Mine detection with a forward-looking ground-penetrating synthetic aperture radar

In order to detect buried land mines in clutter, Planning Systems Incorporated has adapted its Ground Penetrating Synthetic Aperture Radar (GPSAR) technology for forward-looking applications. The Forward Looking GPSAR (FLGPSAR), is a wide-band stepped-frequency radar operating over frequencies from 400 MHz to 4 GHz. The FLGPSAR system is based on a modified John Deere E-Gator turf vehicle that is capable of remote control. Custom Archimedean spiral antennas are used to populate the GPSAR array. These antennas are designed and built by PSI and have exceptional broad-band radiation characteristics. The FLGSPAR system has been used to detect plastic and metallic landmines at U.S. Army test facilities and at PSI's engineering center in Long Beach Mississippi. Multi-look SAR processing has been shown to significantly improve the quality of FLGPSAR imagery.