Patent ID: 7688072

Claim:
A portable magnetic anomaly sensing system, comprising: a non-magnetic rigid beam having first and second ends; a non-magnetic rigid frame coupled to said beam in proximity to said first end thereof, said frame encompassing a three-dimensional cubic space; a plurality of triaxial magnetometer (TM) sensors rigidly coupled to said frame with one of said TM sensors positioned at each vertex of said cubic space, each of said TM sensors having X,Y,Z magnetic sensing axes, said TM sensors positioned such that respective ones of said X,Y,Z magnetic sensing axes are mutually parallel to one another, each of said TM sensors measuring a local magnetic field and generating magnetic field data indicative thereof; a data acquisition system mechanically coupled to said beam in proximity to said second end thereof such that any magnetic elements of said data acquisition system do not adversely affect accuracy of said TM sensors, said data acquisition system electrically coupled to said TM sensors for sampling said magnetic field data synchronously with a timing signal wherein digitized magnetic field data is generated; processing means mechanically coupled to said beam in proximity to said second end thereof such that any magnetic elements of said processing means do not adversely affect accuracy of said TM sensors, said processing means electrically coupled to said data acquisition system for processing said digitized magnetic field data in accordance with a magnetic scalar triangulation and ranging (STAR) processing scheme to determine a position vector and a magnetic moment vector from said digitized magnetic field data; and output generation means coupled to said processing means for generating a human-discernable output of said position vector and said magnetic moment vector.