Using ground penetrating radar to search for buried treasures

Ground-penetrating radar: Advantages and purpose

Ground-penetrating radar is a highly valuable device due to its high accuracy and resistance to jamming. It helps to accurately and effectively determine the characteristics of objects being scanned. Ground-penetrating radar has gained widespread popularity in the utilities sector for locating and surveying utility lines and groundwater.

Device design

Ground-penetrating radar is designed for radar surveying and ground-penetrating exploration, aiming to obtain detailed, real-time data about objects such as the ground, water, and building walls.

The device is manufactured using specific technologies.

The main unit consists of electronic components that perform the following functions:

Generating pulses emitted by the antenna;

Synchronizing the operation of all systems;

Processing the signals received from the receiving antenna.

The device consists of three parts:

Recording unit (laptop or other recording device);

Control system (cables and optical-electrical converters);

Antennas (for transmitting and receiving).

The use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is regulated! What does this mean? Regulation consists of two parts, summarized below.

1. Devices must be certified by government agencies. To obtain this certification, GPR devices must be tested at an authorized testing facility, and performance records must be maintained. In the United States, test results must be reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and a unique device identifier must be assigned. Device details and test results are published on the FCC website. Canada imposes similar requirements through Industry Canada. In Europe, devices must comply with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard and carry a declaration of conformity from the manufacturer.

2. Secondly, regulations often require users to obtain a license to use GPR. Most users may be surprised to learn that they could be violating this requirement. Jurisdictions vary in their enforcement of licensing requirements, further complicating matters.

Most GPR users understand that manufacturers only require the sale of certified equipment; however, few are aware of the licensing requirements for users. The licensing process is complex, as it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, further complicating matters.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) avoids licensing individual users, defining them instead as professionals, based on Part 90 of its rules. Users must belong to the professional category specified on the ground radar (GPR) label. Furthermore, users must register the geographic area where they use the ground radar with the FCC. If you consult the device's user manual, it should include a registration form. Failure to provide this information in the manual means the manufacturer is not complying with FCC regulations, and the user is in violation. In my experience, few users do this.

In the European Union, all users are required to maintain a usage log for each ground radar, detailing the radar type, operating time, and location. They must also obtain a ground radar license in the country where they conducted the measurements. Although this requirement was introduced in 2008, the United Kingdom, to my knowledge, is the only country to have established a licensing mechanism for users of ground-penetrating radar. A decade later, other EU countries have still not established a licensing system. Some countries may have recently taken action, but after years of waiting, progress has become a waste of time.

In Canada, individual user licenses are not required, although they are usually necessary. The Canadian industry has taken advantage of the licensing challenges in the EU and decided that the bureaucracy required to establish a licensing structure is not economically viable. As a result, it has decided to allow unlicensed use, but this could change if the use of balloon-based ground-penetrating radar systems increases and interference becomes a problem. The guidelines stipulate that use is limited to operations of the same type as those defined by the Federal Communications Commission.

Ground-penetrating radar in forensics

Forensics, as an applied science, is constantly evolving thanks to the use of cutting-edge technologies. This is crucial, as law enforcement officers must always be one step ahead to effectively investigate and prevent criminal activity. One of the most challenging areas of forensics is the search for hidden objects, such as explosive devices, caches, tunnels, and unauthorized burial sites.

In some cases, law enforcement agencies utilize specially trained dogs capable of locating drug or money caches, burial sites, and other hidden objects using their sense of smell. However, scents only remain on the surface for a limited time before being washed away by rain and dispersed by wind. Metal detectors and magnetic rings can only detect metallic objects, and only in open fields (as they are ineffective in urban areas due to the interference of buildings, metal structures, power lines, utility lines, and communication networks), thus limiting their application.

The main difficulty in searching for hidden objects lies in the fact that, after a certain period of time, locating a buried object or a secret hiding place within a building becomes nearly impossible. The ground becomes level and overgrown with vegetation, and the decorative and finishing materials used to conceal the hiding place lose their new appearance and blend into the surrounding buildings. It is also important to remember that criminals, when committing a crime, go to great lengths to conceal evidence. In modern practice, it is not uncommon for the remains of the deceased to be buried in existing graves, in tombs dug for other deceased individuals (known as "double burial"). Bodies are also buried at construction sites for houses and garages, where concrete foundations are poured over them. Solving such cases is a significant challenge. In the past, this was usually achieved through new evidence, but today, law enforcement agencies possess technological tools capable of solving these problems.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys are typically conducted using a grid or cross-section, requiring the area to be surveyed to be precisely defined. This allows for accurate georeferencing of the survey results (radar profile) with a local coordinate system map, enabling further data analysis to eliminate factors that might influence interpretation (such as underground utilities, tree roots, flat structures, etc.). You can learn more about GPR applications on our website. For any questions, please contact our experts via chat or request a callback.