Geoscanners AB AKULA 9000B User manual

Geoscanners AB
B
9000
AKULA
User Manual
Note: The information in this User Manuak is based on the latest information at the time of publication. Geoscanners AB® reserves the right to make changes at any
time, without notice to color, specications, accessories, materials and models. For more information contact the Geoscanners AB Sales Department [phone].
©2015 Geoscanners AB, Sweden.

Thank you
for purchasing a Geoscanners AB product
The Akula 9000B is a high performance, lower band, ground penetrating radar. It is compatible with all
Geoscanners AB antennas with center frequencies up to 600MHz and has an analogue bandwidth in
excess of 1200MHz. The unit has been designed with an easy and intuitive user interface to allow for
fast and trouble free ground penetrating radar surveys. The accompanying software enables you with
the ability of saving your les in a modern and full of features data format specically designed for the
current needs of the surveyors and taking into consideration all the latest technology advances.
The data can be stored in any digital storage media available at the ports of the PC controlling the unit.
Be sure to read this Instruction Manual to familiarize yourself with the features and proper operation of
this control unit.
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions.
1. This device may not cause harmful interference.
2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that might cause undesired
operation.
This device may still cause interference with radio or television reception when placed near such an
appliance.
Do not make any changes or modications to the equipment unless otherwise specied in the manual.
If such changes or modications should be made, you could be required to stop operation of the
equipment.
Before using your ground penetrating radar in a survey job, be sure to test it rst. Check that the quality
of the data recorded in the data les are the expected one. If the quality of the data is not what was
expected then a closer look to the battery, power cables, interconnecting cables, antennas or control PC
must be undertaken.
• Geoscanners AB and Akula 9000B are trademarks of Geoscanners AB.
• Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
• CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation.
• All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
EMC compliance statement
Test you control unit before starting a survey
Copyrights
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Important WARNINGS
The ground penetrating radar output connector contains high voltage terminals which are dangerous or even lethal
to a person if one comes in contact with them. Further more, these high voltage outputs can create sparks while
connecting the antenna with the unit powered up. This can cause malfunctioning of the unit or even permanent
damage to it. This kind of failures is not covered by the warranty.
The Akula 9000B control unit is IP54 rated meaning that the unit is protected against sprays from all directions
and that limited ingress is permitted. However, the control unit will not function properly if large amount of water
comes into the unit. If you believe that water has gotten inside the unit, remove the battery and let the unit dry
out for a minimum of 48 hours.
Although the control cable connector is identical to the one used by GSSI Inc (USA) and IDS (Italy), the unit will
not work properly with antennas from those manufacturers without the proper compatibility module. Attempting to
connect it to those antennas may damage your unit permanently.
Antennas with extra power like the unshielded VHF antennas equipped with high power transmitters require a
special module to guarantee proper operation. Borehole antennas with cables longer than 100meters also require a
special module to make their operation with the Akula 9000B possible
Make sure your unit is off before connecting or disconnecting
antennas to it.
Keep the unit dry and the fan holes free for air blowing out.
The Akula 9000B ground penetrating radar will not operate with any
other antennas except Geoscanners AB antennas without the proper
compatibility modules.
Specialty antennas might require special modules to guarantee proper
operation.
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Equipment Check List
Be sure all the following equipment and accessories have been included with your
ground penetrating radar control unit. Please contact your dealer if anything is
missing.
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• Akula 9000B control unit
• Control cable 3 or 6 meters long depending on package.
• USB cable
• Led Acid Battery in its own pouch 7.5A/h
• Led Acid Battery charger
• Generic Netbook with GAS™ control software and
GPRSoft™ standard edition installed
• Geoscanners AB software solutions disk (contains GAS™
and GPRSoft™ distribution packages)
• Suitcase for the control unit
• Instruction Manual
• Quick operation guide
• Warranty Statement

SECTION 1 Before you start 6
1.1 Recharging the Battery 7
1.2 Connecting The Antenna 8
1.3 Connecting the Battery and Control PC 9
SECTION 2 Basic Setup 10
2.1 Starting GAS™ and Running Setup 11
SECTION 3 Full Unit Setup 13
3.1 Main Window and Control 14
3.2 Global Settings Dialogue Window 16
3.3 GPS usage 17
3.4 Setup Panel 18
3.5 Visual Enhancements 23
3.6 Marker 23
3.7 GPS Function 24
3.8 Macro Functions 25
SECTION 4 Record Mode 26
4.1 Record Mode 27
4.2 Adding Notes to Proles 28
4.3 Recording Data in Time Mode 28
4.4 Record Mode in Distance Mode 29
4.5 Record Mode in One Shot Mode 30
4.6 Hyperbola Fitting Tool 30
4.7 Depth Calibrating Tool 32
SECTION 5 Playback Mode 33
5.1 Playback Mode 34
APPENDICES 35
Appendix A – Keyboard shortcuts 36
Appendix B - Specications 37
Appendix C – Common materials RDP 38
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Table of Contents

