Magnetometer for Balloons and UAVs

This Phase I SBIR project will investigate a new, low-cost approach to atomic magnetometry that is suited for operation from UAVs and research balloons. Atomic magnetometers have been available for decades, but they remain expensive and relatively power-hungry, restricting their use to a small range of platforms. The proposed approach should result in a magnetometer selling at a cost point significantly below that of conventional atomic magnetometers that can be deployed on UAVs and stratospheric balloons. The Phase II research will involve constructing a prototype and flying it on a research balloon or UAV to study phenomena such as Electro-Magnetic Ion Cyclotron waves in the magnetosphere at altitudes of Data from these platforms will fill a scientific niche, as the Earth's field is undersampled at the spatial wavelengths of 30-100 km associated with stratospheric flight. More »