US 12,078,690 B2
Array of magnetometers operating in zero field and associated method for calibrating inter-magnetometer couplings
Agustin Palacios Laloy, Grenoble (FR); and Matthieu Le Prado, Grenoble (FR)
Assigned to COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR)
Appl. No. 17/760,211
Filed by COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR)
PCT Filed Feb. 3, 2021, PCT No. PCT/FR2021/050198
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 5, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/156568, PCT Pub. Date Aug. 12, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2001234 (FR), filed on Feb. 7, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0049365 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. G01R 33/00 (2006.01); A61B 5/242 (2021.01)
CPC G01R 33/0035 (2013.01) [A61B 5/242 (2021.01); G01R 33/0094 (2013.01); A61B 2560/0223 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for determining a coupling between magnetometers of N magnetometers, that are formed in an array and N being ≥2, where each magnetometer comprises a field cancellation system capable of being activated to operate the magnetometer in zero field, the method being characterised in that it comprises a first phase during which one of the N magnetometers is a measuring magnetometer whose field cancellation system is activated and the other N−1 magnetometers have their field cancellation system deactivated, said first phase comprising the following steps:
generation, by each of the measuring magnetometer and the N−1 magnetometers whose field cancellation system is deactivated, of a plurality of reference magnetic fields of known amplitudes and distinct directions,
measurement, by the measuring magnetometer, of the ambient magnetic field on a plurality of measurement axes; and
determination of coupling coefficients between the measuring magnetometer and each of the measuring magnetometer and the N−1 magnetometers whose field cancellation system is deactivated, said determination comprising:
detection of a contribution of a reference magnetic field in the measurement of the ambient magnetic field on one of the measurement axes; and
calculation of a ratio between the amplitude of said contribution of the reference magnetic field and the known amplitude of said reference magnetic field.