A Distributed Magnetometer Network

TL;DR

This paper explores the concept of a distributed magnetometer network utilizing smartphones, natural sensors, and interferometry to enable large-scale geophysical and radio astronomy applications.

Contribution

It introduces novel strategies for distributed magnetometry, including crowdsourcing smartphone data, using trees as sensors, and synthesizing arrays for radio telescopes.

Findings

Smartphone magnetometer data can be aggregated for large-scale sensing.

Natural objects like trees can serve as magnetometers.

Interferometry with magnetometer arrays enables low-frequency radio observations.

Abstract

Various possiblities for a distributed magnetometer network are considered. We discuss strategies such as croudsourcing smartphone magnetometer data, the use of trees as magnetometers, and performing interferometry using magnetometer arrays to synthesize the magnetometers into a large-scale low-frequency radio telescope. Geophysical and other applications of such a network are discussed.