SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING, LOCATING AND IDENTIFYING OBJECTS LOCATED ABOVE THE GROUND AND BELOW THE GROUND IN A PRE-REFERENCED AREA OF INTEREST
First Claim
1. A system for detecting, locating and identifying objects above the ground and below the ground comprising an area of interest, an airborne vehicle circumscribing said area of interest, that is provided with a radar comprising an antenna with its respective transmitter and receiver device, signal processing means, data storage means and graphical interface means, wherein said area of interest is previously referenced and said radar is a ground penetration (GPR) radar of the heterodyne type in which signal transmitted by the antenna generates a light beam from a strip of land and consists of a sinusoidal electromagnetic signal whose frequency is varied in predetermined and accurate stepped stages, wherein said transmitted signal is mixed with the received or reflected signal, resulting in two sets of values corresponding to the phases of each frequency step or stage, and wherein these sets of values obtained over successive scannings, as the antenna moves, are stored in the storage means and subsequently processed in processing means for obtaining a final image or map of the location of said objects above the ground and below the ground.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a system and method for detecting, locating and identifying objects located above ground or below ground in an area of interest, comprising an airborne vehicle which circumscribes the area of interest and which includes a built-in radar having an antenna with a respective transmitter and receiver, signal-processing means, data-storage means and graphical interface means. According to the invention, the area of interest has been pre-referenced and the radar is a heterodyne ground penetration radar (GPR). The signal transmitted by the antenna generates a beam that illuminates a strip of earth, consisting of a sinusoidal electromagnetic signal having a frequency that is varied in precise pre-determined progressive steps. This signal is mixed with the received (reflected) signal, thereby producing two sets of values corresponding to the phases of each frequency step or stage Said sets of values, which are obtained throughout successive sweeps (as the antenna moves), are stored in the storage means and subsequently processed in the processing means in order to obtain a final map or image of the location of the objects above ground or below ground.
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Citations
46 Claims
- 1. A system for detecting, locating and identifying objects above the ground and below the ground comprising an area of interest, an airborne vehicle circumscribing said area of interest, that is provided with a radar comprising an antenna with its respective transmitter and receiver device, signal processing means, data storage means and graphical interface means, wherein said area of interest is previously referenced and said radar is a ground penetration (GPR) radar of the heterodyne type in which signal transmitted by the antenna generates a light beam from a strip of land and consists of a sinusoidal electromagnetic signal whose frequency is varied in predetermined and accurate stepped stages, wherein said transmitted signal is mixed with the received or reflected signal, resulting in two sets of values corresponding to the phases of each frequency step or stage, and wherein these sets of values obtained over successive scannings, as the antenna moves, are stored in the storage means and subsequently processed in processing means for obtaining a final image or map of the location of said objects above the ground and below the ground.
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31. Method for detecting, locating and identifying objects above the ground and below the ground comprising an area of interest, an airborne vehicle circumscribing said area of interest, that is provided with a radar comprising an antenna with its respective transmitter and receiver device, signal processing means, data storage means and graphical interface means, characterized in that it comprises:
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setting a rectangular reference framework based on a point of reference, base points and orientation points around the area of interest; transmitting an sinusoidal electromagnetic signal whose frequency is varied in predetermined and accurate stepped stages to illuminate the area of interest and reference framework; mixing the reflected signal with the signal sent to obtain sets of values corresponding to the phases of each frequency step or stage, wherein said sets of values are obtained over successive scannings as the antenna moves; applying the inverse Fourier transform to the sets of values in order to obtain a set of range measurements for objects in the ground illuminated by the radar light beam; sequentially aligning each of the range measurements in the same sequence in which they were obtained from successive scannings for obtaining an image; processing said image through the use of a detection algorithm, which accurately determines the location of each object in the scanning region, obtaining a map of location of objects above the ground and below the ground; calibrating the map in order to obtain distances and heights expressed in length; georeferencing the calibrated image to submit space coordinate data in the image, according to the following sub-steps; geometrically encoding the calibrated image to identify and assign a code to each measured point in creating the framework; building a point densification based on points obtained on the ground in order to generate a digital field model, with which the image is orthogonally rectified and all vertical distortions and exaggerations in the image are corrected; correlating the pixels in the image in the above point and imposition of ground point coordinates, controlling the location with the points generated in densification; drawing up a risk map containing position vectors of the objects; and remapping the object coordinates in the image obtained in the previous step for marking on the ground. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification