Communication via a magnio

• US 10,333,588 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2017
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Russo, Jon C., Bruce, Gregory S., Coar, David N., Lew, Wilbur, Miller, Julie L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Zhitong
• Application Number:
  US15/479,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20170207823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/032 using magneto-optic devices, e.g. Faraday or Cotton-Mouton effect
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication

Abstract

A system includes a transmitting device and a receiving device. The transmitting device includes a first processor configured to transmit data to a transmitter and the transmitter. The transmitter is configured to transmit the data via a magnetic field. The receiving device includes a magnetometer configured to detect the magnetic field and a second processor configured to decipher the data from the detected magnetic field.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first processor, data, wherein the data comprises a plurality of data streams with unique synchronization sequences therein;

transmitting, by the transmitter, the data via a magnetic field, wherein each of the data streams is simultaneously transmitted on a respective one of a plurality of channels, and wherein each of the plurality of channels comprises a unique direction of the magnetic field;

detecting, by a magnetometer, the magnetic field;

generating, by the magnetometer, a signal indicative of the detected magnetic field;

receiving, by a second processor, the signal indicative of the magnetic field from the magnetometer;

monitoring, by the second processor, the signal for a plurality of combinations of the unique synchronization sequences, wherein each of the combinations comprises one of the unique synchronization sequences on a respective one of the plurality of channels; and

deciphering, by the second processor, the data from the detected magnetic field based at least in part on an identification of one of the plurality of combinations of the unique synchronization sequences on the plurality of channels.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising encoding the data into a plurality of second data streams, wherein said receiving the data comprises receiving the data in a first data stream, and wherein said transmitting the data comprises transmitting each of the second data streams on one of a plurality of channels.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of channels comprises one of a plurality of magnetic fields, and wherein each of the plurality of magnetic fields is orthogonal to one another.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said detecting the magnetic field comprises detecting the magnetic field in a plurality of directions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of directions are orthogonal to one another.

6. The method of claim 4,

wherein the signal indicative of the magnetic field comprises a plurality of signals from the magnetometer,

wherein each of the plurality of signals corresponds to one of the plurality of directions,

wherein said deciphering the data comprises deciphering each of the plurality of second data streams from the plurality of signals, and

wherein the method further comprises de-interleaving, by the second processor, the plurality of second data streams to determine the data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels is two channels, and wherein each of the two channels corresponds to one of two magnetic fields.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said detecting the magnetic field comprises detecting the magnetic field in three directions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channels is three channels, and wherein each of the three channels corresponds to one of three magnetic fields.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said detecting the magnetic field comprises detecting the magnetic field in four directions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the data comprises receiving a first data stream comprising the data, the method further comprising:

interleaving the data into a plurality of second data streams; and

appending a unique synchronization sequence stream to each of the plurality of second data streams to form a plurality of third data streams, and

wherein transmitting the data comprises transmitting each of the third data streams on one of the plurality of channels.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the third data streams are transmitted simultaneously.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the magnetic field comprises detecting the magnetic field in a plurality of directions that are orthogonal to one another,

wherein the signal indicative of the magnetic field comprises a plurality of signals from the magnetometer, wherein each of the plurality of signals corresponds to one of the plurality of directions, and

wherein deciphering the data comprises:

deciphering each of the plurality of third data streams from the plurality of signals by detecting the unique syncrhonization sequence stream; and

de-interleaving the plurality of third data streams together to determine the data.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising digitally modulating, by the first processor, the magnetic field.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising modulating the magnetic field using minimum shift keying.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the magnetic field does not comprise phase discontinuities.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the magnetometer comprises a diamond with a nitrogen vacancy.