Obtaining “images” from iron objects using a 3-axis fluxgate magnetometer

Magnetic objects can cause local variations in the Earth's magnetic field that can be measured with a magnetometer. Here we used tri-axial magnetometer measurements and an analysis method employing wavelet techniques to determine the “signature” or “fingerprint” of different iron objects. Clear distinctions among the iron samples were observed. The time-dependent changes in the frequency powers were extracted by use of the Morlet wavelet corresponding to frequency bands from 0.1 to 100 Hz.