Patent ID: 8547247

Claim:
A system for generating buried asset data, the system comprising a mobile computing device and a remote server, both communicatively coupled with a communications network, wherein the system is configured for: reading, by the mobile computing device, from one or more sensors communicatively coupled with the mobile computing device, a plurality of analog radio frequency signals from a buried asset, wherein the plurality of analog radio frequency signals are unique to the buried asset in a current position of the one or more sensors; amplifying, by the mobile computing device, the plurality of analog signals so as to increase amplitude of the analog signals; converting, by the mobile computing device, the plurality of analog signals to a plurality of digital signals unique to the buried asset in the current position of the one or more sensors; encoding, by the mobile computing device, the plurality of digital signals for transmission over the communications network, so as to produce a plurality of encoded digital signals; transmitting, by the mobile computing device, the plurality of encoded digital signals to the server via the communications network; receiving, by the server, from the mobile computing device via the communications network, the plurality of encoded digital signals; decoding, by the server, the plurality of encoded digital signals so as to produce the plurality of digital signals; executing, by the server, digital signal processing algorithms upon the plurality of digital signals so as to produce buried asset data, including position, depth measurement data and electrical current measurement data, for the buried asset, and wherein the buried asset data corresponds to the plurality of radio frequency analog signals unique to the buried asset in the current position of the one or more sensors; transmitting, by the server, to the mobile computing device via the communications network, the buried asset data; receiving, by the mobile computing device, from the server via the communications network, the buried asset data including position, depth measurement data and electrical current measurement data for the buried asset; and displaying, by the mobile computing device, the buried asset data from the server in a graphical user interface of the mobile computing device.