Systems and methods for utility locating in a multi-utility environment

A system for uniquely identifying buried utilities in a multi-utility region, the system comprising:

• a magnetic field sensing locating device comprising:
• a dodecahedral antenna node to sense AC magnetic fields emitted from a plurality of buried utilities and provide antenna output signals corresponding to the sensed magnetic fields;
• a receiver circuit having:
• a receiver input to receive the at dodecahedral antenna node output signals;
• an electronic circuitry to process the received dodecahedral antenna node output signals;
• and
• a receiver output to provide receiver output signals corresponding to the received magnetic field signals;
• and
• a processing unit, including one or more processing elements, operatively coupled to the receiver output to receive the receiver output signals, and further coupled to:
• a location identification module to process the receiver output signals and identify utility data pertaining to the plurality of buried utilities from the receiver output signals, wherein the utility data comprises a plurality of location data points each indicative of location information pertaining to at least one of the buried utilities and associated characteristics of the at least one of the buried utilities;
• and
• a utility classification module to receive the location data points, generate a plurality of clusters each including a set of location data points sharing common characteristics, and classify the clusters, based on one or more patterns exhibited by the clusters, to uniquely identify each of the buried utilities.

A system for uniquely identifying and mapping buried utilities in a multi-utility region, the system comprising:

• one or more AC magnetic field sensing locating devices including one or more vehicle mounted dodecahedral antenna nodes having corresponding dodecahedral antenna node outputs providing dodecahedral antenna node output signals;
• each of the AC magnetic field sensing locating devices comprising:
• a receiver circuit to receive and process the dodecahedral antenna node output signals to provide receiver output signals corresponding to the received magnetic field signals;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the receiver output to receive the receiver output signals and to a location identification module to process the receiver output signals, and identify utility data pertaining to the plurality of buried utilities from the receiver output signals, wherein the utility data comprises a plurality of location data points each indicative of location information pertaining to at least one of the buried utilities and associated characteristics of the at least one of the buried utilities.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium;

• storing instructions, which when executed by one or more processing elements of a computing system, cause the computing system to:
• receive sensor data pertaining to sensed magnetic fields emitted by a plurality of buried utilities in a multi-utility region;
• identify utility data pertaining to the plurality of buried utilities from the sensor data, wherein the utility data comprises a plurality of location data points each indicative of location information pertaining to at least one of the buried utilities and one or more characteristics of the at least one of the buried utilities;
• generate a plurality of clusters based on the identified location data points, wherein each of the clusters includes a set of location data points sharing common characteristics;
• identify one or more patterns exhibited by each of the plurality of clusters;
• and
• classify the clusters, based on the one or more patterns, to uniquely identify the buried utilities.