A DIVER-OPERATED UNDERWATER METAL

DETECTOR
E. J. F O S T E R
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, England

INTRODUCTION

Following the successful use of the Pulse Induction Metal Detector for land-based
archaeological surveys (Foster 1969) a new diver-operated instrument was developed for
marine survey work. For land applications the instrument has two functions; the first is to
locate both ferrous and non-ferrous metal objects, and the second is to detect pits, ditches
and postholes by virtue of the enhanced magnetic viscosity of the soil filling (Colani and
Aitken 1966, Mullins and Tite 1969). In a marine environment only the former function of
metal detection is used, there being no known effect of magnetic viscosity in marine sediments.
The instrumental requirements of an underwater detector are rather different from that
of a land machine. Two important features being that of an effective and reliable pressure
housing for the electronics and a completely sealed coil/cable system. The hydrostatic
pressure at a depth of 30 m is about 3 atmospheres, and this will search out any weakness
in the sealing of the component parts. The other requirements are simplicity of operation
and manoeuvrability.

HISTORY OF T H E PULSE METHOD

The pulse method of detecting conductive objects has been known for many years. Wait
(1951)and Yost (1952) described the principle of applying a magnetic step function and the
resulting conductive response. The practical application of the method for detecting buried
metals was worked out in detail by Westcott (1955) and Johnson (1956). However, the
development of a practical instrument awaited the arrival of the miniaturized electronic
components and transistors that we are familiar with today. Barringer (1962) utilized a
high-power airborne instrument for the location of conductive ore bodies. One advantage
noted in the airborne prospecting was the ability to locate ore bodies overlain by conductive
overburden or saline marshes. This is because measurements on the received signal are
made in the time domain and the delay setting (Colani 1966, Foster 1968) can be optimized
to reject or minimize the unwanted response. This feature is relevant in the ocean which is a
moderately conductive environment. The first development of this technique as a highly
portable instrument for field archaeology was made in 1966 (Colani 1966) and has since
then been continuousIy developed for both land- and sea-going use by the Research
Laboratory for Archaeology.

M E T A L DETECTION UNDERWATER

It is possible to specify a range limit for the detection of a given metal object in terms of the
conductivity of the surrounding medium (Colani 1968).
I 62 E. J . Foster

ground. Io4

Dry i
8 ground.
E Fresh

-->
> walcr.
c 102-

c
U
a
0
U 10-

I
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
DETECTION RANGE LIMIT. m.

Figure I Theoretical detection range limit of the pulse method for a 10 cm square brass plate, as a function of
medium conductivity

It can be seen that the range limit for an object of the characteristics shown in figure I
(equivalent to a brass plate 10x 10x 0.1 cm), is between 0.6 and 0.8 m in sea water. The
ranges approaching 10 m for ice as a medium are not achievable in practice due to the
effect of interfering electromagnetic signals from radio transmitters and power lines etc.,
and unwanted noise in the receiver input stages. At the present state of the art the range
limit in air is about I .3 m. To improve this it would be necessary to transmit a more powerful
primary pulse or to improve the interference rejection capability of the receiver. In terms of
current consumption it is more profitable to attend to the receiver since to double the
detection range would require an increase of transmitter current of 64 times for any given
coil size.
As sea water is a conductive medium eddy currents will be induced in the surrounding
water on collapse of the primary field. These will give rise to an unwanted received signal.
As a slight bonus the sea will also act as an efficient screen for unwanted electromagnetic
signals, the range limit being then simply due to the transmission attenuation of the two-way
signal through the water. Since a step function can be analysed into component frequencies
and the penetration distance s of a field in a conductive medium to r/e of the primary field
is given by:
P
s = kJ- cm,
Pf
where k equals 4.25
p is resistivity in ohm cm
p is permeability
f is frequency in Hz.
Plate I The new Pulse Induction UnderwaterMetal Detector
Plate 2 The metal deteetor in use
 A diver-operated underwater metal detector 163
It can be seen that the high frequency components will be heavily attenuated and only the
low frequency ones transmitted to any useful degree. The effect is to slow up the collapse
of the field as experienced by a metal object. It can be shown that as long as the time con-
stant of switch-off as experienced by the object is less than about a tenth of the decay time of
eddy currents in the object, the behaviour of the eddy currents is practically the same as if
the field has been removed instantaneously. Obviously if the field is removed at the same
rate as the time constant of the object no signal will be observed. There is no advantage
therefore in using a fast switch-off (< 20 ps) of the primary field and an associated short
receiver sampling delay as is often the case on land surveys when searching for small objects
(Foster 1968, 1969). Consequently success with metal detector searches on the sea floor can
only be expected when looking for reasonably sized objects of good electrical conductivity.
For instance certain gold/copper and gold/silver alloys would be difficult to detect in coin-
size pieces due to the great increase in resistivity when the two respective metals are alloyed.

