Calibration of flux-gate magnetometers using relative motion

A simple analytical model for the calibration of a flux-gate magnetometer using relative sensor motion in a constant magnitude magnetic field (B) is presented. Sensor motion is parametrized in terms of elementary rotations about one axis. The number of elementary rotations constitutes the number of degrees of freedom of the motion. A generalization is performed by investigating cases with known/unknown B, one/several different values of B, one/several degrees of freedom. The maximum number of calibration parameters, which can be determined in each case, is established. The conclusion is that the determination of all calibration parameters, i.e. an absolute calibration of the instrument, is already possible if the relative motion has at least two degrees of freedom at a known, constant B value. Two experimental applications of the model are described briefly.