Accurate underground mapping with GPR

Matt Duncan is a Supervisor for Perth-based Civcon Civil and Project Management, working for Platinum Locating Services, part of the company’s Platinum Plant and Equipment Hire division. His team recently invested in ground penetrating radar (GPR) to enable efficient and comprehensive asset location across a wide range of applications and depths.

Platinum Locating Services offers comprehensive utility mapping throughout Perth’s greater metro area and beyond.

When researching the options to add GPR to its tool kit, Matt explained that finding a system capable of handling a broad range of depths and assets was key. “Typically our work requires us to reaches depths up to two or three metres, but on a recent mining job we needed to get to 15 metres, so we were looking for a single product that could handle it,” he said.

“I heard about the Quantum GPR by US Radar and it seemed to be the perfect fit, plus unlike most of the other suppliers who only had support services either overseas or on the East coast, reseller Position Partners has a branch here in Perth,” he added.

The Quantum Imager by US Radar combines three frequencies in one, enabling the location of assets at much greater depths and at higher resolution than any other sub-surface detection solution on the market.

Unlike single or dual frequency systems that have a lower bandwidth and often miss the middle frequencies that are essential for utility location, the Quantum Imager delivers clearer, easier to understand and more accurate images at every depth, utilising a combination of pulse radar and stepped frequency radar.

“We use the system every day and it’s saved us a considerable amount of time, money and manpower,” Matt added.

Before the GPR system, Matt’s team would use traditional service locator methods. “A utility guard wand is great for finding metal and we still use it, but for PE or poly pipe you either need GPR or you have to dig manually to find the assets.” 

Matt’s eight-strong team finds the Quantum Imager easy to use and reliable. “It’s a robust system that has really proved its worth, we can also hook it up to our GPS system and turn it into a GIS tool for location mapping,” Matt added.

The Quantum Imager completes the majority of post processing as you scan via a high performance processing unit, saving time and ensuring you get all the data you need there and then. Other touches including a sunlight readable tough pad, real time viewing and a compact, foldable cart with puncture-proof tyres make it well suited to every job.

Matt attended a one-day training course at Position Partners’ Balcatta office to ensure his team would get the most out of the new system. “The training was pretty comprehensive and I felt confident that we could get the results we wanted after attending it,” Matt said.

“It’s great to have the local support from Position Partners if and when we need it and I feel we now have a solid competitive advantage with this system, because we can locate more services, more accurately and more efficiently thanks to the addition of this technology.”