Research on interference and suppression of

electronic drift electric field sensor

1st Chunping ZHAO 2nd Zhihua LI* 3rd Haiwen YUAN 4th Yingyi LIU
College of Engineering Information Center School of Automation Science School of Automation Science
Dali University Dali Technician College and Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineering
Dali, China Dali, China Beihang University Beihang University
370925515@qq.com 617476333@qq.com Beijing, China Beijing, China
yhw@buaa.edu.cn yingyiliu@163.com

5th Jianxun LV 6th Jinglin LI

School of Automation Science
and Electrical Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
lvjianxun@buaa.edu.cn
Huashan Middle School
Agricultural Second Division
the Xinjiang Production and
Construction Corps
Korla, China
82140306@qq.com

Abstract—Abstract: The electronic drift electric field sensor is
affected by many factors during the working process, resulting in
measurement error. This paper analyzed the measurement error
caused by the difference in electron forward motion speed,
measurement error caused by magnetic field interference, error
caused by changes in charge-to-mass ratio caused by relativistic
factors and electron diffraction interference caused by the matter
wave effect of moving electrons. On the basis of theoretical
analysis, some methods of suppressing interference or correcting
errors are proposed for different sources of error.
Keywords—Electric Field Sensor, Electron Drift, Interference,
Suppression
I. INTRODUCTION
The underwater electric field is one of the important target
characteristic signals generated by ships in seawater. The ship's
electric field signal can be used to detect, locate, or act as fuse
for underwater weapons [1-3]. The underwater electric field
field or other external magnetic fields during electric field
detection. Based on the working principle, this paper analyzed
the motion of electrons in the composite field of electric and
magnetic fields, and found ways to reduce the interference of
external magnetic fields. The electronic drift electric field
sensor has no consumable electrodes, the measuring
components are not corroded by seawater, has low self-noise,
long working life, etc., and effectively reduces or eliminates
electromagnetic interference, this sensor can measure
underwater low frequency weak electromagnetic fields for
long-term, maintenance-free operation.
The electronic drift electric field sensor uses the effect of
the electric field on the force of the electron to measure the
electric field strength. That is, in the case of no interference, if
the electron with zero initial velocity moves only in the electric
field, the equation of motion of the electron is:

G PY
   H( [Y[  (\ Y\  (]Y] 
signal is extremely weak, the underwater electric field sensor GW 
with low self-noise performance and no external
electromagnetic wave emission is very important for ship wM G[ wM G\ wM G] GM
detection and tracking [4-7]. At present, the widely used H    H
electric field sensor for detection is an Ag/AgCl sensor, its
noise is currently at a relatively high level, however, like other
electric field sensors in which the sensitive element is in direct
contact with seawater, the electrode of the electrode type
electric field sensor is susceptible to the sea, biological and oil
pollution performance is weak, so, it is not an ideal electric
field detection sensor [8].
The electronic drift electric field sensor, one of the three
star-loaded electric field sensors, is used for spatial
electromagnetic field measurement because of its high
sensitivity, low noise, and immunity from bulk potential [9-10].
It is rarely used for electric field measurements on the Earth's
surface because it is easily interfered by the Earth's magnetic
Supported by Scientific Research Project of Yunnan Education
Department (2018JS415)
978-1-5386-9490-9/19/$31.00 2019
c IEEE
w[ GW w\ GW w] GW GW  
GM
In (1), represents the change in potential at two points
GW
before to after the electron movement. Generally, the electrons
are accelerated to a certain moving speed by using (1), and the
electrons, with certain speed, enter the electric field to be
measured in a straight forward motion, and the electrons are
deflected by the action of the tested electric field. The
deflection motion is a motion in which the initial velocity is
zero perpendicular to the direction of the original electron
motion, it can also be described by (1). In the case where the
measured electric field is zero, the electrons will fly straight to
656
the center of the receiving device, if the measured electric field
is not zero, according to the deflection speed or deflection
displacement of the electrons arrived the receiving device, the
electronic forward moving speed and the flied distance, the
size of the electric field to be measured can be calculated. In
general, the position measurement of moving electrons is
relatively easy, and most of the electronic drift electric field
sensors use the method of detecting the position of the
electronic drop point.
emitted from the small hole, the speed screening of the
electrons was realized, that is, the forward velocity range of the
electrons entering the electric field to be measured is
determined by the position and size of the small holes. The
suppression method of such interference is shown in Fig.1.
3
4

