Influence of Sensor Variations on the Condition of the Magnetostatic Linear Inverse Problem

We examine the influence of randomized variations of the sensor directions on the condition of the linear inverse problem in magnetostatics. Sensor arrays with varied sensor directions are compared with arrays using perfectly in parallel aligned sensors. As evaluation criterion the condition number of the related lead field matrix is used. The results reveal that for mono-axial sensor arrays the condition of the linear inverse problem can be considerably improved, when sensors are directed non-uniformly. Furthermore, our findings indicate that also small variations of the sensor Z-positions of planar mono-axial arrays can lead to a better condition.