Ground penetrating radar with synthesized end-fire array
First Claim
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1. A ground penetrating radar system comprising:
- a transmitter for generating electromagnetic energy;
an antenna coupled to said transmitter for emitting and receiving the electro-magnetic energy;
servo means for translating said antenna along an antenna boresight axis, and for employing said antenna as a synthetic aperture, end-fire array; and
signal processing means for integrating an array of data representing the electro-magnetic energy received at different antenna positions located along the antenna boresight axis, wherein said signal processing means includes means for frequency shifting the data as a function of a corresponding position along the boresight axis and means for summing the array of frequency shifted data.
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Abstract
In a ground penetrating radar system, A-scan images of subsurface targets lying along the antenna boresight axis can be substantially improved and generated in real-time by employing a synthetic aperture, end-fire array, despite the inhomogeneous nature of the subsurface volume. The synthetic aperture, end-fire array is achieved by generating electromagnetic (EM) ultra-wideband impulses at a number of precise locations along the antenna boresight access, shifting the returned EM signals in the time domain according to the corresponding antenna boresight location, and then integrating the shifted, returned EM signals.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A ground penetrating radar system comprising:
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a transmitter for generating electromagnetic energy; an antenna coupled to said transmitter for emitting and receiving the electro-magnetic energy; servo means for translating said antenna along an antenna boresight axis, and for employing said antenna as a synthetic aperture, end-fire array; and signal processing means for integrating an array of data representing the electro-magnetic energy received at different antenna positions located along the antenna boresight axis, wherein said signal processing means includes means for frequency shifting the data as a function of a corresponding position along the boresight axis and means for summing the array of frequency shifted data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A ground penetrating radar system comprising:
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a transmit antenna; a receive antenna, co-located with said transmit antenna, for receiving electro-magnetic energy return signals; servo means for translating the transmit and receive antennas to a plurality of precise locations along an antenna boresight axis; a transmitter for generating electro-magnetic energy at each of the plurality of precise locations along the antenna boresight axis, thereby employing the transmit and receive antenna as a synthetic aperture, end-fire array; and signal processing means for aligning and summing the electro-magnetic energy signals received at different boresight axis locations of the receive antenna. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of generating an image representing the location of subsurface target comprising the steps of:
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emitting electro-magnetic energy from an antenna located at a first position along an antenna boresight axis and receiving a return electro-magnetic energy signal with the antenna; translating the antenna to a second position located along the antenna boresight axis; emitting electro-magnetic energy from the antenna while the antenna is located at the second position and receiving a return electro-magnetic energy signal with the antenna; in the time domain, shifting the return electro-magnetic energy signal received at the second antenna boresight position as a function of the distance between the first position and the second position; integrating the electro-magnetic energy signals received at the first antenna boresight position and the shifted, electro-magnetic energy signal received at the second antenna boresight position; and displaying an image representing target location based on the integrated electro-magnetic energy signals received at the first antenna boresight position and the second antenna boresight position. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of using a ground penetrating radar system to generate A-scan images of targets located in a subsurface volume comprising the steps of:
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emitting a plurality of electro-magnetic impulses from an antenna located at a first position along an antenna boresight axis; receiving a return electro-magnetic energy signal for each of the plurality of electro-magnetic impulses with the antenna located at the first position along the antenna boresight axis; digitizing the return electro-magnetic energy signals; integrating the digitized return electro-magnetic energy signals; translating the antenna to a second position located along the antenna boresight axis a distance L from the first position; emitting a second plurality of electro-magnetic impulses from the antenna located at the second position; receiving a return electro-magnetic energy signal for each of the second plurality of electro-magnetic impulses with the antenna located at the second position along the antenna boresight axis; digitizing the return electro-magnetic energy signals received at the second position; in the time domain, shifting the digitized return electro-magnetic energy signal received at the second position as a function of the distance L between the first position and the second position along the antenna boresight axis; and integrating the shifted, digitized return electro-magnetic energy signals received at the second position with the digitized return electro-magnetic energy signals received at the first position. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification