USER MANUAL HDR-SERIES SHIELDED ANTENNAS 80, 160, 450 AND 750MHz VERSION 1.
Product overview The HDR-series (High Dynamic Range) is the latest addition to MALA’s versatile product range. It is, from bottom up, a complete new design, based on patented cutting edge technology. These new antennas are hence not just an upgrade of earlier designs; they represent a leap in GPR-technology, not seen in the past 15 years. Due to the internal design, the HDR-antennas are self-contained GPR systems, so, naming them antennas is somewhat misplaced.
Content Product overview ........................................................................................................ 2 Scope ......................................................................................................................... 2 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Unpacking and Inspection ................................................................................. 4 1.
1 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the MALA HDR-80/160/450/750 system. We at MALA GeoScience welcome comments from you concerning the use and experience of this equipment, as well as the contents and usefulness of this manual.
1.2 Repacking and Shipping If original packing materials are unavailable, the equipment should be packed with at least 80 mm of absorbing material. Do not use shredded fibers, paper wood, or wool, as these materials tend to get compacted during shipment and permit the instruments to move around inside the package. 1.3 Safety and Compliance, user notices This GPR-device is certified according to FCC, subpart 15, IC RSS-220 and ETSI EN 302 066-1&2.
compagnies minières à buts lucratifs, les compagnies de construction et les organisations responsables pour le sauvetage et la lutte contre les incendies. Cet instrument répond aux exigences de la licence avec Industrie Canada- exempt des standards RSS.
2 External connectors indicators and controls In figure 1, below, pictures of the HDR-160MHz are shown. All antennas in this series have the same basic layout, only that for the 750MHz, no-side handles are available. In the following a brief description of the unit is given, with reference to arrows and labels in figure 1. GPS. The black plastic on top of the connector tower hoses the in-build differential GPS-receiver and antenna. This receiver has in-built SBAScorrection capabilities.
2.1 Battery mount In figure 2, below, a dummy battery as well as a normal battery is shown. They look similar but the dummy has a 4-pole fisher connector on the back. The dummy is used when the antenna is powered from an external 12V battery. Both of these units are mounted in the same way on the antenna, see below. Figure 2, dummy-battery and normal LI-Ion battery. When mounting the battery, gently attach the d-sub connector in front of the battery with the d-sub on the mounting tower.
2.2 Cables The only cable needed, is the communication cable between the antenna and the monitor. See figure 4 below. The cable is a high-quality design with field-rugged ODU-connectors. It may be ordered in different lengths, at some extra cost. Figure 4, Left cable for communication between the monitor and HDR-unit. Cable connected to the HDR-unit and (right) cable connected to the monitor. If external batteries are to be used, special cables have to be ordered as well as the dummy-battery. 2.
ON/OFF-Switch Figure 6, ON/OFF-Switch 2.5 LED-indicators Three LED-indicators are mounted beneath the product label, see figure 7 below. The meaning of these indicators is as follows: DATA: Continuous flashing light means that the unit is working properly and ready for data collection, no proof of that a monitor is able to receive data, though. If irregular flashing is seen on this LED, it means erroneous antenna configuration, possible software version issue.
LED-Indicators Figure 7, led indicators. 2.6 Mounting of measuring wheels The several measuring wheels are available for the HDR-units. Each one of them has been designed to fit to the field-proven ruggedized connector housing on the back of the antennas. To connect a wheel, gently push the wheel connector into the connector housing and attach the secure-pin. Figure 8, mounting of measruring wheels.
3 Accessories The HDR-suit has a number of accessories, including, but not limited to: Cart’s, measuring wheels; road-carts, pulling handles, forest kits, and wear plates. In addition, there’s cables, battery chargers, shipping cases etc. etc. In the following just a few of these are described. 3.1 Forest kits Whenever GPR surveys needs to be done in rough terrain, a suitable mounting of the antenna is needed.
4.1 Projects In order to streamline the data acquisition and provide a user interface optimized in terms of user friendliness, MALA provides application specific data acquisition schemes. In figure 10, below, the first screen (after the start-up info) is shown. The user has the options to choose between: 2D-project: a general, single line data acquisition scheme, the traditional way of gathering GPR-data.
4.2 Data acquisition For simplicity we here only describe the 2D project data collection scheme, which is perhaps the most general. In figure 11 below the menu is shown, and in the following a brief description is given. All MALA systems are configured with the most useful and common acquisition parameters when delivered. Hence, the only thing one will have to do form the menu below is to hit the “New” control, in order for data acquisition to commence.
During data aquistion the display shown in figure 12 below is shown. The operator can now, besides zooming, through the vertical bar, take instant screenshots (which will be tagged with the current position) Figure 12, data acquisition display. Settings Although MALA prides itself for producing the easiest-to use GPR-systems, there are still some settings which operators may tweak. In figure 13, below the settings menu is shown.
Point interval: define the distance between every point of measurement, i.e. the distance between every trace. Default values, guarantees no data aliasing. Figure 13, settings menu.
