HIGH SENSITIVITY MAGNETIC SENSORS FOR REMOTE DETECTION OF GROUND VEHICLES

GEO-CENTERS, INC. PROPOSES TO DESIGN A NOVEL SYSTEM OF DISTRIBUTED MAGNETIC FIELD SENSORS WHICH IS CAPABLE OF DETECTING AND LOCATING APPROACHING GROUND VEHICLES OR SMALL FERROUS OBJECTS. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM HAS THE UNIQUE ADVANTAGES OF ABITRARY DEPLOYMENT AND INTERCHANGEABLE SENSOR TYPES. THIS PHASE I SBIR PROGRAM WILL DETERMINE SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS, ACCURACY, NOISE IMMUNITY, AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS OF AN ARRAY OF MAGNETIC FIELD SENSORS, SUCH AS THE SOLID-STATE CHIPMAG RECENTLY DEVELOPED BY GEO-CENTERS, INC. THE DESIGN DEFINITION WILL ANALYZE SENSOR PARAMETERS: SENSITIVITY, ACCURACY, SIGNAL BANDWIDTH, NOISE, POWER CONSUMPTION, SELF-SIGNATURE, WEIGHT, AND SIZE; AND ARRAY PARAMETERS: CONFIGURATION, NUMBER OF SENSORS, SENSOR DISTRIBUTION, POWER REQUIREMENTS, DATA TRANSMISSION METHODS, PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS, DATA REDUCTION ALGORITHMS, AND ARRAY CALIBRATION. DATA WILL BE COLLECTED IN FIELD DEMONSTRATIONS USING THE SELECTED SENSOR WITH AN AUTOCALIBRATION DIPOLE. POSTPROCESSING OF THE FIELD DATA WILL ESTABLISH EMPIRICAL VALUES OF CRITICAL PARAMETERS, SUCH AS: DETECTION DISTANCE, NOISE IMMUNITY, AND LOCATION ACCURACY. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THE ULTIMATE GOALS OF THIS RESEARCH IS THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION OF A MAGNETIC SENSOR SYSTEM WHICH CAN BE RAPIDLY DEPLOYED, THE FUNCTION OF WHICH IS TO DETECT AND ACCURATELY LOCATE APPROACHING FERROUS TARGETS, SUCH AS GROUND VEHICLES AND WEAPONS. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM HAS DIRECT APPLICATION IN PERIMETER SECURITY ANDACCESS CONTROL. THE PROGRAMMABILITY OF THE CONTROL UNIT AND THE CAPABILITY OF THE ARRAY TO ACCEPT DIFFERENT SENSOR TYPES HAS STRONG POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN COMMERCIAL AREAS WHERE DATA ACQUISITION OR LOGGING FROM DISTRIBUTED SENSORS IS INVOLVED, SUCH AS ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORINGAND SEISMIC PROSPECTING.