Pulse Induction & VLF In One Detector. Don't Piss On My Dream.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Here's an idea for a new detector.

Does anyone ever think we could see a Pulse Induction Detector with a Setting that could turn it into a VLF?  This would give us the benefits of owning 1 detector that can find deep gold, get rid of most soil condition and hot/cold rocks...and at the same time provide the Sensitivity to wire gold/specimens/tiny bits and have the Discrimination with great identification ID such as the Equinox/Manticore.

I realize we could not have both running at the same time, but that ok with me.  I already take 2 different gold capable detectors on many of my hunts as I've learned quite a few sites have various kinds of gold.  Sure, there will be times the ID system from the VLF setting may not ID properly, but as the end user, I can decide for myself.  I already use the VLFs in heavy trash areas and on deep targets, I still investigate some as I have learned that depth and certain soil conditions can fool even the most expensive detectors.

It would be a big hit with some regions and maybe not so with others.  Having the option of such detector would be nice for those who detect old mining areas.

Another big part of the sales of this detector would be generated towards the Beach Hunters and also the Civil War Relic folks.

It's my dream, so please don't piss on it.  Although I do enjoy hearing your thoughts good and bad.  After all, it's just a dream...until it becomes reality.

[Steve Herschbach]

It’s been doable for ages and suggested for longer. White’s could have stuck a MXT and TDI SL circuit boards in one box and switched between them, and still been lighter than a GPZ 7000. The main thing would be designing a coil that could run well in both PI mode and VLF mode. Not a huge hurdle really as a PI can run almost any configuration - it’s the VLF side that’s pickier so design for that as the priority. Now obviously an MXT board and a TDI SL board today would be way, way smaller than what Whites made. Think more like Manticore plus AlgoForce E1500 together in a single package. Both could easily fit in something about the size of an Axiom.

As you say, two separate detectors in one housing with ability to switch between the two. Obvious idea, brought up many times. So why has nobody done it? Lack of outside the box thinking at the majors that has them thinking this or that, but not both. At one time it was just a too klunky option really, but with today’s smaller circuit boards and more powerful batteries much more feasible.

[Geotech]

At White's I designed an MXT+SMPI circuit, got the TX, coil, and preamp working but then abandoned the project for the far more promising truncated half sine. With MXT+SMPI you get one or the other but not both at the same time. With half sine you get both at the same time, and the option to do multifrequency/multipulse. I got the half sine project running and that's when I left White's. No one ever continued the project.

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

It seems like since a concentric coil has two windings that the one smaller windings could be separated out and used on the vlf side and the larger windings could be used on the pulse side. Basically two mono coils in one.

[JCR]

Handy as a shirt pocket & sell like hot cakes comes to mind.

[jasong]

The GPZ is kinda a PI/VLF hybrid on steroids in some ways already, though I guess neither truly. 

I'm unsure why discrim can't be implemented on ZVT, but if it really can't then it might be interesting to have a button/trigger that kicks it momentarily into VLF mode for target analysis. Or another trigger to kick it into PI mode for salt detecting and quicker differentiation between conductive soil noise and targets. A concentric coil works on all 3.

This is the kind of stuff I've been saying for ages that is possible (in theory) with modern circuitry and components increasing in capability and decreasing in costs. As to how feasible it is in the field/actual conditions/usability, no clue.

[Sourdough Scott]

Since we are thinking outside the box.... Why couldn't a detector also incorporate some AI into it? Then based on what signals are processed it can determine whether you should dig the target or not. 

[RONS DETECTORS MINELAB]

4 minutes ago, Sourdough Scott said:

. Why couldn't a detector also incorporate some AI into i

AI only sound off on gold targets pretty please!

 

[jasong]

Unfortunately AI takes a huge amount of processing power (and energy), or requires cloud (internet) connectivity to run remotely. It's pretty awesome for doing things like coding or writing because it has specific rules, and can run in the cloud on remote supercomputers. Or vision interpretation because there is a huge amount of visual data all around us for it to train on.

The problem is niche topics that are also highly interpretational - like figuring out what signals to dig while detecting - would be very difficult to train an AI on, especially since environments change so often place to place.

Much better (for now) is algorithmic approaches - largely classed under "signal processing". This can be handled with lower power, onboard hardware and software. Detectors are still underutilizing the capabilities here. 

However, in terms of EMI reduction there may be some AI approaches that make sense soon, since AI does have capability to find patterns, and thus differentiate things like noise which aren't part of the patterns it finds. However, AI is incredibly slow compared to dedicated algorithmic signal processing hardware. 

[HardPack]

From a prospecting prospective, imagine detecting downslope from a ridge into a deep ravine moving from deeper soils to shallow bedrock. As you move out of the ravine up the opposite slope you discover a surface quartz vein hidden under the brush; or you find yourself in the middle of the original old mining site. By now the truck containing the second detector is a few brush covered miles away plus several 100 feet in elevation change. Yeah, I would be definitely be interested in a dual PI/VLF metal detector.