Self-locating compass

1. A device for measuring velocity comprising:

at least one sensing unit, wherein the at least one sensing unit comprises a first loop and a second loop; and

a battery, wherein the battery is operable to provide a bias current;

wherein the first loop comprises a sensing element connected at a first end and a second end to the battery, wherein the sensing element is operable to carry the bias current;

wherein the second loop is positioned across the sensing element at a midpoint;

wherein the second loop comprises a first conductor coupled between a first side of the sensing element and a measurement circuit;

wherein the measurement circuit is further connected to a second conductor coupled to the second side of the sensing element;

wherein the second loop is operable to determine a potential based on deflection of the bias current by a Lorentz drag force; and

wherein a magnetic velocity is calculated based on the potential.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit comprises an input connected to an amplifier, wherein the amplifier is further connected to an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, wherein the A/D converter is further connected to the output of the measurement circuit.

3. The device of claim 2 , further comprising an analog filter connected between the amplifier and the A/D converter and/or a digital filter connected between the A/D converter and the output.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second loop is of an optoelectronic type.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing element is formed from a material having a slow charge relaxation rate.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing element has a length to width ratio greater than 1:1.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are formed of a fast-relaxing material.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the fast-relaxing material is copper.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit includes a temperature compensation unit.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a source type connection to the battery and sink type connections at the first end and the second end.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensing unit comprises a plurality of sensing units, wherein at least two sensing units of the plurality of sensing units are in a non-parallel arrangement.

12. A device for measuring velocity comprising:

at least one sensing unit, wherein the at least one sensing unit comprises a first loop and a second loop; and

a battery, wherein the battery is operable to provide a bias current;

wherein the first loop comprises a sensing element connected at a first end and a second end to the battery, wherein the sensing element is operable to carry the bias current, wherein the sensing element is formed from a material having a slow charge relaxation rate;

wherein the second loop is positioned across the sensing element at a midpoint;

wherein the second loop comprises a first conductor coupled between a first side of the sensing element and a measurement circuit;

wherein the measurement circuit is further connected to a second conductor coupled to the second side of the sensing element;

wherein the first conductor and the second conductor are formed of a fast-relaxing material;

wherein the second loop is operable to determine a potential based on deflection of the bias current by a Lorentz drag force; and

wherein the potential is used to calculate a magnetic velocity.

13. A method of determining velocity through a magnetic field comprising:

providing a bias current in a sensing element of at least one sensing unit using a battery, wherein the at least one sensing unit comprises a first loop and a second loop;

detecting and measuring deflection of the bias current by a Lorentz drag force;

determining a potential based on the deflection; and

calculating a magnetic velocity using the potential;

wherein the first loop comprises a sensing element connected at a first end and a second end to the battery;

wherein the second loop is positioned across the sensing element at a midpoint;

wherein the second loop comprises a first conductor coupled between a first side of the sensing element and a measurement circuit; and

wherein the measurement circuit is further connected to a second conductor coupled to the second side of the sensing element.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the measuring of the deflection comprises amplifying the potential to provide an amplified signal, converting the amplified signal to a digital signal, and providing the digital signal to a processor for processing to form the calculated magnetic velocity.

15. The method of claim 14 , further including adjusting the providing of the bias current and/or the amplifying of the potential.

16. The method of claim 13 , further including adjusting an orientation of the sensing element with respect to the magnetic field to alter coupling to the magnetic field.

17. The method of claim 13 , further including adjusting the bias current to provide desirable magnitude of the deflection.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the bias current is variable and/or alternating.

19. The method of claim 13 , further including converting the magnetic velocity to velocity-over-ground by normalizing the magnetic velocity for local field strength to form a normalized magnetic velocity and projecting the normalized magnetic velocity on a horizontal.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the calculating of the magnetic velocity comprises temperature compensation.

21. The method of claim 13 , further comprising converting the potential to a digital form.

22. The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of the potential comprises analog and/or digital filtering.