To minimize excavations and public inconvenience, utilities often use horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to create underground pathways for the installation of pipes, cables, and other utility lines. While HDD provides efficiency improvements over conventional open-trench methods, inadvertent strikes of existing lines can occur. To address the issue, a variety of obstacle-detection technologies have been investigated in recent years with limited success. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) - the most common method - employs high frequencies, costly electronics, and is often blocked by damp or mineralized soils. Other obstacle systems under development require receivers on the surface near the drill head, making them unfeasible for river or highway crossings. In response, researchers are developing a DIOD sensor to detect metallic and non-metallic obstacles at a greater range, in a variety of soils, and with the ability to send data directly to a receiver at the drill rig.
The objective of this project was to develop two robotics platforms, named Explorer II and TIGRE, which equipped with Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE)...
Preventing unauthorized intrusions on pipeline Right of Ways (ROWs) and mechanical damage due to third party strikes by machinery is a constant challe...
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