Wugang Tian

1/f noise suppression of giant magnetoresistive sensors with vertical motion flux modulation

The 1/f resistance noise is one of the main noise sources of giant magnetoresistive sensors, which will cause intrinsic detection limit at low frequency. To suppress this noise, a vertical motion flux modulation (VMFM) scheme with high efficiency and simple structures is proposed. And the electrical coupling effect is investigated with an equivalent circuit model. We found that the electrical coupling disturbance can be suppressed by improving the symmetry of VMFM sensors. The modulation efficiency of VMFM sensors has reached 18.8%, which is higher than most prototype sensors with other flux modulation schemes.

Integrating magnetoresistive sensors with microelectromechanical systems for noise reduction

1/f noise is the dominant detection limit of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors at low frequency. The vertical motion flux modulation (VMFM) integrating with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can reduce 1/f noise by tens or hundreds of times, although thermal-mechanical noise possibly has strong impact on the detection ability of VMFM sensors like common MEMS sensors. Surprisingly, the voltage noise originated from thermal-mechanical noise is actually far less than the noise base of MR sensors, which indicates a great perspective for the integration of MEMS and MR sensors.

Remedying magnetic hysteresis and 1/f noise for magnetoresistive sensors

Thermal domain hoppings cause magnetic hysteresis and 1/f resistance noise in magnetoresistive sensors, which largely degrades their response linearity and low-frequency detection ability. In this Letter, the method of constant magnetic excitation integrated with vertical motion flux modulation was proposed to remedy magnetic hysteresis and 1/f resistance noise together. As demonstrated in experiments, the response linearity of the prototype sensor is promoted by about 10 times. Its noise level is reduced to near Johnson-Nyquist noise level, and, therefore, the low-frequency detection ability is approximately enhanced with a factor of 100.

Fatigue Crack Length Sizing Using a Novel Flexible Eddy Current Sensor Array

The eddy current probe, which is flexible, array typed, highly sensitive and capable of quantitative inspection is one practical requirement in nondestructive testing and also a research hotspot. A novel flexible planar eddy current sensor array for the inspection of microcrack presentation in critical parts of airplanes is developed in this paper. Both exciting and sensing coils are etched on polyimide films using a flexible printed circuit board technique, thus conforming the sensor to complex geometric structures. In order to serve the needs of condition-based maintenance (CBM), the proposed sensor array is comprised of 64 elements. Its spatial resolution is only 0.8 mm, and it is not only sensitive to shallow microcracks, but also capable of sizing the length of fatigue cracks. The details and advantages of our sensor design are introduced. The working principal and the crack responses are analyzed by finite element simulation, with which a crack length sizing algorithm is proposed. Experiments based on standard specimens are implemented to verify the validity of our simulation and the efficiency of the crack length sizing algorithm. Experimental results show that the sensor array is sensitive to microcracks, and is capable of crack length sizing with an accuracy within ±0.2 mm.

Flux concentration and modulation based magnetoresistive sensor with integrated planar compensation coils

1∕f noise is one of the main noise sources of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors, which can cause intrinsic detection limit at low frequency. To suppress this noise, the solution of flux concentration and vertical motion modulation (VMM) has been proposed. Magnetic hysteresis in MR sensors is another problem, which degrades their response linearity and detection ability. To reduce this impact, the method of pulse magnetization and magnetic compensation field with integrated planar coils has been introduced. A flux concentration and VMM based magnetoresistive prototype sensor with integrated planar coils was fabricated using microelectromechanical-system technology. The response linearity of the prototype sensors is improved from 0.8% to 0.12%. The noise level is reduced near to the thermal noise level, and the low-frequency detection ability of the prototype sensor is enhanced with a factor of more than 80.

Magnetostatic detection using magnetoresistive sensors with vertical motion flux modulation

Recently, the flux modulation has been presented to deal with the 1/f noise of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors. However, the efficiency of most flux modulation schemes with simple micro- electromechanical-system (MEMS) actuators is not satisfying yet. In this paper, the vertical motion flux modulation (VMFM) is proposed to improve the modulation efficiency. In VMFM, the soft magnetic film driven by a MEMS actuator vibrates vertically above the MR sensors with a pair of flux concentrators. Consequently, the detected magnetostatic field is modulated to the higher frequency where the 1/f noise is much lower. A VMFM prototype based on AA002 (multi-layered giant magnetoresistive sensors) was fabricated and its flux modulation efficiency can reach 18.7%, which exceeds most achieved efficiency with other schemes. Also, the magnetostatic detection ability is improved to 530 pT/√Hz.

