Detecting Technological Advances, "where is it going"?

[Devondeus]

We all know technology is a fast moving cycle of new developments, be it smartphones, smart watches or the like. Since 1978 when I started detecting there have been some truly fantastic developments in our hobby, and on that thought I am trying to see where it will be heading as technology advances??
One thought that has come to mind for me is programs for our machines. With all Detecting we are are very much governed by the conditions of the ground and its composition, I think in the near future we will have a detector that will sample the site conditions and composition on that day you are detecting, feed the info back to a server somewhere,  perhaps XP HQ ! and a program will be relayed back to the detector, site changes from field to field will also be sent and adjustments will be constantly fed to the machine throughout your search time in order to optimise your search.
It would be good to hear some your thoughts on where you see the advances in detecting technology going?

[lobo]

Possibly a hybrid of the traditional detector coupled with ground penetrating radar. A screen would show the outline of the identified target.

[Peter]

 The depths havn`t been advanced to any significant increase since the early 80`s really. Lots of works been done on the stabilization and Ground controlling but they still havn`t discovered how to get a detector to pick a silver coin the size of an Edward1st penny up at over 8 "to 10" in 40 yrs of building detectors. They still struggle to get the Power in a detector to master the depth issue on a discriminating detector.
 So my answer to the question is, At the moment ,no where really in the real important question of depth seeking ..

[nailman]

Possibly a hybrid of the traditional detector coupled with ground penetrating radar. A screen would show the outline of the identified target.

GPR takes readings at differant depths and enables you to look at the slices of data, it will show walls and ditchs but only as   Lines, very hard to interperate, it will not show a image of a gold torc etc by any means.

[Keith67]

More interactive screens has to be on the cards surely?  At the moment we have 4G but I think in the future there will be reliable links in the fields, and as suggested previously, links to 3rd party support while your in the field.  How much this will benefit is questionable but I could see it happening.

[Devondeus]

I think 3rd party support will in time play a bigger part. In V4 we will have connectivity with our smartphones, this on its own could pave the way for data movement to assist the detectorist, especially if GPS could provide mapping info from online sources such as tithe maps of areas allowing the detectorist to access info on old paths or route ways whilst actually on the ground detecting as the information is being relayed to him/her.
The mind boggles !! 

[Peter]

The price could boggle too !

[Keith67]

The price could boggle too !

Oh yes, we'll have to pay for it    But then again look at the price of the Alter 71 with all it's frequencies and deep layers of settings.  Technology is getting cheaper and it may be that machines have a lot more in them for a surprising price tag.  My Lenovo tab is loaded with features for 90 quid, it would have been 400 7/8 years ago.

The Deus and CTX were a bit "out there on their own" a few years ago wouldn't you agree? and therefore it's plus £1000.00 if you want to be in their clubs, however, more and more tech is available and more and more manufacturers are prepared to offer this at less.  I can't see XP lowering the price of the Deus any time soon, they are still selling well and besides, it would be seen as an act of admission that the opposition are onto something, but the next few years could be very interesting.

I do think the days of the tones only machines are numbered though.  We all know that Deeptech and some others have their fans and do a great job, but I just can't see them appealing to enough of the market in the coming years, not when you have the temptation of so many detecting computers and gizmos right now and even more-so in the future. 

[Redfoot]

s on its limit now despite all the years they use the same power and same coil sizes, the coil designs have not changed they are omni directional whereas a directional coil would project the signal further into the ground there needs to be a major rethink in ways to increase ways of raising power out put all the filtering in the world only uses up power and slows down the detector as the processor has only a limited capacity and the more it is asked to do the longer it will take to do it. electrical components are cheaper now than they used to be but none of our manufacturers offer discounts or big sales of old stock etc. we are in a captive market place where the manufacturers have been re-badging the same old technology sticking a new livery on it and bingo we pay yet another couple of hundred quid to own the latest technology, XP made a break with traditional detector design however despite this they are struggling to make massive improvements, Minelab spent millions on  developing the CTX3030 only to have to admit the the CTX is no better than the Etrac performance wise, it shows you can claim its digital not analogue it can do this or can do that but in the end if it does not move the performance forward then is it really new or better?

[Keith67]

s on its limit now despite all the years they use the same power and same coil sizes, the coil designs have not changed they are omni directional whereas a directional coil would project the signal further into the ground there needs to be a major rethink in ways to increase ways of raising power out put all the filtering in the world only uses up power and slows down the detector as the processor has only a limited capacity and the more it is asked to do the longer it will take to do it. electrical components are cheaper now than they used to be but none of our manufacturers offer discounts or big sales of old stock etc. we are in a captive market place where the manufacturers have been re-badging the same old technology sticking a new livery on it and bingo we pay yet another couple of hundred quid to own the latest technology, XP made a break with traditional detector design however despite this they are struggling to make massive improvements, Minelab spent millions on  developing the CTX3030 only to have to admit the the CTX is no better than the Etrac performance wise, it shows you can claim its digital not analogue it can do this or can do that but in the end if it does not move the performance forward then is it really new or better?

Interesting comments Redfoot.

[GP27]

Very interesting posts, I think with the advancement of phone tech over the past few years and XP linking the deus to the phone is going to open great advancements in the future, like a display showing the shape of an object, the control box could send the signal to the phone and an app could be developed so the interpretation could then display a pic or shape of the  buried item on the smartphone.

[Devondeus]

As suggested, I think there will definitely be more interface between phone and detector..
And yes this all comes at a cost, but an exciting prospect I feel!

[Keith67]

The Minelab Go-Finds already link to your phone for wireless headphone use and you can control the Go-find from your phone.  The whole thing is connected to an app for finds recording.  The machine is less than 300 quid so a lot of the technology is not expensive, whereas recording finds and funding FLO's is.  I can see a future where you open the PAS app, open a folder, and record your position in the field, and then add photos later before hitting the send button and off it goes to the museum.  Recorded finds should go up, costs come down.  Slightly drifting off topic because this doesn't need to be in the detector, but it's an indication of what can be done at low cost.

Imagine a 12 pixel camera in the Deus remote and a micro SD card..  The whole day recorded as you hunt and downloaded into your laptop when you get home.  That would be neat.   

[Devondeus]

Great for those wet and windy days when can't get out!! Relive the last trip out.. Sounds good to me 

[Willy muffit]

Very interesting posts, I think with the advancement of phone tech over the past few years and XP linking the deus to the phone is going to open great advancements in the future, like a display showing the shape of an object, the control box could send the signal to the phone and an app could be developed so the interpretation could then display a pic or shape of the  buried item on the smartphone.

Blimey I think the idea of linking to a smart phone is a rubbish idea the last thing I want is something else to look at or suck the battery life out of the phone ?