Synthetic, post-reception focusing in near-field radar

A separate paper by the author (see ibid., p.128-32, 1996) has developed the concept of searching for buried mines by means of a (probably bistatic) radar, near-field focusing onto all relevant 3D resolution cells (voxels) in turn. A specific example has been postulated, where each of two triplets of disc antennas searches a volume of 1 m×1.5 m×0.6 m with 5 cm 3D resolution, by focusing sequentially onto all 7300 resolution cells so defined (a total of 14400 for the two triplets). This a realistic practical solution, within the state of the current art. However, it goes against the grain to have so many overlapping transmissions into the same volume, each restricted to examining a single voxel. Hence the author puts forward a proposal for using the transmitted power much more efficiently. This “synthetic focusing” radar is believed to be a new concept, although it shares some features with “synthetic aperture” radar. It also has applications to some conventional, far-field radar scenarios.