"A unique feature of our radar unit is that it is able to look with high resolution close to the surface," says CSIRO researcher, Dr Tony Farmer.

"The SSR is able to find a wide range of both metal and non-metal objects, which means that the radar has a lot of possible applications."

"It can find very small objects, devices and wires located inside walls, beneath the ground or under road surfaces," Dr Farmer says.

"It can also find objects such as pipes, geophysical structures, plastics, land mines, water tables, voids and disturbed ground."

The SSR is one of the Australian technologies that will be on show at Hannover Fair in Germany from April 23 - 28, 2001.

Dr Farmer says that it works by transmitting high frequency electromagnetic pulses through the background medium and detecting echoes reflected either by objects buried within the material or from interfaces between different media types.

The timing and spatial location of the echoes provides information about the subsurface objects or layers.

The sub-surface radar is available as a prototype, Siro-Pulse, which is a compact, lightweight, low-power, hand-held unit that can be easily used to scan walls, ground surfaces or furniture.

It is typically supplied with several antennas operating at different frequencies and in different modes to enable operation in a variety of potential applications.

The radar control unit is connected to a lap-top computer and data acquisition and processing is provided by an appropriate software package.