Darius,
Let me answer your questions
1. Could you please elaborate on what the LDC 1000 has to offer in terms of 1) redundancy?
The working principle of LDC1000 is based on the Eddy Current in the metal. No semiconductor or other high tech materials are involved. Therefore it is the most reliable metal detaction method. In addition, each output is the result of sampling multiple (hundreds or thousands ） times of the Eddy Current induced in the coil.
2) Immunity to EMI ?
LDC1000 + Coil as a system is an EM field sensor. It is sensitive to certain EMI circumstances. If the EMI is strong and its frequency is within vacenity of the LC tank frequency, interference can occur. The LC tank frequency is usually low (practivcally 300K to 5MHz). High frequency EMI ususally does not interfere with LDC1000 directly
Howeer, hi frequency EMI can affect LDC1000 in another way - common mode RF reception by the coil body and cable between LDC1000 and coil. We have experimented with a common mode inductor connected between the coil and the LDC1000. Preliminary result shows that, with the common mode inductantor, the LDC1000 + coil system can widthstand 10V/M EMI from 1MHz to 1GHz. We are developing more effetive EMI mitigations aimed at EMI immunity >70V/M
3) What are the advantages compared to MR or Hall-effect sensors ?
The advantages are: a) LDC1000 is totally immuned to static magnetic field; b) LDC1000's sensing element (the coil) is much more robust than the semiconductor materials used in other sensors; 3) Since there is no magnet, there is no worry of picking up metal debris by the magnets
Best regards,
Don Liu, Ph.D.
Tesax Instrument