A new method for distortion magnetic field compensation of a geomagnetic vector measurement system

The geomagnetic vector measurement system mainly consists of three-axis magnetometer and an INS (inertial navigation system), which have many ferromagnetic parts on them. The magnetometer is always distorted by ferromagnetic parts and other electric equipments such as INS and power circuit module within the system, which can lead to geomagnetic vector measurement error of thousands of nT. Thus, the geomagnetic vector measurement system has to be compensated in order to guarantee the measurement accuracy. In this paper, a new distortion magnetic field compensation method is proposed, in which a permanent magnet with different relative positions is used to change the ambient magnetic field to construct equations of the error model parameters, and the parameters can be accurately estimated by solving linear equations. In order to verify effectiveness of the proposed method, the experiment is conducted, and the results demonstrate that, after compensation, the components errors of measured geomagnetic field are reduced significantly. It demonstrates that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of the geomagnetic vector measurement system.

Compensation of Geomagnetic Vector Measurement System With Differential Magnetic Field Method

The accurate measurement of a geomagnetic field is a key technology in many applications, such as magnetic anomaly detection, underwater geomagnetic navigation, and motion tracking. However, the magnetic interference fields, such as ferromagnetic parts and other electric equipments, will seriously influence the measurement accuracy of geomagnetic vector measurement system, and thus should be compensated. In this paper, a new compensation method using differential magnetic field is proposed. As a first step, a permanent magnet with different relative positions is used to change the ambient magnetic field to construct the error model equations about unknown quantities, and the soft-iron error parameters can be estimated by solving equations with nonlinear least square method. Then, the hard-iron error parameters can be estimated by changing the fixation direction of the three-axis magnetometer. Finally, the estimated error parameters are used for compensating the magnetic interference field. In order to verify effectiveness of the proposed method, simulation and experiment are performed, and the results demonstrate that the proposed method estimates error parameters accurately and improves the measurement accuracy of geomagnetic vector measurement system greatly.

Designs of Slope Magnetic Flux Guides for 3-Axis Magnetic Sensor

Generally, giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors are only sensitive to the magnetic field in the plane of the substrate due to fabrication restraints. This paper designs and models slope magnetic flux guides that are deposited on the slope surface of a silicon substrate. Finite element method (FEM) simulations are used to optimize the flux guide designs. The flux guides can be deposited with good symmetry and are able to convert the out-of-plane magnetic flux to the GMR sensor plane. Meanwhile, a Wheatstone bridge is configured to deduce a differential voltage only relative to the z-component of the magnetic field. Additionally, the magnetic field in the active region of the GMR sensor would be intensified. With these flux guides, the magnetic field perpendicular to the chip surface can be detected with the GMR sensors in-plane. Also, the sensitivity of the sensor can be improved due to the amplification ability of the flux guides. An integrated 3-axis magnetic sensor with better angular position can be realized with the slope flux guides.

Resolution improvement of low frequency AC magnetic field detection for modulated MR sensors

Magnetic modulation methods especially Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) modulation can improve the sensitivity of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors dramatically, and pT level detection of Direct Current (DC) magnetic field can be realized. While in a Low Frequency Alternate Current (LFAC) magnetic field measurement situation, frequency measurement is limited by a serious spectrum aliasing problem caused by the remanence in sensors and geomagnetic field, leading to target information loss because frequency indicates the magnetic target characteristics. In this paper, a compensation field produced with integrated coils is applied to the MR sensor to remove DC magnetic field distortion, and a LFAC magnetic field frequency estimation algorithm is proposed based on a search of the database, which is derived from the numerical model revealing the relationship of the LFAC frequency and determination factor [defined by the ratio of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) coefficients]. In this algorithm, an inverse modulation of sensor signals is performed to detect jumping-off point of LFAC in the time domain; this step is exploited to determine sampling points to be processed. A determination factor is calculated and taken into database to figure out frequency with a binary search algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that the frequency measurement resolution of the LFAC magnetic field is improved from 12.2 Hz to 0.8 Hz by the presented method, which, within the signal band of a magnetic anomaly (0.04-2 Hz), indicates that the proposed method may expand the applications of magnetoresistive (MR) sensors to human healthcare and magnetic anomaly detection (MAD).