Abstract
Interferometric radars are widely used for static and dynamic monitoring of large structures such as bridges, culverts, wind turbine towers, chimneys, masonry towers, stay cables, buildings, and monuments. Most of these radars operate in Ku-band (17 GHz). Nevertheless, a higher operative frequency could allow the design of smaller, lighter, and faster equipment. In this paper, a fast MIMO-GBSAR (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Ground-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar) operating in W-band (77 GHz) has been proposed. The radar can complete a scan in less than 8 s. Furthermore, as its overall dimension is smaller than 230 mm, it can be easily fixed to the head of a camera tripod, which makes its deployment in the field very easy, even by a single operator. The performance of this radar was tested in a controlled environment and in a realistic case study.
Highlights
Bridges require testing before going into service and need to be periodically monitored during their operative life for evaluating possible damage
Interferometric radars can perform both tests [1] operating in the real-aperture modality [2,3,4] or synthetic aperture modality [5,6]
In order to evaluate the performance of the GB-SAR, the radar was operated in a controlled scenario
Summary
Bridges require testing before going into service and need to be periodically monitored during their operative life for evaluating possible damage. Both testing and monitoring can be performed by static and dynamic measurements. Interferometric radars can perform both tests [1] operating in the real-aperture modality [2,3,4] or synthetic aperture modality [5,6]. The latter is usually called GB-SAR (GroundBased Synthetic Aperture Radar). Drawbacks of the current GB-SAR systems for structural monitoring are the slow acquisition rate (up to 90 s), physical dimensions (2–3 m) and weight (50–100 kg), which could preclude installation in many operative scenarios
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