MALA EasyLocator WideRange Operating manual Version 1.0 Draft Draft www.malags.com 2 Table of Contents _________________________________________________ 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Introduction Unpacking and Inspection Repacking and Shipping Limited Warranty and Liability 4 5 5 5 Important information regarding the use of this MALA GPR unit 6 2 Hardware and Start Up 2.1 Hardware 2.2 Start up 3 Using the EasyLocator WideRange Surveying The settings menu 3.1 3.2 4 EasyLocator WideRange specifications 7 7 7 10 13 14 16 Draft www.malags.com 3 1 Introduction __________________________________________________ Thank you for purchasing the EasyLocator WideRange. The EasyLocator series of products is the most widely used GPR-system for utility detection, world-wide. The WideRange is the latest in a line of easy-to-use tools for the locating industry. It builds on its predecessors in terms of handling and user interface while incorporating the latest and most potent technology currently available. We at Mal GeoScience welcome comments from you concerning the use and experience of this equipment, as well as the contents and usefulness of this manual. Please take the time to read through the assembling instructions carefully and address any questions or suggestions to the following:
Main Office:
Mal GeoScience Skolgatan 11 S-930 70 Mal Sweden Phone: +46 953 345 50 Fax: +46 953 345 67 E-mail: sales@malags.se Technical support issues can be sent to: support@malags.se Information about MAL GeoSciences products available on Internet: http://www.malags.com Copyright 2012 Mal Geoscience AB Subsidiary:
Mal GeoScience USA, Inc. 465 Deanna Lane Charleston, SC 29492 USA Phone: +1-843 852 5021 Fax:
E-mail: sales.usa@malags.se
+1-843 769 7397 is also Draft www.malags.com 4 1.1 Unpacking and Inspection Great care should be taken when unpacking the equipment. Be sure to verify the contents shown on the packing list and inspect the equipment for any loose parts or other damage. All packing material should be preserved in the event that any damage occurred during shipping. Any claims for shipping damage should be filed to the carrier. Any claims for missing equipment or parts should be filed with Mala GeoScience. 1.2 Repacking and Shipping If original packing materials are unavailable, the equipment should be packed with at least 80 mm of shock-absorbing material. Do not use shredded fibres, paper wood, or wool, as these materials tend to get compacted during shipment and permit the instruments to move around inside the package. 1.3 Limited Warranty and Liability Mal Geoscience warrants that, for a period of 12 months from the delivery date to the original purchaser, Mal Geoscience products will be free from defects in materials and workmanship. Except for the foregoing limited warranty, Mal Geoscience disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including nay warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Mal Geoscience will repair and replace parts or equipment which are returned to Mal Geoscience, transportation and insurance pre-paid, without alteration or further damage, and which in Mal Geosciences judgement, were defective or became defective during normal use. Mal Geoscience assumes no liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages or injures caused by proper or improper operation of its equipment or software, whether or not defective. Draft www.malags.com 5 1.4 Important information regarding the use of this MALA GPR unit According to the regulations stated in ETSI EN 302 066-1 (European Telecommunication Standards Institute):
- The CX unit should not be left ON when leaving the system unintended. It should always be turned OFF when not in use.
- The antennas should point towards the ground, walls etc. during measurement and not towards the air.
- The antennas should be kept in close proximity to the media under investigation. Canadian regulations states that whenever GPR-antennas are in use the following note apply:
This Ground penetrating Radar device shall be operated only when in contact with or within 1 m of the ground. This Ground Penetrating Radar Device shall be used only by law enforcement agencies, scientific research institutes, commercial mining companies, construction companies and emergency rescue or firefighting organizations. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Mal GeoScience has not approved any changes or modifications to this device by the user. Any changes or modifications could void the users authority to operate the equipment. See 47 CFR Sec. 15.21. Draft www.malags.com 6 2 Hardware and Start Up __________________________________________________ 2.1 Hardware The EasyLocator WideRange is a bandwidth-extended GPR system designed for use with the EasyLocator ProCart Wide. The main components are the UWB-transducer(antenna), the monitor the mechanical carrying system and the batteries. The system is, preferable powered with one battery and data communication between the GPR-transducer and the monitor is managed with an Ethernet link on a cable which carries power to the monitor as well. 2.2 Start up Prior to surveying with the system the following easy steps should be followed. Make sure that the battery is fully charged. The battery powers both the transducer and the monitor and is good for about 5 hours operation. Connect the traducer to the battery by means with cable supplied, see picture below. Draft www.malags.com 7 Connect the Monitor to the transducer with the cable supplied, see picture below. Press and release the button the GPR-transducer, shortly, do keep it pressed. This will start up the unit;
the LEDs on the panel will start to blink as well as the LED inside the button, see figure below. Press the button on the monitor; itll take about 30 seconds for the unit to start up. Draft www.malags.com 8 After these simple steps the monitor will display the screen shown in figure below, and the system is ready for operation. Draft www.malags.com 9 3 Using the EasyLocator WideRange The parts of the EasyLocator WideRange system are shipped separately. To get started unfold the ProCart, attach the EL Controller to the controller tray, attach the power/Ethernet cable, and mount the batteries in the battery bay (behind the red lid with the MAL logo) Once the unit is un-folded and started as described in previous paragraph, operation is very straight-forward and self-
explanatory, some details will be described in the following text. Referring to the start-up screen is shown in figure below, the area of the screen between the depth scales are reserved for data presentation, the lower portion for information about the ongoing survey and the right column are mainly for controlling the instrument trough the turn-push button. Draft www.malags.com 10 Starting from the top-right:
The yellow circle with a cross-hair is indicating the GPS-status;
red means that theres no GPS attached or no satellites available, yellow means normal GPS accuracy (about 10m) and green means that the unit has been able to apply differential correction. The scale with red, yellow and green indicates the battery status. It is divided into two black bars, since theres an option of using a separate battery for the transducer. In other respects, this scale is self-explanatory. The Quit button is also self-explanatory, press on this and youll have the option for turning off the unit. Note that the unit should always be turned off this way, since just pulling the power cable may harm the internal memory of the unit. Pressing the Start button will immediately put the unit into data collection mode and a radar image of the subsurface will start to display as soon as the unit is moved. The camera button enables the operator to save a jpeg image of the current screen for later downloading to a USB device. This is intended for documentation purposes. The wrench button gives possibility to change some of the settings controlling the data collection process and house-
keeping functionality in the unit, see separate section of this manual. The last 3 buttons controls filter to be applied on the data, prior to display, they are, top to down, background removal, contrast level and gain function. Pressing the push-turn button while turning it increases or decreases the strength of these filters, right-turn; increase and left-turn; decrease. Draft www.malags.com 11 The bottom part of the screen shows some information about the ongoing survey. Its self-explanatory except for the trigger-
type field. The trigger type field explains what controls the data acquisition, theres three different types of control; forward wheel, backward wheel and time triggering. Time triggering means that the unit collects data with certain frequency, normally 10 to 20 Hz; it is to be used when surface conditions prohibit the use of a wheel. Draft www.malags.com 12 3.1 Surveying When a survey has been initiated the main menu changes, see figure below. Now the user may stop the survey, save a jpeg-image of the current screen check the velocity trough hyperbola fitting or save a GPS-marker on the current location. The radargram screen is split in two the upper part shows the high frequency part of the data, the lower the low frequency part. An important feature in the instrument is the track-cursor pointed to by the red-arrow in the figure. This cursor will move with the system, so that if the unit is moved backwards, this cursor along with a vertical line will start to move back on the screen. This is the primary function used when locating buried targets. When the unit is pushed forward again, data collection will start when you reach the point where you started to move backward, not before. Draft www.malags.com 13 3.2 The settings menu The settings menu is entered through the wrench button on the main menu; it is shown in figure below. Activating the green text-fields, but turning the push-turn button, and then depressing it gives the user means for changing the different options are described. the settings. Below
- Color, the user can switch between gray-scale and color scale for the displayed radar data. The vast majority of users prefer the grey-scale, since theres no natural interpretation of color for this type of data. It can actually be quite confusing.
- The sun-symbol is for setting of the backlight of the screen, default is 100%. By lowering this parameter, battery-life can be extended by up to 1 hour. Draft www.malags.com 14
- Soil Type, is defining which ground velocity should be used when converting reflections from a specific time to a depth to be shown on the scales. Note that this type of instrument actually measures time of flight for electromagnetic waves, in ground. The depth displayed on the scales is estimations only. Variations in normal ground are between 80 to 120 meters/microseconds. A user must be aware of this fact. The System Parameters sub-menu is not accessible for operators; it is used for factory calibrations, service centers during manufacturing and service/repair The other sub-menus are self-explanatory. Contact your local dealer if further information is needed. Draft www.malags.com 15 27 kg
> 250 ns 80-960 MHz 4 hours with standard batteries 12 V Li-ion rechargeable batteries 4 EasyLocator WideRange specifications __________________________________________________ Useful Bandwidth Time window Total weight incl. batteries Power supply Operating time Operating temperature -20 to + 50 0C Data acquisition Environmental Certifications:
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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, and 2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the users ETSI, FCC (pending), ICC (pending) Wheel or time based IP67 Draft www.malags.com 16 authority to operate the equipment. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Howev
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er, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one of the following measures:
Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
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This Device complies with Industry Canada License-exempt RSS standard(s). Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1) this device may not cause interference, and 2) this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device. Draft www.malags.com 17 Under Industry Canada regulations, this radio transmitter may only operate using an antenna of a type and maximum
(or lesser) gain approved for the transmitter by Industry Canada. To reduce potential radio interference to other users, the antenna type and its gain should be so chosen that the equivalent isotropically radiated power
(e.i.r.p.) is not more than that necessary for successful communication. Draft www.malags.com 18