Leading and lagging aperture for linear ground penetrating radar array
First Claim
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1. A ground contour mapping array, comprising:
- a ground-based movable structure traversable over a ground area to be mapped,an array of sensor elements attached to the movable structure,additional sensor elements fore and aft of the array for detecting changes in elevation and orientation of the array to prevent distortion of data gathered by the array, andelectronic means for adjusting the data from the sensor array to remove the effect of changes in the elevation or orientation of the sensor array.
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Abstract
A radar array linearly traverses an area of ground. Additional radar elements fore and aft of the array detect changes in elevation and orientation of the array. These elements act as a preview for the height changes due to ground variation. Any variation in height that is not detected by these fore and aft-mounted elements is thus due to variation in radar elevation and/or orientation and can be subtracted from the resulting data without introducing distortion. Correction factors are applied to the range data returned from each element in the array, which normalizes the data and makes it appear as if the array did not change orientation or elevation.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A ground contour mapping array, comprising:
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a ground-based movable structure traversable over a ground area to be mapped, an array of sensor elements attached to the movable structure, additional sensor elements fore and aft of the array for detecting changes in elevation and orientation of the array to prevent distortion of data gathered by the array, and electronic means for adjusting the data from the sensor array to remove the effect of changes in the elevation or orientation of the sensor array. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of mapping ground contours, comprising:
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providing a ground-based movable structure, providing first sensor elements in an array attached to the movable structure, providing second sensor elements fore and aft of the array, linearly traversing the movable structure over an area of ground, gathering data periodically from the first sensor elements while the movable structure traverses the area of ground, detecting distances between the second sensor elements and the ground at the same time as data is gathered from the first sensor elements, determining a change in elevation and orientation of the first sensor elements based on data gathered by the first sensor elements and distances detected by the second sensor elements, normalizing the data gathered from the first sensor elements to remove the effect of changes in the elevation or orientation of the first sensor elements, storing the normalized data, and creating a 3-dimensional image of a ground surface using the normalized data. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification