Method and apparatus for detecting, mapping and locating underground utilities

• US 6,999,021 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2002
• Issued: 02/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ENSCO, Incorporated (Teris LLC)
• Original Assignee: ENSCO, Incorporated (Teris LLC)
• Inventors: Fields, George R. A., Taylor, David W. A. Jr., Bell, Alan G. R., Faulkner, William T., McBride, William H. A., McGarvey, Matthew W., Rolland, John S., Rosenberg, Yuri
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALSOMIRI, ISAM A
• Application Number:
  US10/095,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20020130806A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 342/22, 342/59, 342/129, 342/147, 342/149, 342190-192, 324326-329, 324/67
• US Class Current: 342/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/885 for ground probing prospecting or detecting using electromagnetic waves G01V3/12
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/15 specially adapted for use during transport, e.g. by a person, vehicle or boat

Abstract

The method and device for locating underground utilities within an area includes traversing the area with a plurality of underground utility sensors and obtaining area location data to locate the area traversed. The sensor data and area location data are used to map the location of one or more utilities within the area traversed.

Claims

1. A method for locating underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

traversing back and forth across said area of interest with a plurality of underground utility sensors to cover the area of interest,

continuously obtaining sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors while traversing said area of interest, said sensor data being indicative of presence of an underground utility, said step of continuously obtaining sensor data being electronically performed without requiring interpretive action by an operator as to the position of the underground utility during said traversing of said area of interest,

substantially automatically storing said sensor data in a data storage device,

substantially simultaneously obtaining continuous area location data from a position locating system while traversing said area of interest to obtain area location data indicative of the location of the area of interest traversed while obtaining said sensor data,

directly providing said stored sensor data and said location data to a processor, and

electronically processing by spatial beamforming said sensor data stored in said data storage device using said processor and to determine anomalies in said sensor data, and further processing said sensor data with the anomalies together with said area location data using said processor to map the location of one or more underground utilities within said area of interest based on spatial variability of said sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1 which includes using the sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors with said area location data to create a separate map.

3. The method of claim 2 which includes obtaining sensor data from each of a plurality of different underground utility sensors, each of said plurality of different underground utility sensors being a different sensor type having different mode of operation from one another.

4. The method for locating underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

traversing back and forth across said area of interest with a plurality of underground utility sensors to cover the area of interest,

continuously obtaining and substantially automatically storing sensor data from each of said plurality of different underground utility sensors while traversing said area of interest, each of said plurality of different underground utility sensors being a plurality of wideband electromagnetic field sensors that operate in multiple frequencies, said continuously obtaining sensor data being electronically performed without requiring interpretive action by an operator as to the position of the underground utility during said traversing of said area of interest,

substantially simultaneously obtaining continuous area location data from a position locating system while traversing said area of interest to obtain area location data indicative of the location of the area of interest traversed while obtaining said sensor data,

electronically processing said sensor data together with said area location data to map the location of one or more underground utilities within said area of interest, electronic processing of said sensor data including spatial beamforming of said sensor data; and

using the sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors with said area location data to create a separate map.

5. The method of claim 4 which includes separating the frequencies in the sensor data having multiple frequencies for each wideband electromagnetic field sensor into separate frequency related sensor data outputs.

6. A method for locating underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

traversing back and forth across said area of interest with a plurality of underground utility sensors to cover the area of interest,

obtaining sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors while traversing said area of interest, obtaining area location data from a position locating system while traversing said area of interest to obtain area location data indicative of the location of the area of interest traversed,

using said sensor data and area location data to map the location of one or more underground utilities within said area of interest, including spatial beamforming the sensor data to a suite of angles which cover all possible orientations of the underground utility to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature; and

integrating the location data with the data that corresponds to the linear feature to determine the location of the underground utility.

7. The method of claim 6 which includes locating peaks in the sensor data which represent anomalies and beamforming the peaks to a suite of angles and determining which orientation includes the highest number of peaks as an indication of a linear feature.

8. The method of claim 7 which includes comparing said located peaks with a predetermined threshold value and selecting the peaks which exceed said predetermined threshold value for beamforming to said suite of angles.

9. A method for locating underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

traversing back and forth across said area of interest with a plurality of underground utility sensors to cover the area of interest,

obtaining sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors while traversing said area of interest,

obtaining area location data from a position locating system while traversing said area of interest to obtain area location data indicative of the location of the area of interest traversed,

using said sensor data and area location data to map the location of one or more underground utilities within said area of interest, including beamforming the sensor data to a suite of angles which cover all possible orientations of the underground utility to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature, locating peaks in the sensor data which represent anomalies and beamforming the peaks to a suite of angles and determining which orientation includes the highest number of peaks as an indication of a linear feature, comparing said located peaks with a predetermined threshold value and selecting the peaks which exceed said predetermined threshold value for beamforming to said suite of angles, and integrating the location data with the data that corresponds to the linear feature to determine the location of the underground utility,

rank ordering all sensor data in a data set by value;

removing from the data set a predefined percentage of the largest and smallest values of the ranked sensor data in the data set; and

computing the mean and standard deviation of the remaining values in the ranked sensor data in the data set before comparing the peaks with said predetermined threshold value.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said predetermined threshold value is equal to a constant*standard deviatio+mean.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said constant is 1.0 to 3.0 in value.

12. A method for detecting underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

obtaining area location data from a position locating system to identify the location of said area of interest,

obtaining sensor data from said area of interest using a plurality of different underground utility sensors;

spatial beamforming the sensor data to a suite of angles which cover all possible orientation of a sensed underground utility to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature; and

mapping the sensor data indicative of the presence of a linear feature.

13. The method of claim 12 which includes locating peaks in the sensor data which represent anomalies and beamforming the peaks to a suite of angles and determining which orientation includes the highest number of peaks as an indication of a linear feature.

14. The method of claim 13 which includes comparing said located peaks with a predetermined threshold value and selecting the peaks which exceed said predetermined threshold value for beamforming to said suite of angles.

15. The method of claim 12 which includes traversing said area of interest with said position locating system and said underground utility sensors and obtaining a plurality of sequential data sets, each of which includes location data and sensor data,

spatial beamforming the sensor data from each data set to said suite of angles to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature;

and

integrating the location data for each data set with data for said data set that corresponds to the linear feature to determine the location of the portion of the underground utility within the area from which said data set was obtained.

16. The method of claim 15 which includes locating peaks in the sensor data for each data set which represent anomalies and beamforming the peaks located in each data set to a suite of angles;

and

determining which orientation includes the highest number of peaks as an indication of a linear feature.

17. The method of claim 16 which includes comparing said located peaks with a predetermined threshold value and selecting the peaks which exceed said predetermined threshold value for beamforming to said suite of angles.

18. A method for detecting underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

obtaining area location data from a position locating system to identify the location of said area of interest,

obtaining sensor data from said area of interest using a plurality of different underground utility sensors;

obtaining of area location data and sensor data including traversing said area of interest with said position locating system and said underground utility sensors and obtaining a plurality of sequential data sets, each of which includes said location data and said sensor data;

beamforming the sensor data to a suite of angles which cover all possible orientation of a sensed underground utility to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature, including beamforming the sensor data from each data set to said suite of angles to determine which orientation contains sensor data which indicates the presence of a linear feature;

mapping the sensor data indicative of the presence of a linear feature, said mapping including integrating the location data for each data set with data for said data set that corresponds to the linear feature to determine the location of the portion of the underground utility within the area from which said data set was obtained, locating peaks in the sensor data for each data set which represent anomalies and beamforming the peaks located in each data set to a suite of angles, determining which orientation includes the highest number of peaks as an indication of a linear feature, comparing said located peaks with a predetermined threshold value and selecting the peaks which exceed said predetermined threshold value for beamforming to said suite of angles;

rank ordering all sensor data in a data set by value;

removing from the data set a predefined percentage of the largest and smallest values of the ranked sensor data in the data set; and

computing the mean and standard deviation of the remaining values in the ranked sensor data in the data set before comparing the peaks with said predetermined threshold value.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said predetermined threshold value is equal to a constant*standard deviation+mean.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said constant is 1.0 to 3.0 in value.

21. A device for locating underground utilities within an area of interest comprising:

a movable multisensor unit for detecting presence of underground utilities within the area of interest, said movable multisensor unit including a base, at least two different underground utility sensing units, each of said at least two different underground utility sensing units being a different sensor type having different mode of operation mounted on said base and providing continuous separate data outputs indicating presence of underground utilities during operation when said base is moved over said area of interest, said data outputs being continuously provided without requiring interpretive action by an operator as to position of said underground utility, and being substantially automatically stored, and a position locating receiver mounted on said base for substantially simultaneously receiving continuous positional data relating to the position of the area of interest over which said base is moved, and

a mapping unit to receive positional data from said position locating receiver and the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units, said mapping unit having a processor that directly receives said positional data and said data outputs, and operating to determine anomalies in said data outputs of said underground utility sensing units, to electronically process said positional data to map said area of interest, and to electronically process by spatial beamforming the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units with the anomalies using said processor to electronically map data signals indicative of the location of underground utilities within said area of interest based on spatial variability of said data outputs from said underground utility sensing units.

