Patent ID: 7932718

Claim:
A magnetic anomaly sensing system, comprising: at least four triaxial magnetometer (TM) sensors with each of said TM sensors having X,Y,Z magnetic sensing axes, said TM sensors arranged in a three-dimensional array with respective ones of said X,Y,Z magnetic sensing axes being mutually parallel to one another in said three-dimensional array; said three-dimensional array defining a geometry that forms at least one single-axis gradiometer along each of said X,Y,Z magnetic sensing axes; and processing means coupled to each of said TM sensors for generating scalar magnitudes of a magnetic anomaly field measured at each of said TM sensors, comparisons of said scalar magnitudes to at least one threshold value, distance to a source of said magnetic anomaly field using said scalar magnitudes when said at least one threshold value is exceeded, and a magnetic dipole moment of said source using said distance.