Results from a forward-looking GPR mine detection system

IN previous papers, we reported on the high-resolution ground-penetrating radar (GPR) system designed, built, and deployed by SRI under contract to the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate at Fort Belvoir. This fully- polarimetric 300 to 3000 MHz stepped frequ3nyc radar is configured to act as a forward-looking synthetic aperture system with resolution approaching 5 cm. The system is being used as a test bed in a program to define the optimal radar parameters and supporting image processing needed for the efficient standoff detection of buried and surface-laid antitank mines. In this paper, we report in detail on the latest test result from the recent field demonstration performed at a government test site. The test site had been carefully designed to produce statistically significant results, by employing many samples of a few representative metal and plastic mine types, buried at several depths. Statistics for baseline performance will be presented for both metal and plastic, buried and surface mines. Improvements in performance above the baseline have been realized by using EM modeling results to tailor polarimetric, spectral, and matched-filter processing techniques. These efforts are reviewed and the results are presented.