Radio Echo Sounding (RES) technique is used in glaciology, to perform the study of the properties of glaciers and ice [Bogorodsky, 1985]. It is based on the use of radar techniques, mainly to obtain information about the thickness of glaciers and polar ice caps. The RES instrumentation also allows the study of interglacial stratification and identification of areas of inhomogeneity of the ice, the exploration of subglacial lakes and physical characterization of the ice - bedrock interface [Cafarella, 2006; Frezzotti, 2000; Forieri, 2003; Mancini, 2003; Tabacco, 2000; Tabacco, 2003; Zirizzotti, 2010]. Simplifying RES instrumentation, it is a radar system mainly constituted by two main components: a radio frequency transmitter and a receiver connected to an antenna [Plewes, 2001]. A short electromagnetic pulse is transmitted through an antenna and the receiver detects the transmitted pulse and all the pulses reflected from the ice. The reflecting surfaces are surfaces of discontinuity in the electromagnetic characteristics of the medium. In the case of the ice we have: air-ice surface, the layers of ice or “internal layers” due to annual ice stratifications, the rocky “bedrock” (ice-rock interfaces) and subglacial lakes (liquid water present at the bedrock interface) all those are thus seen as electromagnetic discontinuity (figure 1). From measurements of the delay times of the received pulses, knowing the speed of electromagnetic waves propagation in the ice, it is possible to determine the distance to these surfaces. The radio waves have different speeds depending on the media in which they propagate: in the air it is the light speed (300 m / µs), while in the ice it is about 168 m /µs [Glen, 1975]. Moreover, from measurements of the intensity (amplitude) of the detected echoes, it is possible to obtain information on the electromagnetic characteristics of the reflecting interface, allowing us to determine, for example, the physical state of the ice (wet or dry) and water presence at the bottom. Subglacial lakes however are easily detected by the characteristic flat shape of the reflector surface and by the strong amplitude of the echo [Zirizzotti, 2011]. RES measurements on the ice can be done using snow mobile vehicles, or by airplane. By mounting the radar system in a snowmobile vehicle and the antenna on a sledge it is possible to make local ice measurements on glaciers. While to analyze the vast areas of the ice caps in Greenland or in Antarctica a small twin engine aircraft DHC-6 Twin Otter is used. In this case the instrumentation is mounted inside the fuselage and the transmitting and receiving antennas are mounted below the wings of the plane. A sketch of the radio paths between the plane and the glacier is illustrated in Figure 1. The transmitting antennas emit an electromagnetic pulse that is directly revealed by the receiving antennas (direct coupling between transmitter and receiver). Continuing the journey the pulse is partially reflected by the ice surface and in part by the discontinuities of the medium, and then going through the whole ice thickness reflected by the surface of the rocky bottom (bedrock). All these echoes are detected at different times (delay) at the receiving antenna. The radar pulses are generated continuously with a repetition rate PRR (Pulse Repetition Rate), which is chosen depending on the speed of the used vehicle to move on the ice (aircraft, snowmobile) and the required horizontal resolution of the measurements. All these acquired traces are plotted basically in two ways. Refer to Figure 2, which represents a radar trace of the Drygalsky ice tongue in Antarctica, measured with the RES system mounted on a plane [Tabacco, 2000; Bianchi, 2001]. In “colour mode” (left), the tracks are represented side by side with points of different colours depending on the amplitude of the echoes, while in the “oscope mode” (right), the track is plotted over time as it is received by the instrument. On this trace you can see the first transmitted pulse, the reflection in the air of the ice surface and on the bottom surface of the glacier (the sea-ice interface of the glacier). Instead the representation in colour allows to display directly the trend of the bottom of the tongue of the glacier, which jumps up and down from the sea (left part) side going deeper close to the ground line (right part). Since 1997, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), as part of the Programma Nazionale di Ricerca in Antartide (PNRA) [Tabacco 1999], is involved in the development of an airborne RES radar system called “glacio RADAR” [Zirizzotti 2008]. The instrument has been constantly updated and improved through several exploration missions [Bianchi 2003]. This radar has been used in several Antarctic expeditions of the Italian National Research Program in particular in the measurement campaigns of 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2011 and 2012. All data were collected in the database IRES (Italian Radio Echo Sounding database). This database has been integrated with a WebGIS interface where a photographic view (map) of the locations of the acquired traces and their geographical location are shown. The interface can be reached at http://labtel2.rm.ingv.it/antarctica/. Moreover in 2010 began the research for the design of a new radar in the PAPRIKA PROJECT SHARECNR to perform the measurements of the thickness of the Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan. This glacier is about 60 km long and located in the Karakorum mountain range and is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world. This new project gives us the opportunity to develop instruments that can be used also on the Alps glaciers. At our latitude alpine glaciers (44° - 47° North) and Himalayan (28° - 34° N) have two key differences to Antarctic glaciers: thinner and lower temperature of the ice, they are called temperate glaciers. In Antarctica, the average annual temperature in the interior is very low, for example at Dome C is -54.5 ° C (www.polarnet.cnr.it). The point of maximum thickness of the ice ever measured is 4755 m [Cafarella 2006]. On the Baltoro glacier, a temperate glacier, average surface temperatures are higher than expected, and the thickness is less than 1000m. These differences indicate different measurement modes, in fact the temperatures of the ice leads to higher absorption of electromagnetic waves at high frequencies, while the reduced thickness to be analyzed limits the length of the pulse to be transmitted and therefore its average power. These two conditions make it more difficult paradoxically the radar measurements on temperate glaciers than on the polar ice. As explained the hard working conditions make RES measurements very difficult. Moreover the choice of correct radar parameters, like pulse length or receiver attenuation factor, are very important to acquire correctly radar traces, have a strong signal from the bedrock and a detailed internal layering. For this reason a new transmitter has been developed with the possibility to transmit two pulses with different length. Short and long pulse can be combined to have in one leg both a high resolution and a high energy response as shown later.