Comparison of Seismic Migration and Stripmap SAR Imaging methods for GPR for Landmine Detection

Various image reconstruction techniques used to image subsurface targets are reviewed. It is shown how some approximate wavefield inversion techniques: Stripmap SAR, Kirchhoff Migration (KM), and Frequency-Wavenumber Migration (F-K) are each developed by assuming different mathematical approximations and physical models for the wavefield scattering. The mathematical and physical model similarities are first delineated and it is shown that SAR is, computationally, almost identical to F-K migration. A plane wave interpretation of both SAR and F-K is used to show why they are so similar. Image reconstruction results for some of the methods, based on synthetic and experimental GPR data (SFCW), are then provided. Subjectively, the reconstructed images show very little difference, but computationally SAR (and, therefore, F-K migration) are much more efficient.