Development of emulator for walk-through metal detectors

Because of anecdotal reports that magnetic fields from walk-through metal detectors may interfere with the operation of personal medical devices, interest has grown in the development of emulators that can simulate the magnetic fields produced by these metal detectors. This paper describes a system that can produce linearly polarized magnetic fields that have temporal characteristics such as those generated by some walk-through metal detectors. Because the electronic components are "off-the-shelf" devices and the coil can be readily fabricated, the system could be used by manufacturers of medical devices to conduct their own electromagnetic interference tests.