HERA-G — A new helicopter GPR based on gated stepped frequency technology

The investigation of difficult accessible areas is more and more an important issue for exploration of ore deposits and ground water, glaciology and pipeline mapping. Compared with ground-based GPR measurements, wide areas can be explored faster in a dense grid. In cooperation with the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), a new helicopter GPR based on gated stepped frequency technology was developed. The paper will describe the development of the stepped frequency radar and the application specific antennas. The first application results of this new GPR will be discussed in order to quantify the performance of the new technology.