In view of the shortcomings of the existing underground power cable positioning system, combined with the requirements of the market and the detection site, this paper introduces the principle and implementation method of the coil arrangement of the underground cable positioning system. Based on the principle of electromagnetic induction, a signal receiver with six induction coils is designed. In view of the unknown working state of the field power cable to be tested, the power frequency magnetic field signal can be directly detected without affecting the normal operation of the power cable, for the power cable without operation, the magnetic field signal generated by the current injected by the transmitter at a specific frequency is detected, and the induced electromotive force of each coil is compared and calculated to determine the distribution direction of the cable and calculate the buried depth and current of the cable. Finally, the path direction of the underground cable is determined, and the compass function can accurately determine the actual direction of the cable, avoid the wrong judgment of the cross cable, and realize the detection of the buried depth of the cable, the relative error of the detection depth of the underground cable is only 3.469%.