II. ELECTRON FORWARD SPEED DIFFERENCE

INTERFERENCE 1
Since the initial velocity of the excited electrons is different,
the electron velocity is still different after being accelerated by
the same electric field. Therefore, in the electron drifting
electric field sensor, the forward velocity of electrons entering
the electric field to be measured is different. The time of action
2
of the electric field to be measured on the electrons is different,
and the speed at which the electrons reach the receiving device
is different from the offset. Thus, although the electrons are Fig. 1. Electronic screening schematic by speed
magnetically focused in the early stage, the electrons reaching
the receiving device are still dispersed. The current common In Fig. 1, 1 is electrons accelerated by an electric field, 2 is
practice is to use the most concentrated drop point of electrons an electron after speed screening, 3 is an electric field anode, 4
as the actual drop point of electrons. The disadvantage of this is a magnetic field generating and an electric field shielding
approach is that the forward velocity of the electron is device.
calculated by (1) with zero as the electron excitation initial
speed. It is not the actual forward speed of the electrons at the III. CONSTANT MAGNETIC FIELD INTERFERENCE
concentrated position, which brings the theoretical error. During the measurement process, the force of the electrons
If the electrons with a certain speed can be selected, using with zero initial velocity in the electric and magnetic fields can
these electrons to measure the electric field strength can greatly be described by the following equation without considering the
reduce such errors. According to the basic principle of gravity factor:
cyclotron, the magnitude of the Lorentz force received by
electrons entering the magnetic field vertically is related to the
 ) H(  H>Y u % @  
velocity of electrons. The Lorentz force is the centripetal force
of electrons in the magnetic field, that is, the deflection radius
of electrons entering the magnetic field vertically is related to The expression of the motion of an electron in a Cartesian
the velocity of electrons. The relationship between the radius coordinate system is:
of electron motion in the magnetic field and the speed of 
motion is as shown in (2): G [ H G\ G]

 ( [  %]  %\ 
GW P GW GW
 5 PYH%  

G \ H G] G[
In (2), m is the electron mass, e is the electron charge, B is  ( \  %[  %] 

the uniform magnetic field strength, v is the electron velocity, GW P GW GW
and R is the radius of the electron motion at the velocity v,
electronic motion speed and magnetic field direction are
vertical.

In the electronic drift type electric field sensor, the G ] H G[ G\
  ( ]  %\  %[  
accelerated electrons first enter a uniform magnetic field GW

P GW GW
shielding the electric field, and the direction of the magnetic
field is perpendicular to the direction of electron movement. From (4) ,when the electron is in motion, if it is interfered
Under the action of a uniform magnetic field, the trajectory of by a constant magnetic field, because the force of the magnetic
electrons is a circle, and the radius of the electron's trajectory is field on the electron is always perpendicular to the speed of the
determined by the initial velocity of the electron and the electron, the direction of movement of the electron changes
strength of the magnetic field. A small hole is set in the and the size does not change, therefore, the maximum offset of
electron trajectory of a specific speed, and the direction of the the electron is the diameter of the circular motion that provides
small hole is the same as the tangential line of the electronic the centripetal force by the Lorentz force. If a linearly moving
motion at the position, and the electron of the required speed is electron is disturbed by a magnetic field, the velocity of the

2019 14th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 657
electron can be decomposed into two sub-speeds parallel to the equivalent to superimposing a white noise on the measurement
direction of the magnetic field and perpendicular to the result. This kind of interference can be processed by "noise
direction of the magnetic field: reduction" by signal processing means such as wavelet
transform.
Y Y FRV D

