TABLE OF CONTENTS The possibility of detecting buried objects remotely has fascinated mankind over centuries. A single technique which could render the ground and its contents clearly visible is potentially so attractive that considerable scientific and engineering effort has gone into devising suitable methods of exploration.
As yet, no single method has been found to provide a complete answer, but seismic, electrical resistivity, induced polarisation, gravity surveying, magnetic surveying, nucleonic, radiometric, thermographic and electromagnetic methods have all proved useful. Ground penetrating, -probing or surface-penetrating radar has been found to be a specially attractive option. The subject has a special appeal for practising engineers and scientists in that it embraces a range of specialisations such as electromagnetic wave propagation in lossy media, ultra wideband antenna technology and radar systems design, discriminant waveform signal processing and image processing. Most ground penetrating radars are a particular realisation of ultra-wideband impulse radar technology. Skolnik [1] considers that 'the technology of impulse radar creates an exciting challenge to the innovative engineer' and ground probing radar to have been a successful commercial venture although on a smaller scale than conventional radar applications.
The terms 'ground penetrating radar (GPR)', 'ground-probing radar', 'sub-surface radar' or 'surface-penetrating radar (SPR)' refer to a range of electromagnetic techniques designed primarily for the location of objects or interfaces buried beneath the earth's surface or located within a visually opaque structure. The term 'surfacepenetrating' is preferred by the author as it describes most accurately the application of the method to the majority of situations...
