Antennas and antenna systems are the most important components of the ground penetrating radar. That is why a lot of work had been done in the field of antenna modelling and design. One of the major points about the antenna working in the vicinity of the ground is to ensure stability of the antenna characteristics to the influence of nearby objects and ground surface.

This work is devoted to the comparison of performance of different GPR antennas such as TEM horn, dielectric rod antenna fed by TEM horn and tapered-slot antennas operating as part of step-frequency ground penetrating radar. Presented antennas have been developed and manufactured by the authors in the framework of different international projects. In this work, the data have been obtained using both simulations by the CST Microwave Studio software and experimental studies.

The advantages and disadvantages of each type of antenna when operating in the near field area for detection of both shallowly buried and deeper targets are described.