Stepped-Frequency Ground-Penetrating Radar for Detection of Small Non-metallic Buried Objects

A monostatic amplitude and phase stepped-frequency radar approach have been proposed to detect small non-metallic buried anti-personnel (AP) mines. An M-56 AP-mine with a diameter of 54 mm and height of 40 mm, only, has been successfully detected and located in addition to small metallic mine-shaped objects. Two-dimensional probe-correction and addition signal processing are applied to the raw probe-data. The probe used in this experiment was an open-ended waveguide operating at S-band. The movements of the probe are controlled by two stepmotors via an RS-232 interface. The probe is connected to an HP8753C Network Analyzer through a 5 m long Sucoflex coaxial cable. The data are collected automatically using an HPIB interface. The collected data contains both the amplitude and phase information of the reflection coefficient. Data are measured at up to a maximum of 401 different frequencies at each measurement point using a mesh-grid with a resolution down to 1 mm by 1 mm. The size of the scan area is 1410 mm by 210 mm. Measurements have been performed on loamy soil containing a buried M-56, a non-metallic AP-mine, and various other mine-like objects made of solid plastic, brass, aluminum, steel, and wood. The presented results are based on probe-data measured at 100 different frequencies at each measurement point and a coarser mesh-grid of 10 mm by 10 mm, since it is found that less probe-data is needed. Our experiments show that even less amount of probe-data may be necessary.