Open Ground Penetrating Radar

I will be showing the oGPR at the Rockford-Auburn Mini Maker Faire this Saturday, May 9th, from 10am to 6pm.

Auburn High School Field House
5110 Auburn Street
Rockford, Illinois

http://rockfordauburnminimakerfaire.com/

Mike Szczys:

Hiya Glenn!

Congratulations, you won a $50 gift code to OSHPark this week as part of the Hackaday Prize!
https://oshpark.com/

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Awesome! :)

The $500 in the tag line refers to the cost of just the oGPR with a MSO-19.

The prototype UGV costs around an additional $500.

The oGPR is perfectly usable without the UGV.

As I have struggled to fabricate my first unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), I've had to remind myself why I'm focusing on it first rather than the radio side of oGPR.

When I was young, my chore was to mow about 11 acres of grass every month during the summer on the family horse farm.

While sitting in the sun on our Yazoo mower, I dreamed of sitting inside the house in a Pole Position cabinet, remotely driving the mower.

Since GPR surveys will require more time per area and larger areas, I'm making that dream real and making the UGV first.

I found this while browsing eBay:

https://www.sv1afn.com/ad8310fastrfd.html

"Measure LF to 440 MHZ with more than 90 dB of dynamic range and with the speed of a diode demodulator."

"With Ultra-Low-Noise 5V Voltage Regulator"

I should be getting one in about a week. It comes mostly assembled. NO SMD SOLDERING NEEDED!!! This should make this project much easier for others to duplicate.

Pure File Magic Area Based Editor (PFMABE): "Now view and edit your hydro, bathy and topo data in 3D. Under development by the Naval Oceanographic Office since 1998, this powerful data editing suite ingests most major sonar and lidar data types and allows for quick and easy analysis, cleaning and quality control."

http://pfmabe.software/

While "ground penetrating radar" isn't listed as a data type, it's similar to sonar. So, this software should work great with oGPR. I'm very excited about this software! I'm very happy the US Navy has released it!

If you'd like to see this project's progress in person, drop me a note. I'll be at Pumping Station: One in Chicago on most weekends.

http://pumpingstationone.org/

I've added two images to the gallery of an older design for the UGV I've been working on. That design featured loop antennas.

The current UGV design has a similar frame, which is completed, and uses the same motors and wheels as in the design that I posted.

For surveys at greater depths, it is possible to use a separate high power transmitter with a separate antenna. However, I think I a lower power T/R switch on the recieving side would still needed to prevent the RF detector from becoming saturated by the initial transmission.

I've been thinking about what connectors are best for this project. After a visit to American Science and Surplus, I've settled on a XLR connector for the T/R switch becuase it offers good shielding and I'm already using them on the motor controllers for my UGV. I'm using 4x RCA connectors for the trigger signal connectors on the Raspberry Pi. (There will be a 3.3v/5v level shifter that will also provide some protection to the Pi.)

Power connectors will be 2.1mm ID / 5.5mm OD barrel connectors.

I'd love to hear any feedback on these choices.