Imaging of buried targets using UAV-based, ground penetrating, synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

This paper investigates the possible configurations of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) system installed on a small UAV platform and used for buried target imaging. After discussing the advantages of this type of platform as compared to existing designs, we proceed to analyzing the imaging performance of the proposed system. This is done first by simulating the point spread function of the system, then by using realistic radar models involving a buried antitank landmine. The study has the following objectives: finding the best sensing geometry for this type of targets; optimizing the frequency band, polarization, and synthetic aperture length, position and sampling rate for best imaging performance; and developing SAR image formation algorithms for this GPR system. Both 2-D and 3-D GPR imaging systems are considered in this work, emphasizing the advantages of certain sensing modalities over the others. Image attributes such as resolution, grating lobes, signal strength, ground bounce separation and surface clutter sensitivity are used in the performance comparison.