Broad-band magnetic induction probe calibration using a frequency-corrected reference probe

Abstract

Finite impedances of magnetic induction probes attenuate and shift the field fluctuations measured by the probe so that they differ from the measured signal at the digitizer. These effects vary with frequency. Traditionally, impedance effects have been accounted for in the calibration process by sweeping the frequency of the magnetic field source through a range of frequencies. Situations arise where the conventional calibration method is not feasible due to probe geometry or hardware constraints. A new calibration technique is presented in this paper which calibrates the probe in situ at a single frequency and uses impedance measurements of the probe assembly across the desired frequency range to account for broad-band effects. The in situ calibration technique requires a reference probe with a known proportionality constant NA and known impedances. Impedance effects are corrected in the probe signal using broad-band impedance measurements included in a transfer function in frequency space. The in situ calibration technique is shown to be complicated by capacitive coupling between the probes and the high voltage source coil. Circuit modeling demonstrates that this coupling introduces negligible attenuation and a small phase-delay so that the relative phase-delay between the reference and target probe signals can be corrected by shifting the signals in time. In summary, this calibration method extends traditional single-frequency calibration techniques to broad-band applications, accounting for important non-ideal effects to improve the accuracy of the magnetic field measurement.