Compact atomic magnetometer for global navigation (NAV-CAM)

Northrop Grumman is developing an atom-based magnetometer technology that has the potential for providing a global position reference independent of GPS. The NAV-CAM sensor is a direct outgrowth of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Gyro under development by the same technical team. It is capable of providing simultaneous measurements of all 3 orthogonal axes of magnetic vector field components using a single compact vapor cell. The vector sum determination of the whole-field scalar measurement achieves similar precision to the individual vector components. By using a single sensitive element (vapor cell) this approach eliminates many of the problems encountered when using physically separate sensors or sensing elements.