Patent ID: 7898250

Claim:
An apparatus for sensing and processing a magnetic flux signal comprising: an odd number of at least three fluxgate modules S 1 through S 2N-1 , where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, each configured to generate a module response signal upon receiving the magnetic flux signal, wherein each of the fluxgate modules is circularly coupled to each other such that only one-way signal flow is allowed between the fluxgate modules; a summer configured to sum the response signals from the fluxgate modules into a summed signal; a processor configured to receive and process the summed signal; and wherein each of the fluxgate modules comprises: a fluxgate sensor comprising a sensing coil, a driving coil, and a ferromagnetic core, wherein the sensing coil produces a coil response signal; a primary amplifier configured to amplify a voltage of the coil response signal; a primary “leaky” integrator configured to transform the amplified coil response signal into the module response signal; a secondary “leaky” integrator configured to transform the module response signal into a filtered signal; a secondary amplifier configured to convert the filtered signal into an amplified, filtered signal; and a voltage to current (V-I) converter configured to convert the amplified, filtered signal into a current signal, wherein the current signal of each fluxgate module is conducted to the driving coil of a next-in-line fluxgate module of the at least three fluxgate modules and the driving coil of the fluxgate module S 1 is configured to receive the current signal from the fluxgate module S 2N-1 such that all the fluxgate modules are circularly coupled.