B
This section explains
a few preliminary
steps and the basic
operation of the
Akula 9000B ground
penetrating radar
control unit.
AKULA 9000B
Before You Start
SECTION 1

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1.1 Recharging the Battery
• You should always use the charger* provided in the package to
charge your units battery.
• in case of malfunction of the charger or battery life end, please
contact Geoscanners AB for advice on selecting the appropriate
substitute.
• Connect the battery to the charger and make sure it is rmly
attached.
• The charger is now ready to start the automatic maintenance of
the connected battery.
• The red LED lights up when the charger* is charging the battery
and the green LED lights up when the battery is fully charged.
• The charging of the battery is dependent on the battery capacity
and its power level.
• For the rst time charging please allow a minimum of 24 hours
for the battery to get fully charged.
*The provided charger may differ from the one in the picture depending on the system distribution package.
1. Charger and battery
2. Connect the battery to the charger
3. Recharge the battery

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1.2 Connecting The Antenna
• Connect the end of the control cable with the green connector
to the antenna. Please note that this connector has a specic
position to be inserted. Find that position rst.
• Turn the bayonet mechanism to secure the connector in place.
• Connect the other end of the control cable with the silver
connector to the control unit main input. Please note that like in
the previous case this connector also has a specic position to
be inserted. Do not force the connector into place.
• Turn the bayonet mechanism to secure the connector in place.
• If you have a survey wheel cable then connect it now to the
survey wheel cable input of your control unit.
• Please note that this survey wheel input is known to the
software as the internal one. This is important for calibration
purposes and for surveys in distance mode.
• It might be the case that you need to attach the survey wheel
cable directly to the antenna.
• In this situation the internal survey wheel cable is not in use and
should be disabled in the control software.
• Geoscanners AB survey wheel encoders are protected against
double connections. However, third party survey wheel encoders
might not. Do not connect two survey wheel encoders
simultaneously if you are not sure.
1. Connect the antenna
2. Connect the control unit
3. Internal survey wheel cable
4. External survey wheel cable

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1.3 Connecting the Battery and Control PC
• Please make sure that the power switch of your control unit is in
the OFF position.
• Make sure that your battery is fully charged and the connector
free of dirt and moisture.
• Insert the power connector of the battery into the power input
of the Akula 9000B control unit.
• Connect the USB cable to your control unit and to the PC where
the control application will be running.
• Your Akula 9000B kit is supplied with a precongured PC so it
will not need to install any additional drivers for the GPR control
unit. If you are using your own PC then installing the drivers
might be required.
• Press the power switch on your Akula 9000B control unit. The
power LED should ash now indicating that power is good.
• At the same time your PC should recognize that a new device
has been attached via the USB port and it is ready to use.
1. Connect the Battery
2. Connect the USB Cable
3. Turn ON your Control Unit

B
This section explains
the basic setup of the
unit and how to start
recording a le
in time mode.
AKULA 9000B
Basic Setup
SECTION 2

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2.1 Starting GAS™ and Running Setup
• Start the collection software by double clicking the icon on
your desktop or by selecting the software from the Windows
start menu.
• When the control software loads the rst thing it does
is to try to communicate with the GPR control unit. If
this attempt is successful then the model number of the
attached radar will appear in the toolbar. The power LED on
the control unit should be lit now all the time.
• The collection software starts gathering data with the last
settings stored and this data is displayed for your review.
• This mode is known as setup mode and you will come back
to it every time changes to the settings are required.
• The data acquisition can be stopped or started by pressing
the button Stop/Apply at the bottom of the setup panel on
the right.
• The settings loaded in GAS™ at the moment may or may
not suit the connected antenna. At this moment you can
choose to adjust the settings yourself or to select from a
quick menu. The former method will be discussed later in
this manual.
• Select from the drop down menu the antenna model that
corresponds to the antenna connected to the radar.
The GPR control unit will automatically apply these settings
to the unit.
1. Start The Collection Software
2. Preview Data and Setup Mode
3. Selecting the Connected Antenna

