DE102016207973A1 - System for detecting objects in the ground - Google Patents

Abstract

System (1) for detecting objects (21-23) in the floor (3), comprising at least one receiver (51-53) for an acoustic, electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal (62) emerging from the floor (3) , further comprising a radio interface (71, 72), the receiver (5) and the radio interface (71, 72) being transportable and adapted to be mounted on a construction machine (81, 82), the radio interface (71, 72) is adapted to transmit the registered signal (62) to a memory unit (91), and / or to an evaluation unit (92).
A system (1) for detecting objects (21-23), wherein the radio interface (71, 72) is adapted to transmit the registered signal (62), and / or information (24) derived therefrom, and wherein a memory unit (91), and / or an evaluation unit (92) is provided, which is designed to receive the signal (62), and / or the derived information (24).

Description

The present invention relates to systems for detecting objects in the ground, in particular for use in civil engineering.

State of the art

In civil engineering work it always comes back to damaged buried objects, such as electricity or water pipes. In addition to the immediate damage to property or even personal injury, such accidents additionally entail high costs for the standstill of the construction site until the damage has been remedied, as well as costs for repairing the damage.

Therefore, construction machines for excavation work are equipped with sensors to detect buried objects and, if necessary, stop the excavation in good time. From the US 6 633 163 B2 a passive sensor is known which detects buried power lines on the magnetic field generated by the current flow. From the US 2002 063 652 A1 is an active sensor known, which sends an electromagnetic signal into the ground and evaluates the position of buried objects from the reflected signal.

The WO 2008/064 852 A2 refines the latter active sensor technology in that in addition the removal of an excavator bucket is evaluated to the buried object. This distance is transmitted by radio to an external, user-operated control system of the construction machine so that the user can respond to a detected approach to an object.

Disclosure of the invention

Within the scope of the invention, systems for detecting objects in the ground have been developed. These systems each comprise at least one receiver for an acoustic, electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal emerging from the ground and a radio interface, wherein the receiver and the radio interface are transportable and adapted to be mounted on a construction machine.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the radio interface is designed to transmit the registered signal to a memory unit, and / or to an evaluation unit.

According to the prior art, only the detected distance to a buried object has been transmitted via the radio interface so that it could be received by the control system and displayed to the user. The signal registered by the receiver, however, was no longer used after the calculation of the distance, but discarded.

The inventors have now recognized that it is advantageous to export precisely these raw data obtained by the receiver via the radio interface. In this state, the data may be combined with other data before the final conclusion on type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground is drawn from the entirety of the data. This can significantly improve the accuracy of the final results.

For example, many measurements that locate objects in the ground provide results that are coupled to the relative orientation between the receiver and the object. The measurement thus shows the object from a certain perspective, which does not yet allow a clear inference to its three-dimensional extent within the soil. The more such perspectives are aggregated, the more information about the object can be gained.

The inventors have recognized that it is particularly advantageous to store the raw data instead of discarding it immediately after determining a distance or after a rendered display on a display. The arrangement of objects in the ground is a condition that is essentially static. Thus, the raw data obtained in an area are valid for a long time. For example, a three-dimensional image of the soil and of the objects in it can be increasingly refined over time by taking new data into account. In particular, several receivers that are mounted on different construction machines can contribute to this purpose.

The term raw data in this context does not exclude signal conditioning, such as rescaling, smoothing or removing noise. The decisive factor is that the data has not yet been compressed by the reduction to, for example, a calculated distance value. Such compaction is final. Improving the value obtained from densification by taking into account further raw data is, if at all possible, very difficult.

The essence of the invention is thus to be seen in the fact that the raw data registered by the recipient are no longer regarded as a mere intermediate product which is to be compacted as quickly as possible to the final result, but as an independent work product, which in itself has a value.

In a second aspect of the invention, the radio interface is thus designed to transmit the registered signal, and / or information derived therefrom. According to the invention, a memory unit, and / or an evaluation unit is provided, which is designed to receive the signal and / or the derived information.

According to the prior art, from the registered signal, information understandable to the user of the construction machine has been derived, such as a distance to a recognized object. The raw data from which this information was derived was immediately discarded. But also the derived information was not kept after being displayed to the user. The further processing of this data was therefore not possible. Likewise, these data could not be correlated and / or merged with other data and signals. So the system lived virtually without consideration of the prehistory "from hand to mouth".

In contrast, according to the invention, it is possible to obtain an additional knowledge gain from a data collection recorded over a longer period of time and / or to combine the data obtained from a plurality of construction machines into an exact cartography of the objects buried in the ground.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, a transmitter is additionally provided, which is designed to couple an electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal in the ground. The receiver can then register the response from the ground and the objects in it to this signal. For example, the transmitter and receiver may form a ground penetrating radar (GPR).

