The Detection of Buried Objects in Shallow Sea with Low Frequency Electromagnetic Waves

Abstract

The interest in detection of buried objects in oceans, especially in shallow sea, is increasing due to their utilization in ocean security and exploration, geophysical surveys, and military operations, etc. The traditional detection methods for the buried objects using acoustic waves and blue-green lasers fail in shallow sea environment due to their own disadvantages. The electromagnetic waves, however, offer strong immunity to various kinds of ocean environmental disturbances, and then allow for fully detection solution. In this paper, an active detection method for the buried objects in shallow sea is presented. Broadband and low frequency (lower than 10 kHz) electromagnetic waves radiated from a horizontal current loop impinge upon the buried objects, and then generate scattered fields containing the target's information, which are received by a magnetic sensor. By analyzing the received signal, the specific information of the buried object can be extracted to realize the detection purpose. Some representative simulation results are presented and verify the effectiveness of the proposed detection method.