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Design Study for UAV-Mounted GPR

Conference Paper · October 2019

DOI: 10.23919/EuMC.2019.8910727

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 Design Study for UAV-Mounted GPR
M. Schutz#*, C. Decroze#, M. Lalande#, B. Lenoir*
#
Univ. Limoges, CNRS, XLIM, UMR 7252, F-87000 Limoges, France
*
INOVEOS SAS, Brive-La-Gaillarde, France
maxime.schutz@xlim.fr

Abstract — UAV-mounted GPR are a very attractive way to
detect buried objects without ground contact. However, to be
efficient, conventional GPR systems use a large bandwidth turned
towards low frequencies for better penetration into the ground, the
objective of this paper is to discuss possible solutions to reduce the
system size and weight in the 0.3-1GHz frequency band by using
single switched antenna. The proposed choices are supported by a
complete simulation of the RF chain performed using gprMax and
Advanced Design System.
Keywords — ground penetrating radar, unmanned aerial
vehicles, system simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
Ultra-wideband (UWB) radars play an important role in
high-resolution microwave imaging. Ground Penetrating Radar
(GPR) is designed for detection or imaging through soils [1].
The applications are diverse: civil engineering, geology,
security, even criminal investigations [2].
Generally, GPRs are mounted on trolleys or strollers and are
used in contact or very close to the ground. Recently, research
and experimentation have been carried out to embed the radar
system on a mini-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). This
highly relevant use allows non-contact detection of buried
objects such as mines [3], [4] or large area imaging which is
hard to reach [5]. However, the frequency bands used on
existing systems do not necessarily allow deep ground probing.
Frequencies between 100MHz and 1GHz with high antenna
performances are necessary to improve penetration efficiency,
with immediate consequences on the RF architecture that must
be embedded on UAV particularly in terms of size and weight.
This is the proposed challenge to address.
In this paper, the choice of waveform, RF design and issues
related to the development of an embedded GPR will be
explored. For this purpose a simulation platform has been first
developed.
II. RADAR SYSTEM
A. Waveform selection
There are two main categories of GPR, time domain and
frequency domain. Frequency radars include the Frequency-
Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) and Stepped Frequency
Continuous-Wave (SFCW), which uses frequency emission in
a discrete way. Most ground-moving GPR systems are impulse
radars, using the time information received to deduce target
position. Time domain radar requires broadband pulse
generator and a very fast broadband analog-to-digital
conversion which is mostly expensive.
The flexibility of the radar was an essential point in the
waveform selection. Frequency radars are the most versatile
because the frequency and duration of the scan can be easily
modified allowing the various soil materials and applications
such as near-surface, deeply buried objects or cavity detection.
Finally, the FMCW radar was chosen because it allows a faster
scan than the SFCW radar.
For sufficient deep investigations, the goal band is 0.3-
1GHz. In the case of FMCW radar, Chirp generation can be
performed in several ways. The use of a Voltage-Controlled
Oscillator (VCO) is commonly used and is often coupled with
Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) for linear Chirp generation.
However, most of the commercialized VCOs operate on an
octave frequency or less, which does not allow coverage of the
GPR band, particularly lower frequencies.
To meet the requirement, Chirp generation can also be
performed directly by Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) with a
high Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) frequency. For cost
reasons, a mixer can be used to downshift a higher frequency
Chirp [6].

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed GPR system

PREPRESS PROOF FILE 1 CAUSAL PRODUCTIONS

B. Single antenna switching
For the desired GPR at low frequencies, broadband antennas
are bulky and can be heavy. For this reason, the solution of
using a single transmitting and receiving antenna has been
explored. For the GPR frequency band, the use of a circulator
is not appropriate. Indeed, circulators are generally limited to
one octave and require separation of transmission and reception.
Nevertheless the receipt signal due to reflection coefficient of
the antenna remains significant because it is around 10% of the
transmitted power, which limits the dynamics of the radar.
Other techniques are based on the use of a digital processing
and cancellation stage [7], [8]. However, these solutions are
difficult to implement and require complex architecture and
energy consuming components such as an A/D converter,
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) or Field-Programmable Gate
Array (FPGA).
Fig. 2. Principle of GFMCW radar range scanning
Single pole, double throw (SPDT) switch allows TX and RX
signals to be switched from a single antenna. More precisely,
the principle of the implemented technique [9]-[11] consists in
using a transmission time window and a complementary
reception time window. There are several types of
complementary switching signals ranging from simple square
signals to pseudo-random sequences M-Sequence or MLS [12].
The frequency of the sequence used must be sized
according to the distance corresponding to a maximum on
the IF signal spectrum to be measured as
= . (1)
In the case of a short range, the switching frequency can be
up to tens of MHz. The use of complex sequences is then very
difficult to implement, especially for the switch's speed
performance.
The square switching signal with a 50% duty cycle, is easy
to implement and guarantees maximum average power [10].
The drawback of this kind of signal is that it generates a
triangular MRS (Mean Received Signal) range profile that not
correctly permit to detect targets on either side of the maximum.
2
In order to keep the generation of switching sequences
simple and configurable, the proposed idea is to make several
acquisitions with different switching frequencies to scan the
maximum level of the MRS over the desired radar range. To
obtain the ideal MRS, the choice of frequencies is also proposed.
To limit the number of acquisitions, a maximum variation of
2.5dB is defined on the MRS and the switching frequencies are
calculated by
= (2)
∙
= . (3)
From the first frequency calculated for the location of
the first maximum in meters (2), it is possible to
calculate each following frequencies from the previous
frequencies (3) to cover the radar range ensuring a
controlled variation of the received power at 2.5dB as shown in
Fig. 2. The response can thus be reconstructed from sections of
the range.
At the receiver, signals due to antenna reflection limit the
system dynamics. It is therefore possible to use a second switch
with a time offset from the first switch to attenuate this
undesired signal. Indeed, the antenna feedback signal is located
in the first time of the reception sequence. The choice of the
second switch shift time is then directly related to the antenna
used.
Fig. 3. Attenuation of the antenna reflection signal by using a second switch in
reception with a delay of 5ns
To optimize the system, the switches must be therefore as
close as possible to the antenna to avoid any signal delay and
thus guarantee a minimum time offset on the second switch.
The proper dimensioning of this switching sequences is
essential giving that by adding a delay on the second switch, the
MRS profile is reduced, resulting in a loss of power.
 Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the simulation platform.

