Method using corrective factors for aligning a magnetic gradiometer

摘要

Inventive electrical-computational method and system for aligning a magnetic gradiometer, and for determining magnetic gradients using a magnetic gradiometer which is inventively aligned. For each correlation of a correction magnetometer's vector with a reference magnetometer's vector, three correction coefficients and an offset coefficient are evaluated, using a mathematical approximation technique (such as least-squares) upon voltage outputs for various relative orientations of magnetic fields in relation to a magnetic gradiometer. An inventive matrix formula is used for determining magnetic gradients. A correction magnetometer matrix (matrix of voltages generated by each correction vector of the correction magnetometer) is multiplied by a coefficient matrix (matrix of correction and offset coefficients). The correction vectors within the correction magnetometer matrix are thus aligned with the reference vectors within the reference magnetometer matrix (matrix of voltages generated by each reference vector of the reference magnetometer) whereby, for each magnetic gradient determination pursuant to a correlation of a reference vector with a correction vector, any deviation from zero represents the magnetic gradient for that correlation. Many inventive embodiments incorporate temperature compensation, whereby the inventive practitioner establishes variations of correction and offset coefficients in accordance with temperature. With the assistance of computational electronics, inventive gradiometer alignments can be accomplished considerably more speedily than can gradiometer alignments according to conventional mechanical methodologies.