22. A device for locating underground utilities within an area of interest comprising:

a movable multisensor unit for detecting underground utilities within the area of interest, said movable multisensor unit including a base, at least two different underground utility sensing units having different modes of operation mounted on said base to provide separate data outputs when said sensing units sense underground utilities during movement of said base over said area of interest, and a position locating receiver mounted on said base for receiving positional data relating to the position of the area of interest over which said base is moved, and

a mapping unit to receive positional data from said position locating receiver and the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units, said mapping unit operating in response to said positional data to map said area of interest and in response the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units to map data signals indicative of the location of underground utilities within said area of interest;

wherein said movable multisensor unit includes a cable locator with three or more wideband electromagnetic field sensors with at least one sensor oriented vertically, one sensor oriented horizontally and one sensor oriented orthogonal to said vertically and horizontally oriented sensors, each sensor operating to receive multiple frequencies from an underground utility and to provide a data output which includes one or more of said multiple frequencies.

23. The device of claim 22 wherein said cable locator includes frequency separator means operative to receive the multiple frequencies in the data output from each of said wideband electromagnetic field sensors and to separate each frequency into a single frequency output.

24. A device for locating underground utilities within an area of interest comprising:

a movable multisensor unit for detecting presence of underground utilities within the area of interest, said movable multisensor unit including a base, at least two different underground utility sensing units, each of said at least two different underground utility sensing units being a different sensor type having different mode of operation mounted on said base and providing continuous separate data indicating presence of underground utilities during operation when said base is moved over said area of interest, said data outputs being continuously provided without requiring interpretation of an operator as to position of said underground utility and being substantially automatically stored, and a position locating receiver mounted on said base for substantially simultaneously receiving continuous positional data relating to the position of the area of interest over which said base is moved, and

a mapping unit to receive positional data from said position locating receiver and the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units, said mapping unit having a processor, and operating to electronically process said positional data to map said area of interest, and to electronically process the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units using said processor by spatial beamforming the data outputs to electronically map data signals indicative of the location of underground utilities within said area of interest based on spatial variability of said data outputs from said underground utility sensing units;

wherein said movable multisensor unit includes a cable locator with two or more magnetic coil sensors, each sensor operating to receive multiple frequencies from an underground utility and to provide a data output which includes said multiple frequencies simultaneously.

25. The device for locating underground utilities within an area of interest comprising:

a movable multisensor unit for detecting underground utilities within the area of interest for continuously electronically obtaining sensor data during operation without requiring interpretive action by an operator as to the position of the underground utility in said area of interest, said movable multisensor unit including a base, at least two different underground utility sensing units, each of said at least two different underground utility sensing units being a different sensor type having different mode of operation mounted on said base and providing continuous separate data outputs indicating presence of underground utilities during operation when said base is moved over said area of interest, said data outputs being substantially automatically stored, and a position locating receiver mounted on said base for receiving continuous positional data relating to the position of the area of interest over which said base is moved, and

a mapping unit to receive positional data from said position locating receiver and the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units, said mapping unit operating to electronically process said positional data to map said area of interest, and to electronically process the data outputs from said underground utility sensing units by spatial beamforming to map data signals indicative of the location of underground utilities within said area of interest,

wherein said movable multisensor unit includes a cable locator with two or more magnetic coil sensors, each sensor operating to receive multiple frequencies from an underground utility and to provide a data output which includes one or more of said multiple frequencies, and

wherein said cable locator includes frequency separator means operative to receive the multiple frequencies in the data output from each of said magnetic coil sensors and to separate each frequency into a single frequency output.

26. A device for locating underground utilities within an area of interest comprising:

a movable multisensor unit for detecting underground utilities within the area of interest;

said movable multisensor unit including a cable locator including three or more wideband electromagnetic field sensors with at least one sensor oriented vertically, one sensor oriented horizontally and one sensor oriented orthogonal to said vertically and horizontally oriented sensors, each sensor operating to receive multiple frequencies from an underground utility and to provide a data output which includes one or more of said multiple frequencies, and

frequency separator means operative to receive the multiple frequencies in the data output from each of said sensors and to separate each frequency into a single frequency output.

27. The device of claim 26 which includes a plurality of narrowband RF transmitters located in said area of interest, each of said RF transmitters transmitting a different narrowband frequency.

28. A method for locating underground utilities within an area of interest which includes:

traversing back and forth across said area of interest with a plurality of underground utility sensors to cover the area of interest, said plurality of underground utility sensors being a plurality of wideband electromagnetic field sensors having multiple frequencies, continuously obtaining sensor data from each of said plurality of underground utility sensors while traversing said area of interest, said obtaining of sensor data being electronically performed without requiring interpretive action by an operator as to the position of the underground utility during said traversing of said area of interest,

substantially automatically storing said sensor data,

substantially simultaneously obtaining continuous area location data from a position locating system while traversing said area of interest to obtain area location data indicative of the location of the area of interest traversed, and

electronically processing said sensor data by spatial beamforming together with said area location data to electronically map the location of one or more underground utilities within said area of interest.