GPR using an array antenna for landmine detection

Abstract

ABSTRACT We propose a new ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) methodology for buried land‐mine detection. A GPR system using an antenna array was used for common‐midpoint (CMP) data acquisition. This system uses an array of ten Vivaldi antennae and operates from 30 MHz to 6 GHz. The moveout of the CMP data was corrected and the data were stacked to suppress ground clutter. The system was tested in the laboratory and we showed that it images buried mine‐like targets with a high resolution. A model of a plastic land‐mine of Type‐72 was buried in soil consisting of a mixture of gravel and crushed rocks and could be detected by the proposed technique. CMP processing applied to the array signal effectively suppresses the clutter from rough ground surfaces and inhomogeneous soil. We found that the migration algorithm is effective in suppressing ground clutter, but it is even more effective if it is combined with the CMP technique.