Abstract

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey is a geophysical method that utilizes electromagnetic waves reflecting from a boundary where the electromagnetic property changes. As the frequency of the antenna is about 25 MHz ~ 1 GHz, it is effective to acquire high resolution images of underground pipe, artificial structure, underground cavity, and underground structure. In this study, we analyzed the change of signals reflected from the same underground objects according to the arrangement of transceiver antennas used in ground penetrating radar survey. The antenna used in the experiment was 200 MHz, and the survey was performed in the vertical direction across the sewer and the parallel direction along the sewer to the sewer buried under the road, respectively. A total of five antenna array methods were applied to the survey. The most used arrangement is when the transmitting and receiving antennas are all perpendicular to the survey line (PR-BD). The PR-BD arrangement is effective when the object underground is a horizontal reflector with an angle of less than 30°, such as the sewer under investigation. In this case study, it was confirmed that the transmitter and receiver antennas perpendicular to the survey line (PR-BD) are the most effective way to show the underground structure. In addition, in the case where the transmitting and receiving antennas are orthogonal to each other (XPOL), no specific reflected wave was observed in both experiments measured across or parallel to the sewer. Therefore, in the case of detecting undiscovered objects in the underground, the PR-BD array method in which the transmitting and receiving antennas are aligned in the direction perpendicular to the survey line taken as a reference and the XPOL method in which the transmitting and receiving antennas are orthogonal to each other are all used, it can be effective to apply both of the above arrangements after setting the direction to 45° and 135°.

Keywords ground-penetrating radar, antenna arrays, underground imaging