The U-Explorer ground penetrating radar system for utility detection is our all-in-one solution for companies doing infrastructure surveys. This unit employs the power of our gpr control unit the Akula 9000 and brings the robustness of our carts solutions and our high quality antennas together in one united solution. The unit has several advantages over similar solutions available on the market and can provide the best quality to price ratio offered at the moment.

Locating pipes, conduits, hidden sinkholes and layers has never been easier

The U-Explorer is our all-in-one solution for the utility location surveys or any other investigation that requires shallow depth investigations. The unit is the combination of several our top of the line products: the control unit Akula 9000, the new SVC-820 survey cart, one of our shallow depth antennas at your choice and our powerful collection and post processing software package. This unit is targeted for applications such as:

• Utility detection and mapping
• Void detection and location
• Environmental damage location
• Forensic investigations
• Archaeology

When ordering the U-Explorer the customer has the opportunity to choose among several antennas to be able to tailor the utility kit to suit best the particular needs for the applications they do most. We offer several antennas at the moment and the amount of models to choose from is expanding quickly; ground coupled antennas and air launched antennas are available to complete the kit. This modular design and the availability of fully interchangeable parts reduces the customer's costs for upgrades and improvements.

What are the advantages anyway?

The U-Explorer is equipped with the Akula 9000 control unit and therefore offers a functionality not available from any other unit of this class. GPS direct integration with the data, antenna recognition, concurrent data collection and data acquisition, extremely user friendly interface and many more that can be explored only by a live demo of the unit.

The U-Explorer ships as default with a netbook that has all the required software pre-installed at no cost. However, for those customers who need the maximum performance laptops Panasonic Toughbook CF-19 and rugged tablet pc iTMC PC8404-A are available as an option.

Several other optional items are available to increase the value and the versatility of this unit, high capacity batteries, direction pointers for 3D grids, powerful post-processing software, 3D modules to mention just a few.

How to know exactly where are the targets?

The U-Explorer has a set of tools for finding your targets accurately on the site and the depth to them. The embedded hyperbola fitting tool in GAS allows for precise determination of the bulk dielectric constant of the layer under investigation. When passing over a target the hyperbola appears in your screen, moving back the cart will start the back up cursor and when the cursor is right on top of the hyperbola apex then you'll know the center of the antenna is exactly on top or your target.

Can it use other antennas?

This is one of the strengths of the Akula 9000, it can be used with a wide variety of antennas, from ground coupled antennas to borehole antennas. However, the U-Explorer is a system dedicated to the infrastructure specialist, archaeologists, forensics etc. Meaning that the range of antennas that are offered with this system are the ones best suited for these tasks. We offer a choice from the following antennas: The air coupled FLB-390, the ground coupled GCB-200, the ground coupled GCB-300 or the ground coupled GCB-500. The best of all of this is that independently of the antenna you choose the price for the unit stays the same.

What else does it offer?

The U-Explorer comes complete with:

• an Akula 9000 GPR system in its own case
• a netbook where the data is stored and our collecting software GAS and post-processing software GPRSoft Std are installed,
• One antenna of the four available
• a SVC-820 Survey cart
• a control cable,
• a charger and two batteries
• a comprehensive user manual

ENC820

This hollow shaft magnetic encoder was developed primarily for our line of survey carts. I happened that some of our customers are very skilled manufacturing survey accessories as well and they wanted to buy just the encoder from us. We then decided to make the encoder solution for all of our customers who wanted it. The unit can be purchased with different magnetic rings to best suit your particular application. The use of survey wheels with encoders in ground penetrating radar surveys seems ubiquitous. They are use to control the scan rate of radar units or to place marks in the collected data to be able to locate the anomalies later on.

Different manufacturers have implemented innovative ways for establishing the precise x&y location of the collected data. Radio beacons, laser pointers, RF grids, LED narrow beams to mention a few have been with more or less degree of success implemented. However, still Today it is the humble survey wheel in contact with the ground the work horse for this kind of applications.

In the last years a tendency towards GPS fixed data have been emerging constantly and the use of GPS loggers together with ground penetrating radar units are well recognized and used everywhere. There is still a problem with GPS positioning, no matter how exact and probably expensive GPS receiver you buy it will not offer the kind of resolution and accuracy that the survey wheel encoder provides.

The North is not for the faint of heart!

We work almost seven month of the year with temperatures below zero and plenty of snow. It is not uncommon at all that lots of snow gets stuck in the wheels and subsequently the encoder as well. This melting snow corrode the parts of many encoders we have tried over the years, even the anodized aluminum ones get this nasty white oxide layer that makes them unusable after awhile. We needed something that was not afraid of low temperatures, water, dust, dirt and all the pleasant features usually accompanying the geophysicist in their daily work.

Another problem that we found was that almost all the encoders that we could find demanded a fifth wheel due to the small shaft diameter available. Lots of tweaking and adapting were in demand for getting the thing to work.

After considering all the pros and cons we finally decided to go for our own solution. You can profit Today from the result of many years of engineering and search for the ideal solution.

What else do you need?