Development of a magnetic tensor gradiometer: integration with an autonomous underwater vehicle

In Phase II of a Small Business Innovation Research contract funded through the Office of Secretary of Defense, Quantum Magnetics has developed a fieldable room-temperature gradiometer (RTG). The RTG affords unprecedented dynamic range that enables detection of signals near fluxgate sensor noise (approximately 5 pT/Hz 1/2 at 1 Hz while the system is in motion in the earth's field (approximately 5 X 10 7 pT). To achieve this sensitivity when the RTG is integrated with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the magnetic interference generated by magnetic sources onboard the AUV must be removed. Direct magnetic feedback or signal processing using both ancillary sensors and a priori information about the interfering sources can be used to recover the baseline sensitivity of the RTG.