A preliminary study of the radiation characteristic of an experimental GPR antenna for underground cavity detection

In this paper, we explore the radiation performance of an experimental Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) antenna system intended for cavity detection up to a few meters depth. To completely characterize the antenna in frequency and time domain we carried out a series of free space measurements in an anechoic chamber. The obtained results were in satisfactory agreement with full-wave simulations. Then, we analyzed via simulation the electromagnetic energy coupling into the soil for different antenna elevations. We also investigated the influence of nearby receivers over the antenna fingerprint and radiation pattern. Finally, we summarize the obtained results to select the optimum arrangement for the final design.