Self-Compensating Excitation of Fluxgate Sensors for Space Magnetometers

The paper presents design and implementation of the new self-compensating excitation circuitry to the new generation of high-precise space vector magnetometers. The application starts with complex study including design of new robust model of the non-linear inductor leading to investigation of the most crucial points, continuous by design of the self-compensating excitation unit and concludes with unit complex testing and application to the magnetometer. The application of the self-compensation of the excitation decreases temperature drift of the magnetometer offset caused by the temperature drift of the sensor (dominant source of the offset drift) by factor of 7.