Ultra Wideband Synthetic Aperture Radar for Landmine Detection

Abstract

The detection of landmines is an important and challenging application for remote sensing technologies. The use of ground penetrating radar is an established technique but requires close coupling between the antennas and the ground and generally suffers from a poor area coverage rate. In order to increase the gross area coverage rate an effective means of rapidly delimiting mined areas is required. Similarly, in order to minimise wasted effort, the identification of non-mined areas is equally important. The platform of choice for the area reduction role is an aerial vehicle, possibly unmanned. The choice of sensor or sensors is less obvious and the subject of research funded by the UK Ministry of Defence. The Remote Minefield Detection System (REMIDS) is a technology demonstration programme designed to fulfil the area reduction function. The complete system consists of an Ultra Wideband Synthetic Aperture Radar (UWBSAR) and a polarimetric infrared camera. The REMIDS UWBSAR is an impulse radar with onboard data collection and offline image processing. For the initial trials, the radar was mounted on an airship and employed a conventional side-looking imaging geometry. The paper will describe the REMIDS radar hardware, the processing software, the initial trials campaign and the data collected. Sample results will be shown. The future development of Ultra Wideband technology for a range of landmine detection and other applications will be outlined. OUTLINE This paper discusses the application of Ultra Wideband (UWB) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to the detection of anti-tank mines and other objects of interest on the modern battlefield. The paper will start by discussing the background of the problem and the derived sensor requirements. The techniques of UWB and SAR will then be introduced as the natural solution to the problem. The UK’s Remote Minefield Detection System (REMIDS) will be described and results from the radar trials presented. Finally, future developments of the technology and other battlefield applications will be discussed. BACKGROUND The anti-tank mine is in many respects an ideal weapon. It is cheap, it is effective and, when buried, it is extremely stealthy (see Figure 1). surface laid anti-tank mine buried anti-tank mine Figure 1 – The Threat Because the unit cost of production is relatively low, anti-tank mines can be laid in large numbers over wide areas. The effectiveness of the anti-tank mine lies not only in the damage or destruction to vehicles and personnel but also in the denial of the high tempo manoeuvre capability vital in modern warfare. Ironically, the anti-tank mine need not be deployed in order to achieve this last goal – a simple painted sign saying “Warning! Minefield!” would suffice. In order to counter the threat, the anti-tank mine must first be detected. However, it is relatively small, often has only a minimal amount of metal content and can be buried out of sight without loss of lethality. This makes the anti-tank mine a challenging target. There are technologies, such as ground penetrating radars and metal detection systems, capability of detecting the threat but these tend to be very close range sensors with poor area coverage rates. Other systems such as infra-red detectors require particular lighting or thermal conditions and have limited capability against buried or obscured targets. AIAA/ICAS International Air and Space Symposium and Exposition: The Next 100 Y 14-17 July 2003, Dayton, Ohio AIAA 2003-2573 Copyright © 2003 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.