Experimental Use of the LiDAR Timing Circuit for Magnetometers Working With Time Conversion

Abstract

The aim of the ongoing research at our department in the field of magnetometers is the development of a compact modular magnetometric system operating with amorphous strips and microwires, used as a core. The motivation is in the long-term research, development, and testing of magnetometers with different types of control and processing electronics. The research has led over the years to the development of two types of fluxgate magnetometers. First of them is the VEMA magnetometer developed and realized by the researchers at the Faculty of Aeronautics in cooperation with the EDIS vvd. Company. The second one, considering the current trend of reducing dimensions and power consumption to increase the performance of sensor systems, considers the use of the microwires as the core of the magnetometer due to their small size, low power consumption, and good sensing properties. Both types of magnetometric systems work with the conversion of the magnetic field measurement to the time measurement. For the accurate time measurement in our experiments, the TDC7200 (time to digital converter) circuit designed for the LiDAR with the resolution of 55 ps has been used to measure the relaxation time and the time difference of our magnetometric systems. This article presents the results that were achieved during the experiments aimed at the testing of the accuracy and noise of the created devices.