Beacon Tracker System for Horizontal Directional Drilling

 

The Beacon Tracker is a patented two solenoid AC system for tracking the directional drilling of cable and pipeline boreholes under rivers, buildings, highways etc. The precise drill bit location and drilling direction are measured with 330 ft./100 meters range. The BTS system enables tracking under obstacles where a conventional wire coil cannot be placed.

 

    Operation:

  • 1. Hand carry the support stand, the solenoids and the battery shown to a surveyed surface location.

  • 2. Adjust the telescoping legs to level the solenoids.

  • 3. Rotate the solenoids to a surveyed direction using the telescope and freely rotating solenoid table included in the support stand.

  • 4. Start a survey manually at the
    solenoid site or with RivCross via radio modem

  • 5. The left/right, away and elevation coordinates of the drill bit and the azimuth of drilling are computed and displayed 20 seconds after the start of a survey. The magnetic fields of the beacon are measured with a Vector Magnetics Paratrack2 steering tool near the drill bit.

Does the Beacon Tracker interfere with xxx (radar, aircraft, watercraft, ...)?

The magnetic field generated is between 2 and 2.5 hz, so comparison to the relatively static earth's magnetic field is more appropriate than to buried or overhead power lines carrying 60Hz power. This is far from any radar frequencies, for example.

Power consumption is quite low - the solenoids that produce the magnetic field will run all day on a 12V motorcycle battery. Field strength decreases inversely with the cube of the distance from the solenoids. At 2 meters from the solenoids the produced field is approximately equal to the earth's field. At 3 meters the field is 37% of the earth's field. That is to say that the time-varying magnetic field experienced more than 2 meters from the solenoids is less than what is experience by moving through the earth's own magnetic field.