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• Now that all the setting are correct for the selected antenna
it is time to start collecting the data. For this basic setup we
will be using time mode which is the default when loading
an antenna model from the quick setup drop down box.
• Press now the record mode button in the main toolbar to
enter the record operating mode. The same can be achieved
by pressing Ctrl+D keys on your keyboard.
• Press the record button in the main toolbar to start
collecting the data in time mode. Alternatively you can press
Ctrl+R keys on your keyboard.
• The data should start lling up the screen and moving the
antenna over some buried object will produce signatures in
the data that will be analyzed later on.
• To stop collecting the data press the button next to the start
record button which is enable only while recording the data.
Your data is now available in the default directory. See
Global Settings for more details.
• At Geoscanners AB we are proud to provide the best
customer support in the industry.
• To allow us to be able to help you efciently please always
provide the model number, serial number and rmware
revision of your unit.
• This information is found under the help menu in the about
tab.
4. Entering Record Mode.
5. Collecting the Data
6. Getting Help

B
This section gives a
detailed review of all
the setup functions
of the control software,
and how they affect
the collection
of the data.
AKULA 9000B
Full Unit Setup
SECTION 3

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3.1 Main Window and Control
The control unit receives all the necessary information about the working parameters via the communications
cable, this can be USB or Ethernet. Upon power up the power LED in your control unit will ash continuously
indicating that it hasn’t been able to establish a communication link with the control software GAS™ . As soon as
the control software is launched in your PC it will start to communicate with any hardware unit attached to any
of the available ports. When this process is complete the main window appears and data start to stream into the
b-scan area of the application. The power LED in your control unit should now be lit all the time.
The main window in GAS™ is where we have all the buttons that give access to all different functions that control
your ground penetrating radar unit.
1. Setup Mode Icon : this button is available in all modes, click on it whenever you need to return to the setup
mode operation of the unit. The same can be done by pressing Ctrl+E on your keyboard.
2. Record Mode Icon: this button is available in all modes as well, click on it when the setup of the unit has been
completed and you need to start collecting data. You can also activate the record mode by pressing Ctrl+D on
your keyboard.
3. Play back Mode Icon: this button is also available in all modes, click on it to review previously collected les
that are stored in your PC. You can invoke this mode of operation by pressing Ctrl+V on your keyboard.
Please note that all units are sold with a copy of GPRSoft™ standard which has much more powerful viewing
properties.
4. Palettes Icon: this button invokes the palettes dialogue box.
5. Marker Icon: this button places markers in your data les.
6. GPS Activate Icon: press this button to activate the link of your control unit with a GPS receiver.
7. Macro Icon: this button invokes the macro functions dialogue box.
8. General Settings Icon: press this button to gain access to the global settings dialogue box.
9. GPS Active String: this string appears when the unit is connected to a GPS receiver and the NMEA strings are
coming properly formatted.

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10. Control Unit Model: when GAS™ connect with your control unit the very rst thing it will attempt is to retrieve
the model number, the serial number and the radar status. When all this information has been successfully
retrieved the control unit model number appears in this place. If the information retrieved is unsuccessful then
a label saying “No radar found” will be displayed instead. Please note that when the communication has been
established and the control software has got a positive response then the power LED on your unit should lit
continuously.
11. This is the scan tab for the scan box where all main parameters concerning the acquisition of the traces are
listed and can be modied.
12. This is the gain tab for the gain box where you can set the gain function appropriated for the kind of survey
you are performing.
13. This is the lters tab for opening the lters box. In the lters box you have all the settings for applying lters
to the acquired data.
14. The wheel calibration tab opens the wheel calibration box where the selection and calibration of the survey
wheel can be done.
15. Press this button every time you need to apply the changes made in the setup and send this information to
the control unit. When the setup has been successfully downloaded into the unit the radar starts acquiring
data immediately and presenting them in the b-scan area. Then the caption of this button turns into “Stop” in
case you need the radar to stop acquiring data. Please note that none of this data is stored and if you need to
acquire data and save the les then you need to switch to record mode of operation.
16. The contrast slider allows the user to increase or decrease the contrast of the data presented in the b-scan
area.
17. The status bar presents all the information about the main settings the unit is using and also the status and
port the GPS receiver is connected to.

