Magnetic Fields Laboratory

This laboratory is used to develop and analyze algorithms, procedures, and processes to reduce the vulnerability of US Navy surface ships and submarines to electromagnetically actuated ordnance and detection systems. Separate facilities allow for the testing of scaled physical magnetic models of ships and submarines up to 12 feet long and weighing 500 lbs. as well as full-size on-board electrical machinery as large as 20 x 10 x 10 feet and weighing 40 LT. These facilities are capable of producing very uniform background magnetic fields that can replicate the magnetic environment for anywhere on Earth and space using magnetic field feedback stabilization systems. The laboratory includes a three axis coil capable of deperming the electrical machinery. Deperming fields of 50 Oersted in the longitudinal direction and 20 Oersted in the transverse and vertical directions can be generated. The laboratory has been used by other agencies to magnetically test guided missiles and satellites.