Ultra-wide-band synthetic-aperture radar for mine-field detection

A full-wave model is developed for electromagnetic scattering from buried a nd surface land mines (both conducting and plastic), taking rigorous accoun t of the lossy, dispersive, and potentially layered properties of soil. The (polarimetric) theoretical results are confirmed via synthetic-aperture ra dar (SAR) measurements, performed using the US Army Research Laboratory's B oomSAR, with which fully polarimetric ultra-wide-band (50-1200 MHz) SAR ima gery is produced. The SAR system is used to acquire a large database of ima gery, including a significant distribution of naturally occurring clutter. Several techniques are used for mine detection with such data, including se veral detectors that are based on target features gleaned from the modeling , as well as a matched-filter-like detector that directly incorporates the target signatures themselves. In addition, the theoretical model is used to predict wave phenomenology in various environments (beyond the limited ran ge of parameters that can be examined experimentally). Since the efficacy o f radar-based subsurface sensing depends strongly on the soil properties, w e perform a parametric study of the dependence of such on the target RCS, a nd on possible land-mine resonances.