A radar system for underground pipes detection

The urban underground space is crowded with distribution lines, gas and water pipes, telephone cables and many other underground structures, and when installing a new cable the necessary positions are checked by test digging so as not to destroy the existing underground structures before starting a new installation work. Since this work requires much time and labor, there has been a keen demand for a system capable of locating underground structures without test digging in many fields of the industrial society. Hence the authors have developed a radar-based system for the detection of underground pipes. The operating principles of the system and its performance in the field are discussed.<>