Comparison of a Designed Scalar Proton Precession Magnetometer with a Scalar Calibrated 3-Axis Fluxgate Magnetometer

Abstract. One second measurements of the geomagnetic field variations, which meet INTERMAGNET quality and transmission specifications, require very special conditions to be maintained at the observatories over sustained periods of time, which pose serious challenges for the operators, particularly when infrastructural and environmental conditions are far from ideal. This work presents the progressive steps, which led to the successful setup of such measurements at the new magnetic observatory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in the Choutuppal (CPL) campus, Hyderabad (HYB), India. The 1 s magnetic measurements in trial mode commenced in 2015 using the newly developed observatory-grade 1 s fluxgate magnetometer, GEOMAG-02MO, from Research Centre GEOMAGNET (GM), Ukraine, and the Overhauser proton precession magnetometer, GSM-90F1, along with the data acquisition system, Magrec-4B from Mingeo, Hungary. Iterative tuning of the setup led to the generation of good quality data from 2016 onward. The processes of commissioning this setup in low-latitude conditions, with the aim of producing 1 s definitive data, and the characteristics of the data from this new instrument are presented here.

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A new method of fluxgate signal extraction

Information extraction and processing ◽

10.15407/vidbir2017.45.083 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 (45) ◽

pp. 83-89

Author(s):

A.A. Marusenkov ◽

Keyword(s):

High Frequency ◽

Second Harmonic ◽

Excitation Frequency ◽

Low Noise ◽

Measuring System ◽

Signal Extraction ◽

Fluxgate Magnetometer ◽

New Approach ◽

Average Value ◽

The Time Domain

Using dedicated high-frequency measuring system the distribution of the Barkhausen jumps intensity along a reversal magnetization cycle was investigated for low noise fluxgate sensors of various core shapes. It is shown that Barkhausen (reversal magnetization) noise intensity is strongly inhomogeneous during an excitation cycle. In the traditional second harmonic fluxgate magnetometers the signals are extracted in the frequency domain, as a result, some average value of reversal magnetization noises is contributed to the output signals. In order to fit better the noise shape and minimize its transfer to the magnetometer output the new approach for demodulating signals of these sensors is proposed. The new demodulating method is based on information extraction in the time domain taking into account the statistical properties of cyclic reversal magnetization noises. This approach yields considerable reduction of the fluxgate magnetometer noise in comparison with demodulation of the signal filtered at the second harmonic of the excitation frequency.

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