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the evaluation unit is designed to merge the signal, and / or the information derived therefrom, with the position of the receiver at which the signal was recorded. In this way, in particular several perspectives, from which the objects are observed, can be meaningfully billed together.

Advantageously, the evaluation unit is designed to combine signals recorded at different times, and / or information obtained from these signals, into aggregated information about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground. For example, a construction machine typically moves throughout the workday on the jobsite, passing through certain locations multiple times at different times. On this time scale, the arrangement of buried objects typically does not change. Thus, when the data collected each time a place passes through, these data all relate to the same situation and can be evaluated for accurate mapping of the objects in the ground.

Advantageously, a plurality of receivers are provided on different construction machines, and the evaluation unit is configured to receive the signals received by the plurality of receivers, and / or the information obtained therefrom, for aggregated information about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects to merge in the ground.

In the prior art, each individual construction machine was an isolated solution in terms of detecting objects in the ground. Even if it was intended to pass on information about distances to detected objects to an external control system, this information related only to this one construction machine. A transfer of data to a higher-level system was not provided. The inventors have recognized that by combining the data obtained by means of several construction machines, in particular the database for a computational reconstruction of the arrangement of objects in the ground can be significantly widened. For example, one and the same partial volume of the soil can be sensed from a variety of different perspectives.

In a further particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the evaluation unit is designed to determine the aggregated information about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground via a tomographic reconstruction. It is precisely such a reconstruction that benefits most from the presence of as many raw data registered by the recipient as possible from many different perspectives. In addition to tomography, there are other imaging techniques that also benefit from the aggregation of as many recordings as possible. The image quality obtained with these methods is also improved by the measures according to the invention.

Advantageously, the evaluation unit is adapted to the signal, and / or the information derived from it, with a cartography of the soil, and / or with an aerial or satellite recording of the soil, to an aggregated information about type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground merge. For example, the evaluation unit may be designed to search for specific objects which from aerial or satellite photography, and / or from cartography. With weak signal and strong noise, the additional information that a certain object is suspected at a certain point, enable a faster and more reliable detection, since, for example, the sensitivity of the sensor and / or the penetration depth of the sensor signal can be adjusted depending on the situation. However, the signal registered by the receiver, and / or the information derived from it, can also provide, for example, information complementary to the aerial or satellite image and / or the existing cartography, so that finally a multimodal image of the objects located in the ground arises.

In this connection it should be mentioned that the recognition of objects according to the invention is not limited to pipes and pipes. For example, unexploded ammunition (duds) can be detected, and for this purpose, for example, aerial photography can be used as additional information. In addition to pipes and pipes not marked in cartography, duds are one of the biggest problems civil engineering works can encounter.

In a further particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, a portable display unit for transmitting the aggregated information to the operator of the construction machine is provided.

In the prior art, the evaluation of the signal from the receiver took place exclusively within the construction machine carrying the receiver. This was due to the need for the operator in the driver's seat of the construction machine to immediately need the information about detected objects. Accordingly, the hardware requirements of the evaluation had to be compromised. The inventors have recognized that a memory unit and evaluation unit arranged outside the construction machine can provide a substantially larger capacity. Thus, the signal can be evaluated with a higher quality method that requires more resources to ultimately obtain a more detailed and reliable mapping of the objects buried in the ground. Through the portable display unit, the operator of the construction machine immediately has this improved end result and can use it directly to safely control the construction machine around certain objects even if they are not yet in the field of view of the sensor unit of their construction machine.

In a further particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, a comparison unit is provided, which is adapted from the information obtained from the signal about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground a change in the arrangement of objects in the ground between to determine two points in time. For example, the cartography of the objects buried in the ground can be determined on the one hand before the start of civil engineering works and on the other hand after completion of these civil engineering works. In this way, for example, the actual course of newly laid pipes and pipes in position and depth can be detected and provided for a current cartography.

In the prior art, it was often common to take over the information on freshly laid pipes and pipes after completion of the work from the planning documents in the cartography. It was not taken into consideration that the planning was not always followed exactly, for example because the building encountered unexpected obstacles. If, in such a case, it was not possible to adapt the planning documents accordingly manually, the new pipes and tubes in the cartography were from now on in the wrong place. This greatly increased the risk of damage in future civil engineering work. Furthermore, an increased effort for the search for the objects had to be maintained during repair work.

The comparison unit can also be designed to determine a deviation from the construction plan from the information determined from the signal about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects in the ground and a construction plan for the arrangement of objects in the ground. This makes it possible, in particular during the ongoing work, to check the work carried out and to compare it with the state of planning. The sooner an unwanted plan deviation is detected, the easier and cheaper it is to correct this deviation.

