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<title>Radar surveillance through solid materials</title>
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1997
Year
EngineeringEducationInformation ForensicsLaw Enforcement OfficersIntelligence, Surveillance, ReconnaissanceImaging RadarLaw Enforcement AgenciesRadar SurveillanceRadar Signal ProcessingInstrumentationAutomatic Target RecognitionSynthetic Aperture RadarDazzling ArrayComputer EngineeringRadar ApplicationSignal ProcessingRadar ImagingRadarSensorsRadar ScatteringRemote SensingTechnologyBomb Damage Assessment
The DoD has funded advanced technologies that excel at long‑range threats but are ineffective for close‑quarters urban combat, and existing law‑enforcement surveillance relies on line‑of‑sight sensors that cannot detect activity behind walls, foliage, corners, darkness, or fog. The paper aims to adapt DoD high‑tech capabilities into affordable tools for law‑enforcement agencies and demonstrates applications and unique phenomenology of material‑penetrating radar. A compact, low‑power radar, derived from DoD missile‑warhead fusing technology, exploits optimized radio waves that penetrate non‑metallic materials. The resulting radar can reveal objects inside walls, ceilings, floors, or behind doors and concrete walls.
The Department of Defense (DoD) has funded a dazzling array of 'high tech' solutions for many of the problems facing our military forces. Many of these 'solutions' have been effective for long range mass destruction but have not been applicable for the close-in hand-to-hand combat that we find in the streets. Our goal has been to convert 'high tech' DoD capabilities into cost effective tools to help law enforcement agencies do their jobs better. Surveillance systems presently used by law enforcement officers make extensive use of television, infrared and other line-of- sight surveillance hardware. However, these systems cannot tell what is happening on the other side of a wall, behind bushes, around the corner, in the dark or through a dense fog. A new sensor has been developed, based upon technology developed by the DoD for missile warhead fusing. This small, light weight, low power 'radar' is based upon the phenomena that optimized radio waves can penetrate non-metallic materials. This new surveillance capability can help provide information about what is in a wall, ceiling or floor or on the other side of a door or concrete wall. This paper discusses some applications to show how this radar works and some of the phenomenology which is unique to material penetrating radar systems.