RIDGID NaviTrack II - Manual (Page 21)

NaviTrack® II
20
Appendix: A Better Way Of Locating
The NaviTrack® II is a professional locator used for tracing buried
lines, pipes, cables and locating sondes. The NaviTrack® II uses
Omnidirectional antennas and advanced processing to make
locating sondes and tracing buried utility lines fast, accurate
and easy. It has a number of features which advance the art of
locating significantly.
The NaviTrack® II gives the operator a picture of the situation
around as the receiver moves along the target area and makes
it easier to understand where a target line’s electromagnetic
field is. It shows what the situation is with the line or sonde
being located. With complete information, an operator can
understand how things stand underground and resolve
complex situations, avoid inaccurate mark-ups, and find the
right line or cable more rapidly.
What The NaviTrack® II Does
The NaviTrack® II is used above ground to sense and trace
electromagnetic fields emitted from underground or hidden
lines (electrical conductors like metal wires and pipes) or
sondes (actively transmitting beacons).
When the fields are undistorted, the information from the
sensed fields gives an accurate picture of the buried object.
When the situation is made complex by interference from
more than one line or other factors, the NaviTrack® II provides
a display of information that show multiple measurements of
the detected field. This data can make it easier to understand
where the problem is, by providing clues as to whether a
locate is good or bad, questionable or reliable. Instead of just
laying paint in the wrong place, a locator can see clearly when
a difficult locate needs re-evaluation.
The NaviTrack® II provides more of the critical information a
locator needs to understand the situation of the utility being
located.
What It Does Not Do
The NaviTrack® II locates by sensing electromagnetic fields
surrounding conductive objects; it does not sense the
underground objects directly. It provides more information
about the shape orientation, and direction of fields than other
locators but it does not magically interpret that information or
provide true X-Ray Vision.
A distorted, complex field in a noisy environment requires
intelligent human thought to analyze correctly. The NaviTrack® II
cannot change the results of a difficult locate, even though it
shows all the information about those results. Using what the
NaviTrack® II shows, a good operator can improve locating
results by “making the circuit better”, changing frequency,
ground or changing the transmitter’s location on the target
line. This gives the locator a better chance of getting it right
the first time.
Advantages of the
Omnidirectional Antenna
Unlike the single coils used in many simple locator devices, the
Omnidirectional antenna detects fields on three separate axes,
and can combine these signals into a “picture” of the apparent
strength, orientation and direction of a field. Omnidirectional
antennas offer definite advantages:
The Mapping Display
The mapping display enabled by the Omnidirectional antennas
provides a graphic view of a signal’s characteristics and a bird’s
eye view of the signal underground. It is used as a guide for
tracing underground lines and can be used to better pinpoint
sondes. It can also be used to provide more information for
complex locates.
The use of lines (representing the signals sensed by upper
and lower antennas) gives the locator a graphic way to see
where he is, and where the target utility or sonde is. At the
same time the display provides all the information needed to
understand what is happening with the field being located
– its signal strength, continuous distance, angle, and proximity
to the target. The information available at one moment on the
NaviTrack® II would take multiple sample readings with some
conventional locators. A distorted or compound field will be
easier to interpret when all the information is in a single display
as it is with the NaviTrack® II.