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Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review

Aerospace technologies are crucial for modern civilization; space-based infrastructure underpins weather forecasting, communications, terrestrial navigation and logistics, planetary observations, solar monitoring, and other indispensable capabilities. Extraplanetary exploration—including orbital sur...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bennett, James S., Vyhnalek, Brian E., Greenall, Hamish, Bridge, Elizabeth M., Gotardo, Fernando, Forstner, Stefan, Harris, Glen I., Miranda, Félix A., Bowen, Warwick P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8402258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34451010
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21165568
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author Bennett, James S.
Vyhnalek, Brian E.
Greenall, Hamish
Bridge, Elizabeth M.
Gotardo, Fernando
Forstner, Stefan
Harris, Glen I.
Miranda, Félix A.
Bowen, Warwick P.
author_facet Bennett, James S.
Vyhnalek, Brian E.
Greenall, Hamish
Bridge, Elizabeth M.
Gotardo, Fernando
Forstner, Stefan
Harris, Glen I.
Miranda, Félix A.
Bowen, Warwick P.
author_sort Bennett, James S.
collection PubMed
description Aerospace technologies are crucial for modern civilization; space-based infrastructure underpins weather forecasting, communications, terrestrial navigation and logistics, planetary observations, solar monitoring, and other indispensable capabilities. Extraplanetary exploration—including orbital surveys and (more recently) roving, flying, or submersible unmanned vehicles—is also a key scientific and technological frontier, believed by many to be paramount to the long-term survival and prosperity of humanity. All of these aerospace applications require reliable control of the craft and the ability to record high-precision measurements of physical quantities. Magnetometers deliver on both of these aspects and have been vital to the success of numerous missions. In this review paper, we provide an introduction to the relevant instruments and their applications. We consider past and present magnetometers, their proven aerospace applications, and emerging uses. We then look to the future, reviewing recent progress in magnetometer technology. We particularly focus on magnetometers that use optical readout, including atomic magnetometers, magnetometers based on quantum defects in diamond, and optomechanical magnetometers. These optical magnetometers offer a combination of field sensitivity, size, weight, and power consumption that allows them to reach performance regimes that are inaccessible with existing techniques. This promises to enable new applications in areas ranging from unmanned vehicles to navigation and exploration.
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spelling pubmed-84022582021-08-29 Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review Bennett, James S. Vyhnalek, Brian E. Greenall, Hamish Bridge, Elizabeth M. Gotardo, Fernando Forstner, Stefan Harris, Glen I. Miranda, Félix A. Bowen, Warwick P. Sensors (Basel) Review Aerospace technologies are crucial for modern civilization; space-based infrastructure underpins weather forecasting, communications, terrestrial navigation and logistics, planetary observations, solar monitoring, and other indispensable capabilities. Extraplanetary exploration—including orbital surveys and (more recently) roving, flying, or submersible unmanned vehicles—is also a key scientific and technological frontier, believed by many to be paramount to the long-term survival and prosperity of humanity. All of these aerospace applications require reliable control of the craft and the ability to record high-precision measurements of physical quantities. Magnetometers deliver on both of these aspects and have been vital to the success of numerous missions. In this review paper, we provide an introduction to the relevant instruments and their applications. We consider past and present magnetometers, their proven aerospace applications, and emerging uses. We then look to the future, reviewing recent progress in magnetometer technology. We particularly focus on magnetometers that use optical readout, including atomic magnetometers, magnetometers based on quantum defects in diamond, and optomechanical magnetometers. These optical magnetometers offer a combination of field sensitivity, size, weight, and power consumption that allows them to reach performance regimes that are inaccessible with existing techniques. This promises to enable new applications in areas ranging from unmanned vehicles to navigation and exploration. MDPI 2021-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8402258/ /pubmed/34451010 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21165568 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Bennett, James S.
Vyhnalek, Brian E.
Greenall, Hamish
Bridge, Elizabeth M.
Gotardo, Fernando
Forstner, Stefan
Harris, Glen I.
Miranda, Félix A.
Bowen, Warwick P.
Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title_full Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title_fullStr Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title_full_unstemmed Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title_short Precision Magnetometers for Aerospace Applications: A Review
title_sort precision magnetometers for aerospace applications: a review
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8402258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34451010
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s21165568
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