Buried utility locator ground tracking apparatus, systems, and methods
Apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed for utility locating with tracking of movement over the ground or other surfaces using a dodecahedral antenna array and a stereo-optical ground tracker having two or more spaced apart cameras and an associated processing element to detect ground features in images from the cameras and determine tracking parameters based on the position of the detected ground features.
1. A buried utility locator, comprising:
a dodecahedral antenna array comprising twelve antenna coils;
electronics coupled to an output of the dodecahedral antenna array for determining positional information associated with a buried utility based on signals received from the twelve antenna coils and storing the determined positional information in a non-transitory memory; and
a stereo-optical ground tracker, including;
a first camera element;
a second camera element offset in position relative to the first camera element; and
a processing element coupled to an output from the first camera element and the second camera element, the processing element programmed to:
receive an image from the first camera element and an image from the second camera element, wherein the first camera element image and the second camera element image are captured with the ground tracking apparatus at a first position;
detect a ground feature in both the image from the first camera element and the image from the second camera element;
determine a distance in pixels for d L and d R ;
determine a distance m from the ground feature to the ground tracking apparatus using known values for D, Y, and the angle, and the determined values for d L and d R ;
determine, based on a position of the ground feature in the image from the first camera element and a position of the ground feature in the image from the second camera element using trigonometric analysis of positional differences of the feature in the image from the first camera element and the second camera element, a height value of the ground tracker above the ground feature at the first position; and
store the height value at the first position in the non-transitory memory.
2. The locator of claim 1 , wherein the image from the first camera element and the image from the second camera element are captured at substantially the same time.
3. The locator of claim 1 , wherein the processing element is further programmed to:
determine, based on one or both of the image from the first camera element and the image from the second camera element, the height value at the first position, and one or both of another image from the first camera element captured at a second position and another image from the second camera element captured at the second position, a change in position of the ground tracker relative to the first position; and
store data associated with the change in position as a tracking parameter in the non-transitory memory.
4. The locator of claim 3 , wherein both of another image from the first camera element and another image from the second camera element are captured at the second position, and wherein the processing element is further programmed to:
determine, based on a position of the ground feature in the another image from the first camera element and a position of the ground feature in the another image from the second camera element, a second height value corresponding to the height of the ground tracker above the ground feature at the second position; and
store the second height value in the non-transitory memory.
5. The locator of claim 4 , wherein the another image from the first camera element and the another image from the second camera element are captured at substantially the same time.
6. The locator of claim 4 , wherein the change in position is further based on the second height value.
7. The locator of claim 1 , wherein the processing element is further programmed to:
receive another image from the first camera element and another image from the second camera element, wherein the another images are captured at a second position different from the first position;
detect a ground feature in the another image from the first camera element and the another image from the second camera element;
determine, based on a position of the ground feature in the another image from the first camera element and a position of the ground feature in the another image from the second camera element, a height value of the ground tracker above the ground feature at the second position; and
store the height Value at the second position in a non-transitory memory.
8. The locator of claim 7 , wherein the processing element is further programmed to:
determine, based on one or both of the image from the first camera element and the image from the second camera element, the height value at the first position, the height value at the second position, and one or both of the another image from the first camera element and the another image from the second camera element captured at a second position, a change in position of the ground tracker relative to the first position; and
store data corresponding to the change in position as a tracking parameter in the non-transitory memory.
9. The locator of claim 8 , wherein the data associated with the change of position includes a relative distance and/or direction between the first position and the second position.
10. The locator of claim 8 , wherein the data associated with the change of position includes coordinates of the second position relative to the first position.
11. The locator of claim 8 , wherein the first image from the first camera element and the first image from the second camera element are captured at substantially the same time.
12. The locator of claim 3 , wherein the data associated with the change of position includes a relative distance and/or direction between the first position and the second position.
13. A buried utility locator, comprising:
a magnetic field antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna coils;
electronics coupled to an output of the antenna array for determining positional information associated with a buried utility based on signals received from the plurality of antenna coils and storing the determined positional information in a non-transitory memory;
and
a stereo-optical ground tracker for determining motion information associated with a movement of the buried utility locator based on receiving and processing, using trigonometric analysis of differences of features in a plurality of sets of stereo image pairs to determine changes in position and associated motion, and storing the determined motion information in the non-transitory memory in conjunction with the determined positional information, and wherein the electronics are further configured to determine a distance in pixels for d L and d R , and to determine a distance m from the ground feature to the around tracking apparatus using known values for D, Y, and the angle, and the determined values for d L and d R .
14. The locator of claim 13 , wherein the antenna array comprises a dodecahedral antenna array including twelve or more antenna coils.
15. The locator of claim 13 , further comprising an omnidirectional antenna array positioned above the dodecahedral antenna array when the locator is in an upright orientation.
16. The locator of claim 15 , wherein the omnidirectional antenna array includes three orthogonally oriented nested antenna coils.
17. The locator of claim 15 , wherein the omnidirectional antenna array and the dodecahedral antenna array are positioned below the stereo-optical ground tracker when the locator is in the upright orientation.
18. The locator of claim 17 , wherein the omnidirectional antenna array and the dodecahedral antenna array are positioned with centers of the arrays intersected by a mast element of the locator.
19. A buried utility locator, comprising:
a magnetic field antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna coils;
electronics coupled to an output of the antenna array for determining positional information associated with a buried utility based on signals received from the plurality of antenna coils and storing the determined positional information in a non-transitory memory; and
a stereo-optical ground tracker module for determining motion information associated with a movement of the buried utility locator based on receiving and processing, using trigonometric analysis of differences of features in a plurality of sets of image pairs to determine changes in position and associated motion, and storing the determined motion information in the non-transitory memory in conjunction with the determined positional Information, and wherein the electronics are further configured to determine a distance in pixels for d L and d R , and to determine a distance m from the ground feature to the ground tracking apparatus using known values for D, Y, and the angle, and the determined values for d L and d R .
20. The locator of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of antenna coils comprise twelve or more antenna coils arranged in an antenna array arranged having a dodecahedral shape, wherein the plurality of antenna coils each provide corresponding output signals to the electronics.