EISS: An HF mono and bistatic GPR for terrestrial and planetary deep soundings

EISS (Electromagnetic Investigation of the SubSurface) is an HF (~2MHz) impulse Ground Penetrating Radar dedicated to deep soundings (kilometric depths) of planetary sub-surfaces. This radar has the particularity to be operated from the surface in both monostatic (transmitter and receiver at the same location) and bistatic configurations (with a small receiver separated from the transmitter that can easily be displaced on the area to be investigated). A prototype has been developed in the frame of ExoMars mission B-phase. This article mainly focuses on the bi-static mode and details the selected design, its various subsystems and its operations. Preliminary tests involving antenna impedance measurements on Earth are shown.