A system for imaging material, typically in an underground scenario, comprising of a plurality of conductive electrodes supported on a conductive substrate positionable in an environment to be imaged, a signal generator connected to at least two of the electrodes, and a signal detector connected to at least two of the electrodes, and wherein an impedance compensator is arranged between each electrode and its substrate to counter parasitic impedance between the two. Typically the impedance compensator may be arranged to act as a negative capacitance, which may be approximately equal to any capacitance between the electrode and the substrate. An electrode may be a drive electrode coupled to a signal generator, or a detector electrode coupled to a detector, or may be reconfigurable to act as either one.

A method is for determining a status of a track section of a railroad. Each end of the track section is connected to a respective detector. One of the two detectors transmits a current along the rails of the track section towards the other detector and receives a current transmitted along the rails of the track section from the other detector. The track section is further equipped with a computer in communication with the two detectors. The computer calculates an instant value of the status of the track section as a function of an instant vector based on a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by a first of the detectors as measured by the first detector (Txl1), a measure of an intensity of the current received by the first detector as measured by the first detector (Rxl1) and a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by the second detector as measured by the second detector (Txl2).

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a system for determining in-situ oxidation-reduction potential in a formation having a surface separating the formation from an ambient atmosphere. The system may measure the oxidation-reduction potential in-situ, and thereby provide the most precise measurement of the oxidation-reduction potential. The formation surface may be the interface between the ambient atmosphere and the uppermost layer of the formation. The system may comprise a probe for a penetration into the formation. a reference electrode for placing on the formation surface, and a controller configured to communicate with the probe. The controller may be configured to communicate with the reference electrode, determine the oxidation-reduction potential as a potential difference between the reference electrode and the oxidation-reduction electrode, and communicate with the probe, the oxidation-reduction electrode, the reference electrode or any other device by a wire or wireless or a combination of wire and wireless.

A method is for determining a status of a track section of a railroad. Each end of the track section is connected to a respective detector. One of the two detectors transmits a current along the rails of the track section towards the other detector and receives a current transmitted along the rails of the track section from the other detector. The track section is further equipped with a computer in communication with the two detectors. The computer calculates an instant value of the status of the track section as a function of an instant vector based on a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by a first of the detectors as measured by the first detector (Txl1), a measure of an intensity of the current received by the first detector as measured by the first detector (Rxl1) and a measure of an intensity of the current transmitted by the second detector as measured by the second detector (Txl2).

A plurality of electrochemical corrosion protection systems (30) for underground buried structure installed geographically dispersed are utilized so as to predict an earthquake. Changes in amounts of current flowing through closed loop electric circuits (W) for electrochemical corrosion protection in the electrochemical corrosion protection systems (30) are detected and an earthquake is predicted based on the detected changes in the amounts of current.

A pest detector includes: a first electrode; a second electrode that is arranged to face the first electrode; an electric field generator that generates an electric field in a gap between the first electrode and the second electrode; an imager that images at least the first electrode; and a hardware processor that determines an attaching state of insect pests that can be attached to the first electrode, based on an image captured by the imager.

A method for locating an object of interest using offset. The object may be a mobile platform, or portion of same, associated with a vehicle, or a pavement segment or feature of or on a pavement segment on which the mobile platform is located. The vehicle includes first and second fixed points having a known offset from each other. An image sensor whose field of view includes the second fixed point and a portion of the mobile platform provides image data which is used with the known offset to calculate the precise location of the object of interest.

The present disclosure relates to a method for advancedly detecting a water-bearing hazard body in real-time based on vector resistivities. The method includes: acquiring potential differences of receiving dipoles on a shield machine in real-time based on a pre-constructed detection environment, wherein the receiving dipoles include first receiving dipoles and a second receiving dipole; converting to resistivities by using a formula for calculating resistivities in a steady current field according to relative positional relationships between the receiving dipoles and power supply dipoles and the potential differences of the receiving dipoles to obtain the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles; drawing curves of the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles by taking positions of the power supply dipoles as an abscissa axis and the apparent resistivities as an ordinate axis; analyzing the changing curves of the apparent resistivities and determining a detection result of an abnormal body. According to this method, in the process of a continuous underground tunneling of the shield machine, the conditions of the water-bearing hazard body in front of the tunneling is detected in real-time by means of continuously receiving electric signals by the receiving dipoles and drawing the curves of the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles, thereby improving the real-time performance of the advanced prediction results.

The present disclosure relates to a method for advancedly detecting a water-bearing hazard body in real-time based on vector resistivities. The method includes: acquiring potential differences of receiving dipoles on a shield machine in real-time based on a pre-constructed detection environment, wherein the receiving dipoles include first receiving dipoles and a second receiving dipole; converting to resistivities by using a formula for calculating resistivities in a steady current field according to relative positional relationships between the receiving dipoles and power supply dipoles and the potential differences of the receiving dipoles to obtain the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles; drawing curves of the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles by taking positions of the power supply dipoles as an abscissa axis and the apparent resistivities as an ordinate axis; analyzing the changing curves of the apparent resistivities and determining a detection result of an abnormal body. According to this method, in the process of a continuous underground tunneling of the shield machine, the conditions of the water-bearing hazard body in front of the tunneling is detected in real-time by means of continuously receiving electric signals by the receiving dipoles and drawing the curves of the apparent resistivities of the receiving dipoles, thereby improving the real-time performance of the advanced prediction results.

A device for evaluating characteristics of a target ground containing a metal component is proposed. The device includes: a penetration probe having a main frame and a pair of side frames respectively installed at opposite side ends of the main frame, wherein each side frame has a lower end thereof extending downward from the main frame; a plurality of electrodes installed to be exposed to outside on the main frame; an electrode measurement part for measuring apparent chargeability of the target ground by applying power for measurement to the plurality of electrodes; and a main processor for calculating a weight ratio of a metal component of the target ground on the basis of the apparent chargeability measured by the electrode measurement part and calculating a volume ratio of the metal component of the target ground on the basis of the calculated weight ratio of the metal component.