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3.2 Global Settings Dialogue Window
The global settings window is the main tool of GAS™
to control the way and feel of the software plus the
required external devices.
To open the global settings dialogue window press
the icon in the main toolbar or press Alt+S on your
keyboard.
The Global Settings window is divided into six different
logical regions containing related settings.
The material box allows to select different kind of
soils with typical values for the relative dielectric
permittivity.
The selected value can be applied to the velocity
analysis while in distance mode or not depending on
the status of the corresponding check box. Please note
that although these values have been selected from
respected publications errors might occur and that
the relative dielectric permittivity of the soils is rarely
homogeneous.
The port settings box has all the necessary information
to communicate with the GPR receiver if this is
available. The selection of the port and the baud
rate are depending on your GPS receiver unit and its
parameters. A test button is available to check if the
selected settings are the correct ones.
The measurements units box is where one can select
not only the measurement system, but also the type of
units suitable for the kind of survey taking place.
The next area is reserved for the saving options of the data and the screen shots images that GAS™ can produce.
If the save automatically check box is checked then all les are saved and an increasing number is assigned to
each next collected prole. The les are always stored in the default directory for the data les, gsf les. If this
check box is not checked then every time one presses stop during collection mode a dialogue window asking to
save or discard will appear.
GAS™ gives the possibility to save the data with all the processing applied to it or without processing at all. In the
latest case it doesn’t mean you cannot apply processing to the collecting prole and see the results on the screen.
It is just that the le containing the prole will not store the processed data, but the raw one coming from the
radar control unit. This is done because there are users to prefer to see in the eld how would the data look like
after wards, but still want to leave the processing to a later time and with more powerful tools.
The next setting is the drop down button that gives different choices of image le formats for the screen shot
images the software produces. Select the format that suits your needs best. The default is “bmp” because it is the
richest format and no compression is applied to the image data.
There are occasions when the antenna attached to the control unit and the selected gain prole produce skewing
of the data to the end of the trace. This is nothing else than an artifact produced by the high gain applied to the
small signals. This artifact can be thought of as a low frequency distortion and can be removed completely by
checking up the “Use Dewow” check box.

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The control unit will always warn you with a beep if you are going too fast in distance mode and the risk of loosing
data is big. However, if you want to have an audible signal for the start, stop, apply settings operation you can
check the “Beep” box in the Global Settings window.
Since the Akula 9000B ground penetrating radar control unit can be used to a wide variety of antennas from
different manufacturers then a way of controlling the polarity of the transmitted pulse of the incoming data is
mandatory. By selecting the “Invert On” check box you can instruct GAS™ to change the polarity of the incoming
signals. This most of the time bears no meaning at all, but there are users that are accustomed to see the
transmitted pulse with some specic polarity and not having it that way can make the interpretation of the prole
more difcult.
The last region of the Global Settings is the default directories for the image les and the data les. Here you can
select any location on your PC for storing the data or alternatively any external CompactFlash unit or USB stick,
memory card etc.
3.3 GPS usage
GAS™ will accept data from GPS units outputting NMEA 0183
format only. Please consult with the manufacturer of your GPS
receiver if this option is available and how to activate it. The
other important moment to think about is that the control
software will only establish communications with GPS outputting
data via serial ports, real or virtual ones. The vast majority of
the GPS receivers currently on the market uses this kind of
communications protocol, but there are cases when the GPS
receiver has a truly USB data output and drivers are required for
it. GAS™ does not have currently support for this kind of units.
When using GPS in your surveys think that although the
accuracy of the receivers have been constantly improving there
is still plenty of room for errors and a margin of a couple of
meters error is to be expected on economy or fast units.
Despite all accusations on GPR units disrupting the GPS services,
the best place to put your GPS receiver is always on top of your
antenna. In such case you minimize the error of the recorded
coordinates.
The Port settings in the Global Settings dialogue window allowed you to connect a GPS receiver to the control
PC to obtain geolocation data. This data is inserted seemingly into the collected data le and can be retrieved
later on in GPRSoft™ and exported to any GIS software supporting comma delimited values data. This is of great
advantage since no extra les are needed to be able to locate accurately the survey area.