B. Interference of Low Frequency Orthogonal
And Electromagnetic Field
Underwater orthogonal electromagnetic composite field
YA Y VLQ D
interference generally comes from long-wave radio
interference or enemy electromagnetic interference. This kind
These two sub-movements make the trajectory of electrons
in space an equidistant spiral. Its radius of rotation is: of interference energy is large, which may cause other types of
electric field sensors to malfunction or even burn electronic
devices. Since the electron drift electric field sensor is not
dependent on energy conversion, this interference does not
PY VLQ D
 5   burn the electron drift electric field sensor. Such interference
%T source is a point or moving point relative to the measurement
point, and its direction can be tracked, regardless of how
In the (5), R is the radius of the spiral motion of electrons complex its frequency is, it must be an orthogonal composite
under the action of a magnetic field, v is the speed of field. The equation of motion of electrons in this orthogonal
movement of electrons, and α is the angle between the composite field is:
direction of electron motion and the direction of the disturbing 
magnetic field. When α = 90°, the deflection of the electrons G [
reaches a maximum of 2R. In summary, the interference 

GW
generated by the constant magnetic field causes an additional
offset of the electron beam landing point. G \

H G]
 (  %
The methods of reducing the constant magnetic field GW

P GW
interference: 1. The offset caused by the constant magnetic
field interference can be calculated, according to the electron
forward speed and the constant magnetic field strength, and the 
G ] H G\
result correction can be performed on the actual electronic    %   ˄˅

falling point. 2. For the interference magnetic field which GW P GW
direction can be detected the direction of the electronic drift
sensor can be adjusted so that the forward direction of the In the orthogonal electromagnetic composite field, let
electron beam is parallel to the direction of the external B=Bx, By=Bz=0, E=-Ey, Ex=Ez=0, we can get the forward
magnetic field to reduce or eliminate external magnetic field motion of the disturbed electrons in the way of the hypocycloid,
interference. 3. For a magnetic field that can be determined in and the divergence radius R=mE/eB2, it also returns
both size and direction, an electromagnetic field of the same z=2πmE/eB2, The trajectory of an electron returning distance is
magnitude and opposite direction can also be used to cancel the shown in Fig. 2:
disturbing magnetic field. 4. Degaussing or shielding the
measuring equipment and the auxiliary equipment to suppress
the interference of the magnetic field of the measuring
equipment body.

IV. TIME-VARYING MAGNETIC FIELD INTERFERENCE

A. Low Frequency Weak Electromagnetic Field Interference

One of the great advantages of the electron drift electric Fig. 2. Electronic trajectory of return distance
field sensor is that the influence of its own potential is
negligible. The low-frequency electromagnetic field The complete motion trajectory of the interfered electrons
interference mainly comes from the relative motion of the test is shown in Fig.3.
instrument and seawater, the dischargeable marine animals, the The electronic motion trajectory is reflected on the
movement of seawater, these disturbances become the receiving device as a thick line of width 2R to draw a circle
background noise of the sensor. Although this interference is with a radius z.
small, it cannot be ignored for high sensitivity sensors.
Therefore, according to the electromagnetic field theory, the
time-varying electric and magnetic fields can be uniformly
regarded as low-frequency electromagnetic waves. Since these
clutter are generally random, and the direction of the measured
electric field is generally fixed or regular, this interference is

658 2019 14th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
 x P
B Y ˜ G PY  Y ˜ G Y
 
 Y F
E
­ ½
o
z ° GY Y

°GY
濐 P Y ˜ ® 
   ¾
澳
°¯  E   F   °
  E  ¿
y
P YGY ª P F  º 
= 
G «   »
G PF  (10)澳
Fig. 3. Motion trajectories of electrons in orthogonal electromagnetic field.  
  E  ¬  E  ¼
According to the above analysis, the interference can be From(8), (9) and (10), Combining (GV G M , (11) was
corrected in an integrated manner: 1. The electromagnetic field obtained:
strength and direction are analyzed by the electronic falling
point trajectory, and the interference is reduced by real-time GPF  HM 

