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System and method for digging navigation

System and method for digging navigation description/claims

This patent application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Applications Ser. Nos. 60/818,032, filed on Jun. 30, 2006 and entitled “UTILITY LOCATION SYSTEM;” and Ser. No. 60/838,692, filed on Aug. 18, 2006 and entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DIGGING NAVIGATION,” the entire contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference.

The present invention relates to a system and method for avoiding damage to utility assets.

There are many assets above ground and below ground that need to be protected and avoided. Included in these assets are utility lines and components and protected areas, such as archeological sites and habitat of endangered species. There are millions of miles of utility lines around the world, some buried and some above ground. These utility lines include, without limitation, electric power lines, telephone lines, water lines, sewer lines, fiber-optic cable lines, natural gas transmission lines, natural gas distribution lines, and utility lines for transporting hazardous liquids.

Every year incidents occur in which mobile ground breaking equipment comes in contact with utility lines with costly results in loss of life and/or loss of money. In order to understand the full impact of such incidents, one would have to also include environmental damage and economic loss as a result of a service disruption.

There have been many attempts to address damage prevention when groundbreaking equipment is used around utilities and other assets that need protection. Examples of these attempts include marking the location of a utility by painted lines, making a record of the location of the utility lines as the line was placed in the earth or generating data identifying the location of the utility using a fixed object, such as the curbing of a road. In addition, some techniques record the location of a facility as the record to compare to the location of a piece of ground breaking equipment. The location of a utility may be acquired by underground imaging, which may be accomplished by the use of ground penetrating radar or other means.

In some embodiments, the present invention is a method and system for protecting installed utility assets, such as electric power lines, telephone lines, water lines, sewer lines, fiber-optic cable lines, natural gas transmission lines, natural gas distribution lines, and utility lines for transporting hazardous liquids. The system and method include recording a location of an utility asset as the utility asset is being installed; displaying the location of the installed utility asset with imagery and mapping information on a display, in relation to a location of a ground breaking equipment; and automatically guiding the ground breaking equipment to avoid damage to the installed utility asset.

Automatically guiding the ground breaking equipment may include receiving information from a GPS about the location of the ground breaking equipment; comparing the received location information to a site data record stored in a data base; generating steering commands for ground breaking equipment responsive to the comparing; and utilizing the steering commands to steer the ground breaking equipment to avoid damage to the installed utility asset.

In some embodiments, the present invention is a method and system for protecting installed utility assets. The system and method include placing a GPS receiver on a ground breaking equipment; calculating the location of the utility asset being installed responsive to the location of the GPS receiver placed on the ground breaking equipment according to predetermined length or angle of components of the ground breaking equipment; recording the location of the utility asset; displaying the location of the installed utility asset with imagery and mapping information on a display, in relation to a location of the ground breaking equipment; and signaling a warning signal when the ground breaking equipment is closer than a predetermined distance to the installed utility asset.

The system and method may further include placing a RFID on the utility asset being installed; reading a position of the RFID placed on the utility asset by a RFID reader; and recording the position of the RFID placed on the utility asset.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C show examples of the utility system located on a ground breaking equipment, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C show examples of the utility system located on exemplary ground breaking equipment, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3E show exemplary apparatuses and methods that provide precision locations of a utility asset, as it is being installed, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary utility designating unit, according to some embodiments of the present invention;

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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