A 50-800 MHz stepped frequency continuous wave ground penetrating radar

With the advent of cheaper, RF integrated circuit devices, it has now becoming feasible to build portable stepped frequency, ground penetrating radars based on heterodyne architectures. These overcome the problems encountered in the homodyne systems, and the performance limiting factors that do exist, are able to be more effectively controlled. This paper presents the design of a 50-800 MHz stepped frequency continuous wave ground penetrating radar based on a heterodyne architecture. It discusses architectural benefits of heterodyne receivers, the implementation of the stepped frequency synthesizers and transceiver and presents performance predictions for the system.