Abstract
Antennas are an important component in ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems. Although there has been much research reported on the design of individual antennas, there is less research reported on the design of the geometry of bi-static antennas. This paper considers the effects of key parameters in the setup of a GPR head consisting of a bi-static bow-tie pair to show the effect of these parameters on the GPR performance. The parameters investigated are the antenna separation, antenna height above the soil, and antenna input impedance. The investigation of the parameters was performed by simulation and measurements. It was found when the bi-static antennas were separated by 7 cm to 9 cm and were operated close to the soil (2 cm to 4 cm), the reflected signal from a near-surface object is relatively unaffected by height variation and object depth. An antenna input impedance of 250 Ω was chosen to feed the antennas to reduce the late-time ringing. Using these results, a new GPR system was designed and then evaluated at a test site near Benkovac, Croatia.
Highlights
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has many uses and has been employed as a tool for many decades
The effects of antenna separation and antenna height above the explored, soil were for multiple soil types and a range of depths for the near-surface object
A small side study was completed to find the optimal input impedance for the antennas, with the aim of reducing the late-time ringing from the antennas
Summary
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has many uses and has been employed as a tool for many decades. GPR radiates electromagnetic waves into the ground and detects the discontinuity of the di-electric properties of objects under the soil [1]. This paper focusses on the detection of near-surface objects. In this application, the electromagnetic signal generally has a centre frequency in the low GHz region, and it is classed as ultra-wideband (UWB). In many GPR applications, the antennas are held virtually touching (
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
