Locator with apparent depth indication
First Claim
1. A human-portable utility locator system for locating a buried utility line characterized by an electromagnetic field emission, the system comprising:
- two sensor arrays each for detecting the electromagnetic field emission;
a processor coupled to the two sensor arrays for determining a B-field vector magnitude at each sensor array as a function of time within one or more frequency bands;
a proximity detector coupled to the processor for producing a virtual depth signal representing the virtual depth of the electromagnetic field emission corresponding to the B-field vectors; and
a user interface coupled to the proximity detector for generating an acoustic signal for transmission to a user, wherein the acoustic signal includes a frequency that varies inversely to any variation of the virtual depth signal.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A human-portable utility locator system for locating and tracing a buried utility line characterized by an electromagnetic field emission. The locator may include a horizontal spaced sensor pair for detecting the horizontal field asymmetry of the emitted field in one or more independent frequency bands, which is employed to assist in determining an accurate “virtual depth” measurement for producing detection events. An event detector may be disposed to detect events corresponding to extremum in the B-field gradient with respect to time and a user interface (UI) coupled to the event detector signals the detected event to a user. In a preferred embodiment, one pair of spaced-apart 3D magnetic sensor arrays is disposed substantially orthogonal to another intermediate spaced-apart pair of sensors.
18 Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A human-portable utility locator system for locating a buried utility line characterized by an electromagnetic field emission, the system comprising:
-
two sensor arrays each for detecting the electromagnetic field emission; a processor coupled to the two sensor arrays for determining a B-field vector magnitude at each sensor array as a function of time within one or more frequency bands; a proximity detector coupled to the processor for producing a virtual depth signal representing the virtual depth of the electromagnetic field emission corresponding to the B-field vectors; and a user interface coupled to the proximity detector for generating an acoustic signal for transmission to a user, wherein the acoustic signal includes a frequency that varies inversely to any variation of the virtual depth signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A human-portable locator system for locating a buried object characterized by a self-induced magnetic field, the system comprising:
-
two sensor arrays each for detecting variations in the self-induced magnetic field arising from locator system motion; a processor coupled to the two sensor arrays for determining a B-field vector magnitude at each sensor array as a function of time within one or more frequency bands; a proximity detector coupled to the processor for producing a virtual depth signal representing the virtual depth of the electromagnetic field emission corresponding to the B-field vectors; and a user interface coupled to the proximity detector for generating an acoustic signal for transmission to a user, wherein the acoustic signal includes a frequency that varies inversely to any variation of the virtual depth signal. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A human-portable utility locator system for locating a buried utility line characterized by an electromagnetic field emission, the system comprising:
-
two sensor arrays each for detecting the electromagnetic field emission; a processor coupled to the two sensor arrays for determining the B-field gradient between them as a function of time within at least one frequency band; an event detector coupled to the processor for detecting an event corresponding to an extremum in the B-field gradient with respect to time; and a user interface coupled to the event detector for signaling the detected event to a user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A human-portable locator system for locating a buried object characterized by a self-induced magnetic field, the system comprising:
-
two sensor arrays each for detecting variations in the self-induced magnetic field arising from locator system motion; a processor coupled to the two sensor arrays for determining the B-field gradient between them as a function of time within at least one frequency band; an event detector coupled to the processor for detecting an event corresponding to a B-field gradient extremum; a user interface coupled to the event detector for signaling an event detection to a user. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A human-portable utility locator system for locating a buried utility line characterized by an electromagnetic field emission, the system comprising:
-
a first pair of spaced-apart electromagnetic sensor arrays disposed on a first axis, each array including a plurality of electromagnetic field sensors, each sensor having a sensing axis disposed substantially orthogonal to the other sensing axes in the array; a second pair of spaced-apart electromagnetic sensors disposed on a second axis, each sensor having a sensing axis disposed substantially parallel with the second axis; and a supporting structure for fixing the second axis between the first pair of spaced-apart electromagnetic sensor arrays and substantially orthogonal to the first axis. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
-
Specification