Thus, while in the prior art the ultimate goal of each evaluation of the signal registered by the receiver was the display of information derived therefrom on a display unit, according to the invention the main focus is on the machine-readable export of the signal, and / or the derived information via a Software interface, for example, to a server, such as a database, outside the construction machine, which carries the receiver and possibly the associated transmitter. In the case of larger construction sites, this may be, for example, a central computer or a cloud solution, which comprises all the data of all measurement and positioning systems. However, the storage and evaluation of the data can also take place, for example, on a smartphone, which the Machine operator and / or the site supervisor serves as a recording and / or display device.

The "networked construction site" is no longer a utopia today. There are already a large number of construction machines and positioning or localization systems for construction sites. The system according to the invention can, for example, be integrated into the network of already existing systems and services. The additional information from the system according to the invention may help to map the stock of underground lines and / or to supplement this cartography with freshly laid lines.

The system according to the invention for the detection of underground objects such as cables, pipelines or other supply lines can be connected to a construction machine or other mobile implement, either on the boom component or on the vehicle itself. In particular the receiver and, if necessary, also the transmitter can be mounted on the boom to be mounted on the vehicle. All movements of the boom or vehicle can then be exploited to cover a larger area. It is also possible to equip autonomous or remote-controlled vehicles with such a system according to the invention for the detection of underground objects and thus, e.g. even before the start of construction, make a mapping of the underground objects. As already described, the position data of the autonomous or remote-controlled vehicles and the measured raw data or pre-processed data are transmitted by means of data transmission to a central processing unit and evaluated there. The evaluated data can then be distributed by means of data transmission to the smartphones and display units in construction machines and displayed there.

It is also possible, in addition to the systems already described, to equip drilling heads for horizontal drilling operations, or an autonomous or remote-controlled drilling robot, with a system according to the invention for detecting underground objects.

In principle, both acoustic methods, such as ultrasound or seismic methods, as well as methods that work with electromagnetic waves, such as high-frequency radar (ground penetrating radar, GPR), or even inductive methods can be used as measuring and detection methods. Many of these techniques also make use of differential evaluation methods, which further increase the possibilities of object recognition and further increase the quality of the evaluation. With the aid of these differential evaluation methods, extremely precise information about the depth at which objects are buried in the ground can be determined.

In this case, the recorded measurement signals themselves, and / or the evaluated data can be transmitted via a software interface to a further evaluation unit or data acquisition unit, which records these data and / or linked with other data, such as position signals or geodetic coordinates, and further processed. Thus, a kind of digital three-dimensional map of the underground objects can be calculated. The evaluated data can also be sent directly or via the separate evaluation unit to other devices, such as e.g. a smartphone, to be transferred.

Further measures improving the invention will be described in more detail below together with the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to figures.

embodiments

It shows:

1 Networked construction site 100 with two construction machines 81 and 82 as data supplier;

2 Merging of the construction machine 82 signals measured at positions A and B. 62 ,

To 1 are on the networked construction site 100 an excavator 81 and a vibrating machine 82 active.

The excavator 81 has a first transmitting and receiving unit 41 . 51 on his excavator bucket and a second transmitting and receiving unit 42 . 52 at his rear. The transmitting unit 41 . 42 each radiate a radar signal 61 in the ground 3 from, and the receiving unit 51 . 52 receives the reflected radar signal 62 , This radar signal 62 is via the radio interface 71 of the excavator 81 to the higher-level storage unit 91 transmitted.

The vibrating machine 82 has another transmitting and receiving unit 43 . 53 , In a similar way to the excavator 81 sends the sending unit 43 a radar signal 61 in the ground 3 , and the receiving unit 53 receives the radar signal reflected from the ground 62 , The received signal 62 is via the radio interface 72 the vibrating machine 82 to the same parent storage unit 91 transmitted.

The reflected radar signal 62 arises in each case in the soil 3 by reflection on in the ground 3 buried objects 21 - 23 , In the in 1 As shown, these are a water pipe 21 , a power line 22 and a bomb 23 , For determining the position and identifying the objects 21 - 23 is the evaluation unit 92 with the storage unit 91 coupled. The evaluation unit 92 calls the signal 62 from the storage unit 91 and links the signal 62 with a cartography 31 as well as an aerial photograph 32 of the soil 3 , The result of this through the evaluation 92 determined aggregated information 25 about the arrangement of the objects 21 - 23 in the ground 3 is sent to the portable display units 94a . 94b passed on the excavator 81 or on the vibrating machine 82 are arranged.

