Optimization of VLF Capacitive-Resistive Dipole Electromagnetic Fields for Underground Utility Pipe Detection Using Artificial Bee Colony, Circle-inspired, and Genetic Metaheuristics

Underground utility detection technology contributes significantly to the planning and repair of various infrastructures for it saves a significant amount of money on utility damages, human life risk, and operation time. With that, this study has optimized a towed equatorial dipole-dipole antenna system which was 3D-modeled in Altair CAD FEKO to produce stronger electric and magnetic fields in a transmitter-receiver configuration. The algorithm is based on EM-driven antenna correlation via the effect of dipole geometrical configurations on structure parameterization. New and efficient metaheuristic optimization methods such as the Circle Inspired Optimization Algorithm (CIOA), constrained Artificial Bee Colony (cABC), and Genetic Algorithm (GA), the highest electromagnetic fields along the top of the pipe with voltage difference of 2.30e-4 V, which is higher compared to CIOA and GA with a voltage difference of 1.81e-4 V and -1.11e-4 V, respectively. This implies the development of an effective method for more accessible and precise calculation of the electromagnetic field for the very low-frequency antenna without the need for extensive mathematical computation. Furthermore, the best distance configuration between dipoles is 0.4 m, wire diameter of 0.01 m, and Tx power of 5.0 W. This study aims to optimize an antenna system to produce more vital electric and magnetic fields in a transmitter-receiver configuration, identify the best spacing distance in the equatorial dipole-dipole antenna and characterize the correlation of the parameters such as the distance, wire antenna diameter, and transmitted power.