TABLE OF CONTENTS Applications
Propagation in the ground
Carrier-free radar
Wideband antennas
Short-range radar is proving to have many applications for probing the ground and other structures, such as walls.
Ground-probing radar, also known as subsurface radar, is becoming an important subject. The number of applications for ground-probing radar is growing and the technology is beginning to be employed in other radar fields; for example, impulsive or carrier-free radar, which is in widespread use for ground probing, is now being developed by the military for its anti-Stealth capabilities (see Chapter 14).
The development of ground-probing radar has been driven by its applications, and these are so widespread that the subject has become a fertile area for the creative electronics engineer. Many applications now lie outside ground probing, as the following list of uses indicates:
Buried objects: detecting landmines; locating pipes and cables.
Civil engineering: finding voids and structural flaws; inspection of reinforcing bars; measurement of wall thickness; tunnel and mineshaft location.
Security: locating objects hidden in walls or floors.
Archaeology: grave and burial-mound investigation; locating foundations of buried buildings; investigating interiors of pyramids.
Geophysics: examining structure and strata; surveying subsurface of the Moon and Mars.
Earth resources: coal and peat reserves mapping; locating water tables in dry climates.
Ice mapping: of ice caps and glaciers.
There are many other ways of imaging the subsurface and the interior of structures; these include seismology, ultrasound, magnetometry, impedance imaging and low-frequency induction methods.