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3.4 Setup Panel
The setup panel is always available on the right side of
the screen when the control software is in setup mode.
By default the “Scan” tab is open and the “Gain”, “Filters”
and “Wheel Calibration” are contracted. Pressing on these
buttons will open that particular part of the control unit
setup.
You can always return to setup mode by pressing the
corresponding icon in the main tool bar or by pressing
Ctrl+E on your keyboard
The “Scan” box contains all the settings related to the
acquisition of one trace and the quick setup select drop
down menu.
The “Gain” box has in it all the settings for applying gain
to the incoming data.
The “Filters” box gives us the possibility to change the
settings for all the lters implemented in GAS™.
Finally, the “Wheel Calibration” button has all the required
controls for calibrating and selecting the survey wheel.
It is important to note that as soon as you start changing
settings in the setup panel the data acquisition is stopped
immediately. This however, doesn’t mean that the new
settings have been transferred to the control unit and
applied to the next acquisition. To apply the changes
to the control unit it is necessary to press the “Apply”
button. The unit will start downloading the new setup
to the control unit and when all parameters have been
successfully transferred to the radar a new acquisition will
start automatically. During setup no data is stored and the
acquisition rate is somewhat slower than during collection
mode.
Let’s go now in greater detail through the settings in each
of the setup boxes to gain a better understanding on how
the work and affect the quality of the acquired data.

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3.4.1 Scan Box
Scan Range – The scan range box has a eld that can be increased or decreased using the up and down arrows
on the right of it. GAS™ automatically recognizes what control unit model is attached to the control PC. Since
GAS™ works with four different kind of ground penetrating radar control units then the available range is restricted
accordingly to the available ones in the connected unit. Please consult your particular unit rmware and technical
specications for more details on this subject. The range can also be input by typing the desired range in this eld.
Scan Rate – The scan rate box has a double purpose, it allows for the selection of the acquisition mode and also
the scan rate while in time mode. The radio buttons at the top permits the selection of one of the three available
acquisition modes:
• Time Mode – In this mode the radar will collect traces based on the specied value of traces per second.
Depending on the selected range and consequently the amount of samples per trace GAS™ will restrict the
maximum amount of traces per second accordingly.
• Distance Mode – In this mode the radar will collect traces only when the survey wheel encoder is sending
information about forward movement of the antenna. The amount of traces per unit length is specied in the
“Wheel Calibration” box as well as the calibration of the survey wheel to guarantee that the unit will collect the
proper amount of traces.
• One Shot Mode – In this mode the radar will collect one trace every time the “one shot” button is pressed or
press enter while in record mode. GAS™ will send the command of acquiring one trace only when the button
has been pressed and released, holding the button down won’t result in the unit acquiring several traces one
after another.
Offset – The electronics in the sampler and transmitter of different antennas have different propagation delays and
therefore the acquired portion of the data might be too late or too early leaving important information outside the
viewing area. The offset moves the viewing portion of the data up or down to give us the right view. As with the
scan range the offset can be modied by using the up and down arrows or by typing in the desired value. Negative
values will move the data up and positive values down. The maximum and minimum offset are depending on the
control unit model number and should be consulted in the technical specications for the attached unit.
Select Antenna – This drop down box contain all the antenna models supported by the connected control unit.
By selecting one antenna model and pressing “Apply” in the setup panel one loads a factory precongured setup
which is suitable for that particular antenna model. In most cases this will be sufcient and no other steps are
required to continue with the survey, but in some cases like heavily conducting soils etc you might need to further
ne tune the parameters to obtain optimal data quality in the given conditions.

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3.4.2 Gain Box
The electromagnetic waves suffer heavy attenuation as
it penetrates the materials and the reections from the
objects in them are increasingly weaker with the increase
of the penetration depth. This is the reason why we need
to apply a non-linear gain function to the acquired data.
GAS™ allows up to six gain points to be selected to
dene the gain curve that will be applied to the incoming
data. The amount of points is selected from the drop
down menu in the top of the gain box and the values for
each individual point are typed in in the corresponding
elds. These values are expressed in decibels and can
be selected within the maximum and minimum available
values for your particular ground penetrating radar
model.
It is important to notice that heavily over-gained signals
will never provided a good and useful data. Applying gain
to very long ranges will not make new data to appear,
but rather will distort the data that is available in the
more shallow regions. The effect in these cases will be
an increased amount of noise and a corruption of the
useful data. It is advisable to never allow the signals to
be clipping and a 75% full swing is a good gure of merit
when applying range gain.
To see the shape of the gain function you have entered
select the check box “Show Gain Line” and a line over
the oscilloscope view will show the gain prole you are
applying to the collected data.
Example of over-gained signal showing the transmitted or direct pulse clipping at the start.