The advantages of using autonomous underwater vehicles in searching for ferromagnetic objects based on recording of spatially distributed magnetic anomalies are considered. The development lines of multichannel magnetometric search tools are shown. The potential capabilities of multichannel magnetometric systems for identifying search objects are revealed. Processing the survey results and drawing up a map of magnetic anomalies will make it possible to identify structures the geomagnetic properties of which differ essentially from the natural magnetic background. The use of such technique opens the possibility to achieve a significantly fuller information content and better reliability of the water area survey results and reveal visually undistinguished objects that have their own magnetic field. Based on the electromagnetic field and magnetostatics theory, a method for calculating the parameters and performance efficiency of the multichannel magnetometric system for autonomous underwater vehicles has been developed. The method is designed to evaluate the parameters of and capabilities for detecting ferromagnetic objects and to make a preliminary assessment of the search efficiency. The results obtained from computer simulation of the multichannel magnetometric system signals have confirmed the possibility of drawing up a map of magnetic anomalies to assess the occurrence depth and location of the search object in the ground. The shape of the search object magnetograms depends not only on the object type, but also on its orientation relative to the surface. By applying this dependence, it is possible to recognize search objects, determine their orientation and occurrence depth.
