Subsurface and Ground Penetrating Radar

 

Subsurface and Ground Penetrating Radars

For the past fifty years, the ESL has carried out extensive research into subsurface and ground penetrating radars (GPR) for geophysical (oil and gas) exploration and for detecting and identifying buried targets such as:

  • anti-tank (A-T) mines,
  • plastic pipe lines, and
  • tunnels, among others

For example, techniques developed at the ESL for detecting A-T mines have been extended and applied successfully by the British in the Falklands.

The ESL is currently developing new sensors and new methods for subsurface sensing using active and passive microwave and IR sensors, with emphasis on detection and identification of:

  • anti-personnel mines and
  • unexploded ordnance
  • hydrocarbon (oil and gas) bearing zones

 

drilling the bakken formation in the williston basin
Drilling the Bakken formation in the Williston Basin

Both represent major problems in today's world, and continued research will undoubtedly require multi-discipline expertise in areas such as signal processing and numerical modeling.