SAR imaging for a forward-looking GPR system

Abstract

We investigate both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging techniques for a forward-looking ground penetrating radar (FLGPR) system. In particular, we consider SAR imaging using the delay-and-sum (DAS), phase-shift migration, and spectral estimation (joint APES (Amplitude and Phase EStimation) and RCB (Robust Capon Beamforming)) approaches with the PSI (Planning Systems Inc.) FLGPR Phase II system. For the DAS and phase-shift migration approaches, we use shading in both frequency and cross-track aperture dimensions to reduce sidelobe leakages and clutter. We perform both coherent and non-coherent multi-look processing as well as smoothing to improve the SAR imaging quality and landmine detection capability of the system. The effectiveness of the approaches are demonstrated with an experimental data set collected by the PSI FLGPR Phase II system.