Maximizing the information return from ground penetrating radar

Ground penetrating radar data is not always easy to acquire, and sometimes the acquisition may be constrained by equipment availability, weather, legal or logistical constraints, safety or access considerations. Examples of these include archaeological or geotechnical sites about to be excavated, contaminated lands undergoing remediation, hazardous areas such as unexploded ordnance lands or active volcanoes, and difficult to visit locations such as Antarctica or the surface of Mars. These situations may result in only one chance at acquiring data. Thus, the data need to be acquired, processed and modeled with the aim of maximizing the information return for the time, cost and hazard risked. This process begins by properly setting up the survey with the expectation of the site conditions but allowing for flexibility and serendipity in the unknown. Not only are radar data acquired, but also calibration, orientation, location and other required parameters describing the equipment and survey are recorded. All of these parameters are used in the processing and modeling of the data. The final results will be not just a radar image as a pseudo-cross-section, but a corrected geometric cross-section, interpreted electrical and magnetic properties of the ground, location, orientation, size and shape of subsurface objects, and composition of the ground and objects as inferred density, porosity, fluid saturation, and other relevant material occurrence properties.