Magnetic Sensing: Advances, Applications, and Challenges

With the rapid advances in ubiquitous sensing, researchers are increasingly exploring new sensing technologies and innovative application scenarios, creating a dynamic landscape of possibilities. In recent years, magnetic sensing has emerged as a prominent research topic for a wide range of applications, e.g., localization, hand tracking, and haptic sensing. Compared with other sensing technologies, magnetic sensing offers unique advantages that enable and facilitate various ubiquitous sensing applications. In this survey, we aim to provide a systematic overview of magnetic sensing technologies and their wide-ranging applications. First, we give a detailed introduction to the hardware and software design of magnetic sensing techniques. Then, we present the extensive magnetic sensing applications and elaborate them in five major categories, i.e., behavioral tracking, haptic sensing, localization/navigation, magnetic detection, and human-computer interaction. For each technical class, we divide selected works into sub-categories based on their specific application scenarios. Furthermore, we summarize existing works and analyze their differences. Subsequently, we provide an insight into current challenges from four perspectives. Specifically, range limitations , security , calibration , and wearability issues . Finally, we conclude the future research directions of magnetic sensing.