Closed Loop Degaussing of Surface Vessels

The objective of the proposed research is to develop rigorous procedure for a Closed Loop Degaussing (CLDG) system to accurately extract the permanent magnetization and commensurately predict the off-board magnetic fields at prescribed depths using the University of Kentucky’s Magström software. Magström is based on a non-linear locally-corrected Nyström solution of the magnetostatic volume integral equation and was developed under the support of ONR Grants N00014-04-1-0485 and N00014-11-1-0584. It is proposed to develop mathematical procedures to translate on-board triaxial magnetic sensor data to an approximate representation of the magnetization of the ship, enabling the extraction of the ship’s permanent magnetization and the prediction of the ship’s underwater magnetic signature. This will be accomplished by developing a reduced-order model for the ship’s magnetization using the Magström system matrix measurements from a degaussing calibration procedure. It is also anticipated that the procedure will enable the prediction of the optimal locations and the optimal number of on-board magnetic sensors. The relevance of this research to the Navy is to enable the successful implementation of an efficacious CLDG system with optimal sensor placement and a reduction in the frequency of degaussing calibration of a Naval vessel.