Detecting Underground Metallic Objects of Diu000berent Sizes using Synthetic Aperture Radar

摘要

Detecting underground/subsurface metallic objects such as landmines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices)using eu000ecient and eu000bective inspection techniques is crucial in demining and mine clearance missions. The use ofmicrowave/radar sensors in remote sensing represents a new approach to reduce demining risks and to improveeu000eciency. To achieve the goal, electromagnetic signatures of underground metallic objects must be thoroughlystudied. The objective of this paper is to use synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging to investigate the sizeeu000bect of an underground metallic object buried in SAR images at three ranges (15 cm, 30 cm, and 60 cm). Threediu000berent sizes (diameters = 7.6 cm, 15.2 cm, and 20.3 cm) were used and buried inside a container (sandbox)lled up with dry sand. A 10-GHz SAR imaging radar sensor was applied to generate all SAR images inside ananechoic chamber. It was found that SAR amplitude decreases with the increase of radar range. In addition,reconstructed distribution of SAR amplitudes depended on the size of underground steel disk specimens. SARamplitudes (maximum and integrated) were related to the range and modeled by empirical equations.