In addition, the aggregated information 25 also to the comparison unit 93 passed on the arrangement of the objects 2 with the blueprint 33 compares and the result of the comparison to the site manager 101 reports. So will the site manager 101 about the bomb 23 immediately reported as conspicuous, since they are in the blueprint 33 is not shown.

2 shows how the sending and receiving unit 43 . 53 the vibrating machine 82 can be used to make an object, here the bomb 23 to examine from different perspectives. In 2 the situation is exemplified at the times to which the vibrating machine 82 located at positions A and B respectively.

Starting from position A of the vibrating machine 82 is the center of the bomb 23 by the angle α transverse to the transmitting and receiving unit 43 . 53 , Starting from position B of the vibrating machine 82 is the center of the bomb 23 however, by the angle β querab from the transmitting and receiving unit 43 . 53 , This causes the wave propagation between the transmitting and receiving unit 43 . 53 and the bomb 23 in each of the two positions A and B is different. Because the signals 62 from the evaluation unit 92 each with the current positions A and B of the vibrating machine 82 are the evaluation unit 92 also the angles α and β known. In this way, the evaluation unit is able to receive signals from both perspectives 62 to a three-dimensional picture of the ground 3 to charge and so the object 23 to identify as a bomb. Because the object 23 not changed in its position, can by means of the position change of the transmitting and receiving unit 43 . 53 a so-called bistatic radar can be generated. The evaluation unit 92 supplies the portable display unit 94 on the vibrating machine 82 with the aggregated information 25 ,

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 6633163 B2 [0003]
• US 2002063652 A1 [0003]
• WO 2008/064852 A2 [0004]

Claims (11)

System ( 1 ) for recognizing objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) comprising at least one recipient ( 51 - 53 ) for one out of the ground ( 3 ) emitted acoustic, electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal ( 62 ), further comprising a radio interface ( 71 . 72 ), the recipient ( 5 ) and the radio interface ( 71 . 72 ) are transportable and designed to be mounted on a construction machine ( 81 . 82 ), characterized in that the radio interface ( 71 . 72 ) is adapted to the registered signal ( 62 ) to a storage unit ( 91 ), and / or to an evaluation unit ( 92 ). System ( 1 ) for recognizing objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) comprising at least one recipient ( 51 - 53 ) for one out of the ground ( 3 ) emitted acoustic, electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal ( 62 ), further comprising a radio interface ( 71 . 72 ), the recipient ( 51 - 53 ) and the radio interface ( 71 . 72 ) are transportable and designed to be mounted on a construction machine ( 81 . 82 ), and wherein the radio interface ( 71 . 72 ) is adapted to the registered signal ( 62 ), and / or derived information ( 24 ), characterized in that a memory unit ( 91 ), and / or an evaluation unit ( 92 ), which is designed to receive the signal ( 62 ), and / or the derived information ( 24 ), to recieve. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that in addition at least one transmitter ( 41 - 43 ), which is designed to generate an electrical, magnetic and / or electromagnetic signal ( 61 ) in the ground ( 3 ). System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 3, characterized in that the evaluation unit ( 92 ) is adapted to the signal ( 62 ), and / or the information ( 24 ), with the position of the recipient ( 51 - 53 ), at which the signal ( 62 ) was merged. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the evaluation unit ( 92 ) is adapted to receive signals recorded at different times ( 62 ), and / or information ( 24 ), aggregated information ( 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) merge. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that a plurality of receivers ( 51 - 53 ) on various construction machines ( 81 - 83 ) and that the evaluation unit ( 92 ) is adapted to receive from the multiple receivers ( 51 - 53 ) recorded signals ( 62 ), and / or the information obtained therefrom ( 24 ), aggregated information ( 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) merge. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 5 to 6, characterized in that the evaluation unit ( 92 ) is designed to store the aggregated information ( 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) to determine a tomographic reconstruction. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the evaluation unit ( 92 ) is adapted to the signal ( 62 ), and / or the information ( 24 ), with a cartography ( 31 ) of the soil ( 3 ), and / or with an aerial or satellite image ( 32 ) of the soil ( 3 ), aggregated information ( 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) merge. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that a transportable display unit ( 94 . 94a . 94b ) for the transmission of the aggregated information ( 25 ) to the operator of the construction machine ( 8th ) is provided. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that a comparison unit ( 93 ) is provided, which is adapted from the signal ( 62 ) information ( 24 . 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) a change in the arrangement of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) between two points in time. System ( 1 ) according to one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that a comparison unit ( 93 ) is provided, which is adapted from the signal ( 62 ) information ( 24 . 25 ) about the type, shape, material, size and / or position of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) and a blueprint ( 33 ) for the arrangement of objects ( 21 - 23 ) in the ground ( 3 ) a deviation from the blueprint ( 33 ) to investigate.

Images