Active Magnetic Detection Using Eddy Current Magnetic Field Orthonormal Basis Function

Active magnetic detection is an effective method for detecting metal targets. Its practical application is confirmed in many previous studies, and its advantages over passive detection have been widely recognized. Most importantly, it can detect weak magnetic or nonmagnetic metal targets, unlike traditional magnetic detection. However, the secondary magnetic field generated by the eddy current on the target excited by the active emission primary magnetic field is always weak, and it has a fast attenuation in space. The target signal measured by the sensor is typically several orders of magnitude smaller than the background interference, which makes it challenging to extract the target signal during detection. This study mitigates these challenges by constructing the secondary magnetic field characteristic of the target from the perspective of signal energy. A set of 13 orthonormal basis functions (OBFs) are further derived to linearly describe this characteristic, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the signal. The main contribution of this study is the proposal of an eddy current magnetic field OBF (ECMF-OBF) method to effectively characterize the secondary magnetic field of magnetic targets in active magnetic detection. The SNR is considerably improved by the proposed method, and this is independent of the target magnetic moment orientation. Our experiment is performed in different environments, including indoors, lake, and sea, to verify the method’s performance. Therefore, it has excellent value in the practical application of active magnetic detection.