Metal Detector for Tracing Submarine Telecommunication Cables

The characteristics and the optimum design of a metal detector are studied theoretically and experimentally. This metal detector is expected to be mounted on an unmanned submersible and to be used for the location finding and tracing of the submarine telecommunication cables. The detector consists of one exciting coil and two receiving coils which are fixed perpendicularly to the excitation coil. The receiving coils detect the magnetic field induced by the eddy current flowing in the outer conductor of the submarine cable. Although the detection range is narrow, about 40 cm, this detector has some advantages that the other cable-locating sensors do not have. The detecting characteristics are calculated numerically under several assumptions and compared with experimental results.