• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.21-34
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• 2017

The ground penetrating radar (GPR) signal can be measured with different amplitudes according to the directivity, so the directivity of the antenna should be considered. The objective of this study is to investigate the directivity of antenna by analyzing the reflection characteristics of electromagnetic waves radiated from the antenna, and to evaluate effective range of angle that can inspect an abnormal area according to the directivity of antenna. For the measurement of the directivity, a circular metal bar is used as reflector and the signals are measured by changing the angle and the distance between reflector and antenna in the E- and H-plane. The boundary distance between the near field and the far field is determined by analyzing the amplitudes of reflected signals, and two points with different distances from each of near and far fields are designated to analyze radiation patterns in near and far fields. As a result of radiation pattern measurement, in the near field, minor lobes are observed at angle section at more than $50^{\circ}$ in both E- and H-plane. Therefore, antenna has the directivity for the direction of main lobe and minor lobes in near field. In the far field, antenna has the directivity for a single direction of main lobe because minor lobes are not observed. The amplitude of the signal reflected from the near field is unstable, but it can be distinguished from noise. Therefore, in the near field, the ground anomaly can be detected with high reliability. On the other hand, the amplitude of the signal reflected from the far field is stable, but it is hard to distinguish between reflected signal and noise because of the excessive loss of electromagnetic wave. The analyses of directivity in the near and the far fields performed in this study may be effectively used to improve the reliability of the analyses of abnormal area.