perform several simulations of the radar architecture for

III. SYSTEM SIMULATION
A. Simulation platform
To properly design the RF system and in particular the
switching part, the aim is to simulate the complete FMCW GPR
system, i.e. from waveform generation to BSCAN image
processing. For this reason, an ADS (Advanced Design System
from Keysight Technologies) co-simulation based on the results
from gprMax software [13] has been implemented. gprMax is
an open source software allowing the simulation of the
propagation of electromagnetic waves of GPR systems using
the FDTD method.
different transfer functions using a sweep block automatically
incrementing the.s2p file.
Finally, as a result of this simulation, the different beat
signals are recorded. Thereafter, FFT processing and noise
addition based on the noise factor of the receiver is applied.
Conventional imaging algorithms can then be used directly on
the generated BSCAN.
B. Simulation results
To validate the GPR switching system, a simple model for
gprMax simulation was defined and shown on Fig. 5. These are
two cylindrical Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) targets behind
two 20cm thickness walls, the radar transmitter and receiver are
located in the same place and are 1m from the first wall.

Fig. 5. Setup of a simple model on gprMax.

PEC Targets
The first step of the simulation is to extract the received Antenna
pulse signals from the FDTD simulation and calculate the reflection
complex transfer function of the propagation channel. This
transfer function is calculated from the frequency spectrums of
the simulated backscattered signal and the transmit
pulse as

= . (4)

The resulting data are formatted in Touchstone .s2p format

for easy use with ADS. Several scans are performed to build a
BCAN image of the configured scenario and the .s2p file is
stored for each of them.
In a second step, the RF front end and IF part are
implemented on ADS. The transient simulation was used to
enable the modelling of the switching part. The frequency PEC Targets Walls
transfer function is integrated into the simulation as the
propagation path. The files from the antenna reflection
measurement were also included in the simulation. FMCW
radar parameters such as Chirp duration, frequency band and Fig. 6. Simulated Bscan of the complete system with a single antenna for one
frequency start are selected. The Chirp waveform used is switch (top) and two switches (bottom) using a sequence frequency of 20.25
modelled by a VCO. To build the BSCAN, it is possible to MHz corresponding to a maximum MRS located at 3.7m.

3
 Several simulations were carried out following the axis of
the wall and data files from these simulations have been used in
ADS. The architecture with one switch and two switches was
simulated to perform a comparison. Fig. 6 and 7 illustrates the
effect of adding a second switch on the obtained measurements.
In the second simulation, the influence of the reflection signal
from the antenna is attenuated, allowing walls and targets to
appear.
Antenna
reflection
PEC Targets
(a)
(b)
Walls
PEC Targets
(b)
Fig. 7. Simulated time and frequency domain beat signals for each single
antenna positions for one switch (a) and two switches (b) using a sequence
frequency of 20.25 MHz corresponding to a maximum MRS located at 3.7m.
A K-antenna [14] matched in the 0.3-3GHz band was
measured and its reflection parameter was integrated into the
simulation. The configured frequency band is 0.3-1GHz, Chirp
duration is 0.1ms. The modelled switches have a rise and fall
time of 2 ns, the delay configured for the second switch is 5 ns.
For a single antenna system, the use of a second switch
therefore allows to increase the radar dynamic and to detect
targets, in particular by using a LNA with higher gain and
without saturation of the receiver mixer.
4
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IV. CONCLUSION
This paper explores the design optimization of the
embedded GPR FMCW system architecture on a UAV. The
switching process is a suitable solution involving only one
antenna and thus reduces the weight of the system while using
low frequencies. The system is analyzed and optimized through
the complete RF chain simulation. The final objective is to
realize and embed the system on a UAV and perform field tests.
The proposed RF design is currently being tested and will be
presented during the conference. Concerning the antenna, the
use of a Bowtie antenna and the realization of the K-antenna in
plastic additive technology will be considered to reduce the
weight of the system.
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