Towards an optimal readout of a residence times difference (RTD) Fluxgate magnetometer

The aim of this paper is to present the behaviour of a residence times difference (RTD) fluxgate magnetometer prototype, developed through an innovative PCB technology and using a suitable output signal filtering strategy. The target (DC) magnetic field is converted into a quantity that is measured in the time domain; in particular, we focus on the output signal post-processing strategies that lead to enhanced device performance. The experiments quantify the effects of the selected operating conditions, particularly the observation time, on the device performance via its effect on the noise floor and, therefore, the sensor resolution. A new readout strategy based on the "central peak time" (CPT), which uses an "internal" reference time, is introduced and its performance experimentally compared to the RTD readout scheme. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.