GPR Equipment description, field
operation and survey plan
· Antenna (Model 5106)
· Batteries
· Laptop computer
The SIRveyor SIR 20 is a 2 hardware antenna, with 4 channel, high
performance GroundPenetrating Radar (GPR) system. It is used to record, process
and display profiles
and
3D images of subsurface features. The
system works with standard GSSI antennas and can be used for determination of
structural and subsurface problems (Huang, 2009)
Once in the Washington Creek site, the team had to setup the
equipment in order to collect the data. Antenna cables were connected to the
back of the SIRveyor; then a battery was then connected to the unit. We made
sure that all the cables that go from the SIRveyor to the laptop computer were
properly connected. For this survey a 200 MHz (Model 5106) antenna was used.
This antenna allowed us to obtain deeper profiling of the site. Once we turn on
the laptop was also necessary to open the SIRveyor program and customized it to
use units in meters and temporary database. We created a new file named LAB3001
to output our final survey data. Certain parameter had to be established into
the program before collecting the data.
Figure 3.2 showing data collection parameter windows (Huang, 2009)
for our survey the configuration type we used was custom, number
of channels used was 1, number of samples scan per second were 200, dielectric
constant established by the team in previous conversations was 5, number of
scans 12 every 5 m, unit mark 50, and the transmitted rate of the antenna was
200 MHz. After the parameters were established, the team was ready to perform
the survey. The antenna was place at the starting point of the site to be
tested, there were a total of 12 different locations separated by a 5 m
interval or spacing. Since the site was covered with snow, it was not possible
to slide the transmitter along the site to collect the data; instead the
transmitter was placed on each of the 12 location. We run the test at each
location and marked each 50 times to be able to differentiate the obtained data
from each location. Our initial
intention was to create single files for each location but due to cold weather
temperatures it was not possible to do so. A single file was created for twelve
different locations. Team member Cat Stevens was in charge of placing the
antenna on each location before running the test, while Pailin Xu and and me
were in charge of running test using the laptop computer and the SIRveyor unit.