Development of an ultra wideband ground penetrating radar (UWB GPR) for nondestructive testing of underground objects

A compact ground penetrating radar (GPR) using an impulse waveform is developed. The UWB GPR system is composed of an impulse generator, ultra wideband transmitting and receiving antennas, high speed digitizer, and a laptop computer for data storage and image processing. By considering the maximum measuring depth and soil properties, a proper impulse generator is made and then a novel compact traveling wave monopole antenna is designed to transmit the impulse and receive the reflected signal. Also, image processing for visualization of buried targets is performed. For verification, a UWB GPR prototype is built and tested. It is shown that the system has very good depth and spatial resolution.