GROUND PENETRATING RADAR

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY EFFORT IS TO PRODUCE COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS, A DETAILED DESIGN, AND PERFORMANCE CALCULATIONS FOR A 'FREQUENCY-STEPPED' GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) SYSTEM. THE FREQUENCY STEPPED APPROACH WILL ALLOW IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE TYPICAL 'SHORT-PULSE' RADAR BY IMPROVING BANDWIDTH CONTROL, IMPEDANCE MISMATCH COMPENSATION, HIGHER OUTPUT POWER, AND COHERENT INTEGRATION AND IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES. THE APPROACH WILL DETAIL DESIGN TO THE CIRCUIT LEVEL, SPECIFY TOLERANCES AND SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND IDENTIFY CRITICAL COMPONENTS OR SUBASSEMBLIES. PERFORMANCE CALCULATIONS WILL INCLUDE SOIL VARIATIONS, LOSSES, SOURCES OF ERROR, AND COMPONENT VARIATIONS. AN IMPROVED GPR WILL BE ABLE TO LOCATE UNDERGROUND UTILITY LINES AND OTHER MANMADE AND NATURALLY OCCURRING OBJECTS (METALLIC AND NON-METALLIC) IN THE GROUND PROFILE TO A DEPTH OF GREATER THAN TWENTY FEET. A-PRIORI KNOWLEDGE OF GROUND CONDITIONS IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SUCCESSFUL AND ECONOMICAL COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS. KNOWLEDGE OF SUB-SURFACE CONDITIONS POSSIBLY IS THE KEY TO SIGNIFICANT COST REDUCTIONS IN HEAVY CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMS.