Chenghan Weng

and 15 more

This paper describes the development of the fluxgate magnetometer on the Fengyun-4B satellite. The Fengyun-4 is the second generation of China’s geostationary orbit satellite with the function of monitoring the space environment in GEO orbit. A fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) is deployed on this satellite to observe the magnetic field as a necessary input to space weather forecasting. This payload adopts three 3-axis fluxgate sensors to obtain space magnetic field data by excluding the satellite’s interference. Each three-axis fluxgate sensor has an independent signal processing circuit. FGM uses digital signal processing technology to acquire magnetic field signals. First, the analog signal is oversampled using a high-speed ADC, then digital signal processing, such as phase-sensitive demodulation, integration, and filtering, is performed inside the FPGA, and the feedback signal is output to the feedback coil through the DAC. This signal processing loop constitutes an ADC system, and the quantization accuracy of the output digital quantity can reach 18 bits. the FGM performs in-orbit calibration during satellite rotation maneuver and Alfven wave events. Comparison with the GOES-16 satellite and Tsyganenko magnetic field model proves FGM to be effective in monitoring the magnetic field of the space environment. Through joint observations with GOES-16 satellite and geomagnetic stations, FY-4B describes the development of a typical magnetic storm on November 4, 2021. The Ground calibration and in-orbit preliminary results show the FY-4B satellite magnetometer outputs 20 bits of digital resolution data at a 30 Hz sampling rate, with the noise lower than 3×10-4nT2/Hz@1Hz in the ±600nT range.