Image and audio characterization of electromagnetic signals in cable defect detection

Abstract Power cables play a very important role in urban development. On the other hand, the integrity and the safe operation of power cables are crucial as even a minor potential mishap can result in serious loss of life and property. Hence, early diagnosis and warning of cable faults are imperative. Addressing the current lack of practical detection technologies, this study proposes a non-destructive testing method based on electromagnetic field principles. Through scanning the power-on power cables with probes, the electric field intensity around the cables can be measured, and the weak anomaly caused by structural and material defects can be detected using Superlets transformation. Additionally, to gain a better characterization of the faults, a digital post-processing approach consisting of imaging and sonification algorithms is developed to aid in pinpointing the location of the faults. Both numerical simulation and experimental test indicate that the proposed non-destructive detection method is feasible and can achieve good accuracy in locating cable faults. With image and audio characterization, the present method has great potential applications in ensuring the safety of power cables.