Estimation of Angular Deviations in Precise Magnetometers

• Published in: IEEE magnetics letters Vol. 10; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Janosek, Michal, Saunderson, Elda F., Dressler, Michal, Gouws, Daniel J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Angular speed; Calibration; Coils; Laser beams; Magnetic instruments; magnetometer calibrations; Magnetometers; Matrix decomposition; Measurement uncertainty; Orthogonality; precision; Uncertainty
• ISSN: 1949-307X; 1949-3088
• DOI: 10.1109/LMAG.2019.2944125

Capabilities for calibrations of angular deviations of sensor triplets in precise magnetometers were evaluated in a 2.5 m, triaxial Helmholtz coil facility. The coil system is located in a magnetically quiet environment at SANSA Space Science in Hermanus, South Africa. The angular calibration results obtained from the "thin-shell" calibration procedure were compared with direct measurements on a nonmagnetic tilting/rotational platform. One-year expanded uncertainty of angular deviation calibrations is estimated as 6 × 10 -2 degrees of arc; 3 × 10 -4 degrees coil orthogonality is possible when doing a numerical recalibration and correction on a short-term basis. In addition, an approach for obtaining body-to-sensor angular calibrations is presented, allowing for speed-up of the calibrations and possibly increasing their accuracy and repeatability by avoiding alignment to the coils with a laser beam and leveling.