Spatial Decoupling Method for a Novel Dual-Orthogonal Induction MEMS Three-Dimensional Electric Field Sensor

Abstract

To mitigate the three-dimensional (3D) coupling interference of electric field sensors, a novel MEMS 3D electric field sensor with a dual-orthogonal induction structure and its spatial decoupling method is proposed. The sensor is designed with a cylindrical structure, in which two pairs of induction electrodes are orthogonally arranged to suppress common-mode interference. MEMS electric field sensing chips are utilized to achieve 3D electric field measurement. Furthermore, a spatial decoupling calibration model is established based on the structural characteristics of the sensor. The Cramér–Rao lower bound of the linear model is calculated to obtain the optimal decoupled calibration matrix, enabling precise 3D electric field decoupling. Experimental results showed that within an electric field range of 0–50 kV/m, the linearity of the three decoupled electric field components was 2.60%, 1.20%, and 1.78%, respectively, while the synthesized electric field achieved a linearity of 0.74% with a maximum full-scale error of 0.80%. Under varying angles and field intensities, the maximum and average relative errors of the decoupled synthesized electric field were 1.20% and 0.43%, respectively, representing reductions of 61.8% and 56.1% compared to the conventional matrix inversion method. These results confirmed that the proposed method effectively suppressed coupling interference and enhanced 3D electric field measurement accuracy.

Keywords

• 3D electric field
• MEMS electric field sensor
• decoupled calibration matrix
• coupling interference
• dual-orthogonal induction
• Cramér–Rao lower bound