Applications of Ground Penetrating RADAR (GPR)

Contents

Introduction
Archaeology
Bomb disposal
Geoscience/Geotechnical Engineering
Nondestructive Testing (NDT)
Other

Introduction

When talking about RADAR, most people think about airplane tracking for military and civil purposes, automotive applications and perhaps remote sensing (Earth’s surface). Another important application of RADAR could be described as RADAR imaging of solids. Usually, we call this method Ground Penetrating RADAR (GPR). Common GPR devices focus on relatively shallow exploration and uses a frequency range of 300 MHz to 3.3 GHz [1]. Lower frequencies are required for penetration depths deeper than 1 meter (usually f_min = 10 MHz). Further, it seems like there are some frequencies that are more suitable for certain materials than others. What we detect are structures that appear as anomalies compared to the “background noise” caused by the structure (e.g. soil). IMHO machine learning is much more for GPR analysis than manual information extraction (e.g. due to physiological limitations of the human eye).

Archaeology

detection of burial chambers [2]
cemetery mapping [3]
excavation planning/landscape archaeology [4]

Bomb disposal

often in combination with magnetometers

landmine detection [5, 6]
detection of unexploded ordnance (UXO) [7, 8] - still a big problem in central Europe

Geoscience/Geotechnical Engineering

detection voids/sinkholes [9]
detection of groundwater tables [10]
gold/gemstone exploration for placer mining (technically we are exploring areas for fluvial deposition/sedimentation) [11]
… and many more applications that require some form of underground imaging (e.g. boundary detection)

Nondestructive Testing (NDT)

detect leaks at utility lines (fresh water, sewage) [12]
concrete structures [13, 14]
masonry walls [15]
… and many more

Other applications

detecting buried people (they have distinct EM properties: Austin human bodies models)
- “Snow RADAR” for detecting avalanche victims [16]
- Earthquake victim search [17]
crime investigation/law enforcement/forensics
- locating unmarked graves [18]