Localizing magnetic dipoles using spatial and temporal processing of magnetometer data

A method of detecting and localizing a magnetic dipole using an array of spatially distributed magnetic sensors, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) collecting a set of actual magnetic field measurements of a magnetic dipole using a plurality of magnetic sensors;
• b) filtering the actual magnetic field measurements using a predetermined filter;
• c) hypothesizing a trajectory for the magnetic dipole;
• d) determining a set of estimated magnetic field measurements that would be formed by a magnetic dipole moving along the hypothesized trajectory;
• e) filtering the estimated magnetic field measurements using the same predetermined filter;
• f) comparing the actual magnetic field measurements with the estimated magnetic field measurements;
• g) based on the comparison, hypothesizing a new trajectory for the magnetic dipole;
• and
• h) repeating steps d) through g) until agreement between the actual magnetic field measurements and the estimated magnetic field measurements is deemed sufficiently close.

Apparatus for detecting and localizing a magnetic dipole comprising:

• an array of magnetic sensors;
• processing means coupled to the array of magnetic sensors, for storing an estimate of the magnetic field signature to be detected by the array of sensors at each of a plurality of locations to provide an array of estimated magnetic field signals that are represented by fundamental magnetic dipole equations, for collecting magnetic field signals indicative of the magnetic field measured at each of the sensors in the presence of the magnetic dipole that is to be detected to provide measured magnetic field values, for removing spatial and temporal variations in the magnetic field measured at each of the sensors by temporally and spatially filtering the measured magnetic field signals, for correlating the measured magnetic field values with each of the estimated magnetic field values for the array of sensors by multiplying the estimated magnetic field values with the measured magnetic field values and summing the results over the array of sensors, for identifying the trajectory of the dipole if one of the correlations has a significantly larger value than the others and if it is greater than a predetermined threshold, and if the trajectory of the dipole corresponds to the location represented by the measured magnetic field signals that produced in the significantly larger value;
• and
• display means for displaying the location and velocity of the identified dipole.