Development of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with datalogger and geopositioning for mapping the Earth’s magnetic field

Abstract

The Earth’s magnetic field is used in various navigation systems, but this field has a dynamic behavior that can be affected by different physical factors in local environments. These factors can pose risks to navigation systems and at the same time be a signal of a phenomenon that needs to be investigated, such as mineral concentration or the presence of interference from electrical equipment, among others. For that reason, in this project, this system was designed and integrated using a low-cost, military-grade magnet inductive magnetometer, which is integrated into two Inertial Measurement Units to corroborate the movement data, and at the same time a geopositioning system to georeference the sensor measurements. The information is managed by an MCU, which also stores data on an SD card. The system includes a lithium battery management system to provide more than an hour of autonomy. Wireless communication systems are intentionally avoided to prevent interference, and an infrared transmission LED is included instead, in case the real-time transmission is necessary. The results show that the proposed system allows for obtaining maps of magnetic field intensity in open spaces, and this information can be used to determine regions with anomalies.

Keywords

• Datalogger
• Earth magnetic field
• Geopositioning
• Inertial Measurement Unit
• Magnetometer