Multi-transmitter multi-receiver null coupled systems forinductive detection and characterization of metallic objects

Equivalent dipole polarizabilities are a succinct way tosummarize the inductive response of an isolated conductive body atdistances greater than the scale of the body. Their estimation requiresmeasurement of secondary magnetic fields due to currents induced in thebody by time varying magnetic fields in at least three linearlyindependent (e.g., orthogonal) directions. Secondary fields due to anobject are typically orders of magnitude smaller than the primaryinducing fields near the primary field sources (transmitters). Receivercoils may be oriented orthogonal to primary fields from one or twotransmitters, nulling their response to those fields, but simultaneouslynulling to fields of additional transmitters is problematic. Iftransmitter coils are constructed symmetrically with respect to inversionin a point, their magnetic fields are symmetric with respect to thatpoint. If receiver coils are operated in pairs symmetric with respect toinversion in the same point, then their differenced output is insensitiveto the primary fields of any symmetrically constructed transmitters,allowing nulling to three (or more) transmitters. With a sufficientnumber of receivers pairs, object equivalent dipole polarizabilities canbe estimated in situ from measurements at a single instrument sitting,eliminating effects of inaccurate instrument location on polarizabilityestimates. The method is illustrated with data from a multi-transmittermulti-receiver system with primary field nulling through differencedreceiver pairs, interpreted in terms of principal equivalent dipolepolarizabilities as a function of time.