Skin depth compensation for an in-ground transmitter
First Claim
1. In an overall method of operating a system in which a transmitter is moved through the ground in a region which includes an electrical conductivity characteristic, said system including an above ground arrangement for tracking the position of and/or guiding the transmitter as the transmitter moves through the ground, said transmitter being configured for transmitting a locating signal for reception by said above ground arrangement in said region for measurement of the locating signal by the above ground arrangement, the improvement comprising:
- compensating for skin depth error by measuring said locating signal such that measurements of the locating signal include skin depth error introduced as a result of said electrical conductivity characteristic and, thereafter, using said measurements in a way which determines a skin depth corrected position of the transmitter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a system in which a transmitter is moved through the ground in a region which includes an electrical conductivity characteristic and the transmitter transmits a locating signal for reception, compensating for skin depth error by measuring the locating signal such that measurements of the locating signal include skin depth error introduced as a result of the electrical conductivity characteristic. Thereafter, the measurements are used in a way which determines a skin depth corrected position of the transmitter. An associated compensation arrangement is also described.
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Citations
5 Claims
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1. In an overall method of operating a system in which a transmitter is moved through the ground in a region which includes an electrical conductivity characteristic, said system including an above ground arrangement for tracking the position of and/or guiding the transmitter as the transmitter moves through the ground, said transmitter being configured for transmitting a locating signal for reception by said above ground arrangement in said region for measurement of the locating signal by the above ground arrangement, the improvement comprising:
compensating for skin depth error by measuring said locating signal such that measurements of the locating signal include skin depth error introduced as a result of said electrical conductivity characteristic and, thereafter, using said measurements in a way which determines a skin depth corrected position of the transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. In a system in which a transmitter is moved through the ground in a region which includes an electrical conductivity characteristic, said system including an above ground arrangement for tracking the position of and/or guiding the transmitter as it moves through the ground using a locating signal that is transmitted from the transmitter and for reception by said above ground arrangement such that the electrical conductivity of said region results in a skin depth which modifies penetration of the locating signal into said region and, consequently, which produces skin depth error when one or more measurements of the locating signal are used, as measured by the above ground arrangement and influenced by skin depth, to determine the location of the transmitter relative to said above ground arrangement under an assumption that said region is electrically non-conductive, an apparatus comprising:
a compensation arrangement forming part of said transmitter and/or part of said above ground arrangement for compensating for skin depth error based on said measurements of said locating signal such that a skin depth corrected position of the transmitter is established.
Specification