volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Design of a resistive-loaded Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) horn antenna for air-coupled ground penetrating radar (GPR) is proposed in this paper. As the focus is on the application in sensing pavement subsurface, some issues should be considered, such as ultra-bandwidth (UWB) performance, air-coupled detection, high fidelity, compact structure, and simple fabrication. The resistive-loaded horn antenna with a microstrip-type balun was constructed and measured to facilitate the issues. With the radiation towards concrete ground at a height of 0.5 meters, the measured results suggested that the impedance bandwidth of the antenna was 0.5~14 GHz with a return loss less than -10 dB. The radiation waveform of the horn antenna also showed a late-time ring. A radar experiment result showed that the antenna performed excellently for pavement layer detection.

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Dr. Youcheng Wang

Dr. Xiaojuan Zhang