A Hybrid Coil System For High Frequency Electromagnetic Induction Sensing

Intermediate electrical conductivity (IEC, 10(0)-10(5) S/m) objects are increasingly important to properly detect and classify. For the US Military, carbon fiber (CF) "smart bomb" unexploded ordnance (UXO) are contaminating training ranges. Home-made explosives (HME) may also fit in this conductivity range. Objects in this conductivity range exhibit characteristic quadrature response peaks at high frequencies (100 kHz-15 MHz). Previous efforts towards electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensing of IEC targets have required single-turn, small-diameter transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) loops. These smaller loops remain electrically short in the high frequency EMI (HFEMI) range (100 kHz-15 MHz), a necessary feature, but provide low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), especially at low frequencies (1000 Hz-10 kHz). We propose a modification to our pre-production HFEMI instrument which has a hybrid low frequency/high frequency transmit coil. This hybrid system uses many turns in the traditional range, and a single wire turn at HFEMI frequencies, to maximize SNR across a wider EMI band. The turns which are not current carrying in high frequency mode must have negligible inductive coupling to the single current-carrying turn, low enough that any coupling is suitable for background subtraction. This is enforced by mutually disconnecting every turn from every other turn. The instrument uses the same calibration techniques as previously introduced,1 namely background subtraction and ferrite compensation. This paper discusses engineering tradeoffs, compares results to numerical models and actual data from an advanced induction sensor, shows improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at traditional EMI frequencies, and shows the same ability to detect IEC targets in the HFEMI band.