Ground-penetrating synthetic-aperture radar for wide-area airborne minefield detection

Abstract

This paper describes data collection and test results from an airborne ground penetrating radar (GPR) sensor operating as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Tests were undertaken to investigate the sensor's capability to support wide-area airborne minefield detection. The sensor was installed on a rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Flight tests occurred in 2002/3 at several US Army test sites containing minefields comprised of diverse types of anti-tank landmines, both metallic and low-metallic, that were buried and surface-laid. Data was collected using two side-look SAR modes: strip-map and spotlight. Strip-map mode data was collected using linear flight paths. Spotlight mode data was collected over a path surrounding the survey region allowing the sensor to collect minefield data over a full 360º view in azimuth. Data collected in strip-map mode was processed to form two-dimensional SAR imagery of the minefields. Three dimensional images were generated by processing the 360º spotlight mode data. The images were generated in a geo-referenced coordinate system to allow direct comparison of the imagery with surveyed ground truth. The sensor system is described and the flight tests that were undertaken are explained. Examples of SAR imagery from the flight tests are presented and compared to surveyed ground truth.

Clutter and Ambiguity Reduction Using 3-dimensional Side-looking Synthetic Aperture Radar

“…This configuration suffers from poor coupling of the radar waves into the ground. Side-looking systems are excellent for scanning wide areas of surface targets or shallow buried targets, but they also face a limitation in terms of power coupled into the ground [12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

Sparse Time-Frequency Representation Based Feature Extraction Method for Landmine Discrimination

“…As a promotion technology of GPR, low-frequency ultra-wideband synthetic aperture radar (LFUWB-SAR) has been an important tool for landmine detection over the last several decades [8][9][10], which offers the advantage of a significant standoff distance to perform large areas detection quickly from its high resolution image.…”

A Novel Minefield Detection Approach Based on Morphological Diversity

“…Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is able to provide a powerful surveillance capability, allowing the observation of broad expanses, independently from weather conditions, so much during the day as during the night [1]. Ultra-wideband (UWB) SAR, operating in low frequency, can penetrate the ground surface, so minefield detection via UWB SAR is one of the highlights of research [2][3][4].…”