Magnetometer for ESA’s SOSMAG Project

Cited by 12 publications

References 4 publications

Vectorized magnetometer for space applications using electrical readout of atomic scale defects in silicon carbide

Vectorized magnetometer for space applications using electrical readout of atomic scale defects in silicon carbide

A miniature, low‐power scientific fluxgate magnetometer: A stepping‐stone to cube‐satellite constellation missions

Magnetoresistive Sensor Development Roadmap (Non-Recording Applications)

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