Sensing Technologies Laboratory

Sensing Technologies Laboratory

Magnetic Sensing and Tagging

The magnetic fields generated by permanent magnets can be used to sense many different phenomenon remotely through metal vessels, optically opaque media, and even smoke clouds.  At a stand-off distance of 25 mm or more, quantities including distributed temperature, small vibrations, and fluid vorticity can be measured.  By combining different measurement concepts, temperatures of moving magnets can also be obtained and uncertainties better than 1 micron of displacement can be achieved. These measurements can be used to inform Kalman filters to observe and control the cure of exothermic polymers. Due to the nonlinearities in the magnetic field, experimental design optimization is required for maximizing the signal to noise ratio when attempting to measure properties from multiple closely-spaced points using multiple magnets.

The laboratory is currently developing the next generation of sensors and exploring different applications for composite magnetic materials in soft robotics and magnetic tagging.  Magneto-optic imaging techniques are also being explored.

Selected Publications

  1. A. Mazumdar†, Y. Chen†, B. G. van Bloemen Waanders, C. F. Brooks, M. Kuehl, and M. B. Nemer, “Wireless Temperature Sensing Using Permanent Magnets for Nonlinear Feedback Control of Exothermic Polymers,” IEEE Sensors Journal, vol.18, no. 19, pp. 7970-7979, 2018. [†These Authors Contributed Equally to this Work] [https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2018.2863249]
  2. Y. Chen, A. Mazumdar, C. F. Brooks, B. G. van Bloemen Waanders, S. D. Bond, and M. B. Nemer, “Remote Distributed Vibration Sensing through Opaque Media using Permanent Magnets,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 54, no. 6 pp.1-13, 2018. [https://doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2018.2816578]
  3. Y. Chen, O. Guba,  C. F. Brooks, C. C. Roberts,  B. G. van Bloemen Waanders, and M. B. Nemer, “Remote Temperature Distribution Sensing Using Permanent Magnets,” IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 53, no. 2, paper 6000113, 2017.  [http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMAG.2016.2620964]
  4. Y. Chen, O. Guba,  C. F. Brooks, C. C. Roberts,  B. G. van Bloemen Waanders and M. B. Nemer, “Wireless Temperature Sensing Using Permanent Magnets for Multiple Points Undergoing Repeatable Motions,” ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, paper DSCC2016-9663, pp. V002T26A001, 2016.  [http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/DSCC2016-9663]