 (11)
high-speed calculation. 2. According to the direction of the
electromagnetic field, by adjusting the orientation of the Integrate(11), there is:
electron drift electric field sensor so that it is substantially
parallel to the direction of the electromagnetic field, the 澳 PF   H M . (12)
influence of the interference can be reduced. 3. Using the
"peer-to-peer elimination method", that is, a reflector is used to The potential at the electronic starting point be zero, which
synchronously reflect the interference signal to the electric is the standard potential containing the initial kinetic energy of
field to be measured, and superimpose it with the interference the electron, then the constant K is:
signal. This method involves electromagnetic field strength, 
direction and phase problems, but this method is more difficult . P F (13)
than before.
From (12) and (13),(14) was obtained:
V. RELATIVISTIC EFFECTS AND INTERFERENCE CAUSED BY
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION mc2 -m0 c2 = eφ (14)

A. Interference of relativistic effects

Although the current electron drift electric field sensor uses
low-speed electrons, as the demand for higher frequency
electric field measurement increases, the development of
electronic technology will inevitably increase the electron
speed. In the high-precision measurement of extremely weak
electric fields, it is necessary to consider the theory of relativity.
effect. According to the theory of relativity, the quality of
sports electronics becomes:
P
P F  Y
By the above analysis, the electron mass becomes large, the
charge-to-mass ratio becomes small, and the deflection caused
by the electric field becomes small. The resulting deviation can
be corrected by calculation based on the above analysis.
B. Interference of material wave effect in electron diffraction
According to de Broglie's theory of matter waves, the
trajectory of moving electrons should be calculated by the
probability wave formula of quantum mechanics.
K
  Y  F 
 O ˄15˅
  PF   K PY
In (7), m0 is the mass of low-speed electrons, m is the mass Considering the relativistic factor, so:
of high-speed electrons, v is the speed of electrons, and c is the
speed of light, the same below. Considering the relativistic
K   Y   F
factor, the equation of motion of electrons in an O ˄16˅
electromagnetic field is: P Y
G In (15)-(16), λ represents the wavelength of the object
PY  H(  Y u %   
GW being solved; c represents the speed of light; v represents the
velocity of the object; m represents the mass of the object; h is
By mathematically transforming the above formula: the Planck constant; m0: the static mass of the object.
Y ˜ G PY  H( ˜ YGW H( ˜ GV (9) The probability of electrons appearing on the receiver can
be calculated according to the Schrödinger equation.
The further transforming: According to the Schrödinger equations and the image of

2019 14th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 659
matter waves of electrons, although the volatility of electron
motion exists, most of the positions of electron motion are
more representative of its particle nature. In particular, low-
speed electrons themselves are not affected by relativistic
factors and diffraction factors. The larger angle offset of an
electron due to its volatility is a small probability event,
therefore, in the case of high-precision measurement of a very
weak electric field, if it occurs, it should be eliminated as a
coarse error, and the interference factor of electron diffraction
can be eliminated.
According to the above equations and the material wave
properties of electrons, the wavelength and velocity of
electrons are inversely proportional, that is, the volatility of
electron motion leads to a diffraction of quantum mechanical
effects, which increases the uncertainty of the position of
electrons when they reach the screen, the image appears to be
blurred. Although the low speed electrons themselves are not
affected by relativistic factors, the large angle shift of electrons
due to their volatility will reduce the measurement accuracy of
the instrument. So, in the measurement of the high-accuracy of
the extremely weak electric field, the interference of the
electronic volatility is eliminated, and the speed of the electron
must be increased to reduce the wavelength of the electron,
inevitably, which requires an increase in the length of the
electron tube and an acceleration of the electric field voltage to
solve the problem. This problem is the same as the resolution
of the "field emission microscope" limited to 25 A, and the
solution is similar.
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the common interferences of several
electronic drift sensors are discussed. Methods for suppressing
interference or correcting errors caused by interference are
proposed for these interference modes. These methods provide
a reference for improving such sensors, and effectively
suppressing such interference enables such sensors to be used
in underwater electric field measurements. The subsequent
660 2019 14th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
work will be specific to the specific implementation of these
methods. Design and verification.
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