1s-
0
W
18 -
21 -
z-

4 io io jo d o
SMd
io
bottom
io do
METER READING I N ARBITRARY U N I T S
do coo

Figure 2 Variation of sea water signal amplitude as a function of depth

The effect of the eddy currents induced in the sea water itself is to give a steady signal
whose amplitude varies with depth and whose decay follows a 2 - 5 law (C. Colani, private
communication). It can be seen from figure 2 that the amplitude falls as one approaches the
surface or the bottom, but is constant in between. This is due to a bulk effect of the water
in that it is the water at a distance from the coil rather than that immediately surrounding
it which gives the signal. If it was possible to look at the eddy current contribution of
sqccessively larger spheres of water centred on the coil centre we would find that the volume
enclosed by the coil would have such a fast decay time as to be unmeasurable. However, as
we move outwards to the limit of field penetration the volume of water centred on the coil is
large enough to give a detectable signal. Also as a result of this as one increases the coil
radius the amplitude of the water signalpcreases and vice-versa. As the detector approaches
the surface or the bottom the coil is no longer centred within an imaginary sphere of
conductive water and the energized volume is less. Hence the signal decreases. -
The eddy current decay of metal objects approximates to an exponential e-7. This is
164 E. J . Foster
sufficiently different from the sea water decay to be able to fix an optimum sample delay for
any given metal object which will give the best object signal/sea water signal ratio. This
obviously cannot be done so effectively on sites where the nature of the objects is unknown.
One non-archaeological example of this is the detection of buried pipelines on the sea floor.
The electrical characteristics of the pipe can previously be measured and these will be
constant along its length. The delay can be set to give the optimum ratio and hence the
maximum detection range is obtained. From the graph (figure 3) it can be seen that the
optimum sampling time is somewhere between IOO and 150ps in this case.

o i . , , 2 3 I 1 I

60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220

DELAY TIME VS

Figure 3 Comparison of rhe signal decay for sea wafer and an iron pipe

THE INSTRUMENT

The principle of operation and electronic circuitry is very similar to the current land-based
Pulse Induction Metal Detector (Foster 1968). There are, however, a few features which are
special to the underwater environment. The first is simplicity of operation. The number of
controls is reduced to a minimum. The land instrument has several facilities brought out so
that the machine is as flexible in use as possible and can cope with widely different conditions
on site. Because of his inhospitable environment the diver has to direct a considerable
amount of his attention to matters of survival and requires a machine that is as undemanding
as possible on his physical and mental senses. The two external controls are:
(a) OFF~BATTERYVOLTS and LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH sensitivity
(b) METER ZERO
The three positions of sensitivity facilitate the exact location or pin-pointing of an object.
If the signal is so strong that the meter reads over full-scale the exact peak or centre of the
anomaly cannot be observed. The sensitivity control directly attenuates the signal at the
input of the receiver amplifier. This is to prevent saturation of the receiver on very large
signals such as when working in close proximity to a very large mass of metal such as a
 A diver-operated underwater metal detector 165
pipeline. Receiver saturation causes the meter to return to zero as though there were no
metal present. The resistance values in the attenuator give a factor-of-ten change in sensi-
tivity per position.
The ZERO control is used to back off the steady reading from the sea water at the level
that the diver is operating. This will vary according to the particular coil size in use.
The meter reading is also duplicated as an audio tone heard via a bone conductor earpiece.
This tone, whose fundamental frequency is zkhz, varies both in amplitude and frequency
depending on the strength of the received signal. This is useful when the water visibility is
so poor that the meter cannot be seen, a condition frequently encountered around the
English coast. However, the meter is fitted with Betaliteillumination which overcomes the
effect of poor visibility to some extent. The other major departure in the design is the use of
a single coil for both transmit and receive. Whilst this configuration is not so useful on land
due to the high coupling when placed on a magnetically viscous soil, it has no such dis-
advantage when used in water; this is because the eddy current effects in the immediate
vicinity of the coil conductors have such a fast decay. Because the coil has to bepottedin
epoxy resin and the cable entry made fully watertight, the single loop makes for a simpler
and more reliable structure. The instrument case is made of nylon with a Perspex window
through which to view the meter. This case is pressure tested for operation at a maximum
depth of IOO m. The pole on which the instrument is mounted is a sealed glass fibre tube,
which has an unscrewable end cap so that a controlled amount of water can be let in to
adjust the buoyancy.

CONCLUSION

In one year of operation the new diver-operated metal detector has proved to be a very
useful archaeological tool. Wreck sites can be rapidly surveyed and plans produced of
the location of metal objects (Green, Hall and Katsey 1967, Green and Martin 1970).The
result is that excavation can immediately proceed in the most interesting locations. The
instrument is simple to use and rugged enough both mechanically and electronically to
withstand the inevitable rough usage at sea. The provision of both visual and audible
signals ensures that the machine can be used in all conditions of visibility.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Research Laboratory for Archaeology is indebted to the Mobell Marine Development Company for
the use of a boat and the assistance of their divers in conducting the evaluation tests at sea. The mechanical
design and surveying trials on underwatersites were conducted by Mr. J. N. Green of the Research Laboratory
for Archaeology. Thanks are also expressed to C. Colani who gave the initial stimulus to this work. Financial
support is acknowledged from the Paul Fund.

REFERENCES
Barringer, A. R., 1962, The input airborne electrical pulse prospecting system, Mining Congress Journal,
October.
Colani, C., 1966, A new type of locating device I-the instrument, Archaeometry 9, 3-8.
Colani, C. and Aitken, M. J., 1966, A new type of locating device 11-field trials, Archaeometry 9,9-19.
Colani, C . and Aitken, M. J., 1966, Utilisation of magnetic viscosity effects in soils for archaeological
prospection. Nature 212, I 146.
E
I 66 E. J. Foster
Colani, C., 1966,A new method and wide range apparatus for locating metal objects in the ground, fresh
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95-99.
Foster, E. and Hackens, T., 1969,Decco metal detector survey on Delos, Archaeometry 11, 165-172.
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Green, J. and Martin. C., 1970. Metal detector survey of the wreck of the armada ship the Santa Maria de
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Johnson, F. B., 1956. A pulsed bomb locator, Ministry of Supply, Internal Memorandum.
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Wait J. R., 1951,A conducting sphere in a time varying magnetic field, Geophysics. October, 666672.
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