Products
Mala Imaging Radar Arrays (MIRA)
MALÅ is the current world leader in supplying dense array GPR units to a growing market. The interest for dense GPR array systems has increased rapidly over the last few years, not the least due to billion dollar investments in both traditional and IT infrastructure in emerging markets and elsewhere. As opposed to normal multi-channel systems, the MIRA system enables fast and easy, true, 3-D data acquisition. From a user perspective this means that large areas can be mapped without loss of information and that the method is suitable for almost any kind of, shallow, subsurface investigation, i.e. targets with arbitrary shape, layers and linear objects are mapped equally well.
Traditional use of the GPR technology involves both single and multi-channel systems in many types of applications e.g. utility mapping, archaeological investigations, forensic investigations etc. Up until recently all these applications have been suffering from lack of real-3D capabilities i.e. the line spacing in the surveys have, for practical reason, been too large, meaning that information loss were inevitable. Also, reliable positioning of detected targets has not been made easy, neither in the data acquisition process nor in the reporting phase of a typical project. The Mala Imaging Radar Array (MIRA) systems are the first commercial systems designed to overcome these limitations.
The MIRA system consists of several separate transmitter and receiver antennas combined into one single antenna array unit. In operation, the antenna array is tracked and positioned by a robotic (self-tracking) total station or a RTK GPS for precise positioning. This give several parallel profiles exactly positioned at the same time, resulting in a seamless 3D picture of the subsurface, with a high-resolution of subsurface features both in horizontal and vertical direction.
The MIRA systems represent a completely reworked, revolutionary new generation of GPR equipment, patents pending. At this time, MIRA systems are not available in the United States due to FCC regulations. The systems are currently sold directly from our head office in Malå, Sweden, contact us for further information.
Hardware
By adding the array option to a modified ProEx, a full-blown array control unit is formed, with up to 31 recording channels (in what we call normal configuration) possible. This control unit will have the functionality necessary for array operations, which in Mala terminology is equivalent to:
- Ability to transmit pulses from any transmitter to any receiver at any time, a necessary functionality in dense array designs.
- No multiplexing, meaning the system will always run at full speed, regardless if the whole array is active or only a single channel (i.e traditional single channel GPR).
Array antennas are available as 200, 400 and 1.3GHz separate receiver and transmitter elements. They are designed to allow very dense arrangements and could also be arranged according to the customer needs, to allow for polarimetric studies etc. All array antennas are carefully tuned to near identical signatures, a requirement necessary for array operation.
Optionally, for standard configuration, MALÅ provides housing for the antenna arrays with pre-mounted arrangements for a vehicle. The array boxes are equipped with colour marking devices for easier control of area coverage. Should a client choose to supply the data acquisition laptop, the positioning system and the vehicle on their own, MALÅ will provide the necessary specifications.
Software
Data acquisition is done by means of a, preferable ruggedized, laptop, running Microsoft Windows XP OS. The acquisition software allows precise quality control as well as automatic tagging of positioning information during acquisition.
In brief, the processing and interpretation software performs processing, interpolation and 3D migration of the acquired data, followed by interactive interpretation of the features observed. One important feature, for overall efficiency, is the automatic integration of positioning information, allowing arbitrary number of array swats to be integrated into a seamless dataset. The results can easily be printed or exported as GIS compatible formats such as, geo-referenced TIFF- or DXF-files.
More information: at manufacturer's site