The Professional Explorer (ProEx) System is a modular, full-range Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system designed to meet the needs of the advanced professional user. At the heart of this new system is the ProEx Control Unit. Designed on a completely new technical platform, the ProEx is the most versatile control unit in the MALÅ range and replaces the World famous RAMAC/GPR CUII as the new high-end full range system.

GPR offers a practical, reliable and most importantly non-destructive solution for subsurface geophysical and geotechnical investigations. The ProEx is fully compatible with MALÅ’s broad range of antennas and offers a flexible and versatile approach to detecting subsurface targets and geological layers accurately, efficiently and in real-time.

Robust Design

The ProEx has been designed with field-use in mind and the electronics are encased in a robust aluminum housing rated to IP67 (including connectors). The mechanical aspects of the ProEx design offer protection to connectors, switches and of course cable connections from the antennas.

Performance

Generally, GPR control units are based on a single processor design; not the ProEx. In the basic configuration it has three 32-bit controllers working in parallel to keep the trig signals to/from the antennas and the data stream working at optimum speed. These controllers communicate by means of fast, double port memories which remove the bottlenecks commonly associated with normal communication interfaces.

Connectivity

The ProEx communicates with the XV Monitor or notebook PC by means of a 100MBit Ethernet connection. Each of the two hardware channels is controlled by their own 32-bit processor, guaranteeing the best performance. This means that each antenna can be operated at full speed and independently from any other that is connected.

The auxiliary connectors include; serial ports, analogue inputs, digital input/output and extra communication options. This allows the system to be run in standard configurations, but also tailored to specific user requirements as needed.

The operating firmware can be upgraded by the user directly from their own PC; therefore, there is no need to return the unit to the factory for upgrade as new firmware versions become available.

An additional feature of the ProEx design is the new communication protocol and upon request, MALÅ will make this firmware available to users. This will be of particular interest to Universities and Research organizations who may wish to develop their own unique data acquisition platform.

Ease of use

With all this functionality it could be argued that the ProEx is too advanced or complex to operate by the average user. However, the ProEx runs on a proven, easy-to-use data acquisition platform, from either the XV Monitor or a notebook PC running MALÅ’s GroundVision software.

Antenna Modules

As GPR systems have developed, so too has the number of different antennas. The diverse range of antennas introduces challenges with interfacing and to meet this MALA engineered the ProEx as a modular system. A choice of three control modules (coax, optical and high frequency) allows the user to connect any MALÅ antenna in various configurations, for single, dual or multi-antenna operation. Each individual antenna can be configured with specific settings, but run simultaneously with other connected antennas. Thus enabling a wide range of advanced measurements to be carried out.

Note: each ProEx module is controlled by an individual processor and radar control board, so no switching takes place, giving each channel the best possible performance.

Expansion Units 

In the basic configuration, the ProEx comes standard with two hardware channels (4 data channels). This allows connection of two separate antennas for simultaneous data collection whilst also providing a third “virtual antenna”. By adding optional expansion units, the system can be expanded to eight hardware channels (16 data channels) to operate up to eight individual antennas.

Each expansion unit provides two additional hardware channels to which any control module and antenna can be fitted.

A maximum of three expansion units can be connected to the main ProEx control unit which results in a total of eight totally independently configurable antenna options.

Typical applications for multi-channel use include road and pavement investigations and research activities.

The ProEx is fully compatible with the entire range of MALÅ antennas, the XV Monitor data acquisition platform and Windows based Ground Vision¹ acquisition software.

¹Requires a notebook PC.