Magnetic Localization of AC-Driven Buried Cable by the SCARAB Submersible

SCARAB is an unmanned cable-controlled submersible currently under construction whose mission is to aid in the repair and maintenance of undersea telephone cables. One of SCARAB´s cable-locating techniques involves a magnetometer array to detect the magnetic field of a low-frequency current carried by the cable. The magnetometer signals are filtered, amplified, digitized, and multiplexed onto SCARAB´s control cable for transmission to the control ship. A ship-borne minicomputer processes these signals in real time to determine the cable location, which is continuously displayed to SCARAB´s operator on a graphics terminal. The computer algorithm for cable localization is briefly described, as are the numerical simulations and field experiments carried out to predict the performance of the system.