Project description
Using broadband antennae for subsurface imaging
Public infrastructure supports economic activity. It is the basic framework for delivering energy, transport, water, sanitation and telecoms. However, European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates suggest that economic infrastructure investment needs are as high as EUR 688 billion per year. Forming the basis of Europe’s infrastructure development is ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology. In fact, this non-invasive geophysical method, which uses radar pulses to image the subsurface, is essential for infrastructure applications across multiple industries. It is applied to examine everything from building walls to roads and railways. The EU-funded SGPR project is developing a next-generation frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) surface radar with a broadband antenna. This will enable it to conduct the analysis in the field of frequency and not time, which is useful in distinguishing materials.
Objective
The European Union (EU-28) investment in infrastructure has been declining since 2009. This has given rise the emergence
of an infrastructure investment gap with implications for the EU's economic recovery and competitiveness that are
significant. The European Investment Bank estimates Europe’s hard infrastructure investment gap for energy, transport,
water and sanitation, and telecom sectors at €688 billion per year.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology is an integral to European infrastructure development. GPR is a non-invasive
geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image and study the sub-surface picture of what is below the surface of the
ground for infrastructure applications across multiple industries. However, state-of-the-art (SoA) GPR technologies suffer
from a significant problem of lack or insufficient data regarding the sub-surface material composition and sub-surface layers
and bodies. GPR technology is also expensive and difficult to use.
SGPR.TECH proposes a next-generation surface radar, which will become the basis of many solutions dedicated to various
industries. Unlike the current impulse GPR radar, the SGPR.TECH team wants to use FMCW (Frequency-Modulated
Continuous Wave) radar with a broadband antenna that will conduct the analysis in the field of frequency, not time, allowing
us to obtain imaging with the possibility of distinguishing materials, thanks to their different properties of electrical
permeability in the frequency function.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
30-054 KRAKOW
Poland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.