<b>Novel Platforms And Applications </b><b>For Ground Penetrating Radar</b>

<p dir="ltr">The project examined two new small, lightweight and manoeuvrable ground penetrating radar (GPR) units, designed by Geoscanners AB and marketed by Sterling Power Group. A review of existing literature was undertaken to determine current uses of GPR and to examine potential new uses; a project examining peat deposits is suggested as a potential new application. One 500MHz and one 1GHz unit were tested against each other and against conventional GPR. The GPR units were attached to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to investigate the possibility of using such a platform to facilitate rapid surveys and surveys of areas inaccessible to conventional GPR, for example in mine clearance operations. Environmental testing and extensive field-tests were carried out to see if the units were robust enough to stand up to the likely uses of the systems. The results of these surveys were collected and analysed, and have been tabulated as a database as well as being stored as a data-archive, along with data from a more conventional GPR unit available to the project. Despite many problems – engineering and organisational – resulting in some changes to the scope of the project as it developed, some positive results were achieved, demonstrating proof of concept but not yet a viable system. Recommendations for future improvements to the system are outlined.</p>