Clutter Characterization for Down-Looking Ground Penetrating Radar Imaging
Abstract
This report investigates the impact of clutter in down-looking ground penetrating radar (GPR) imaging systems via numeric simulations. The system modeled here is equipped with an antenna array, moves along a synthetic aperture track, and is capable of producing 2- or 3-D images of the underground space. Particular attention is given to the antenna array design to minimize the number of radar channels while maintaining good image quality. A brief phenomenological description of the rough ground surface clutter is presented, followed by a more detailed characterization of the clutter produced by soil permittivity fluctuations modeled as a 3-D random process. The results of large-scale numeric simulations are summarized in terms of clutter mean power and target-to-clutter ratio as a function of image depth. These results show some remarkable similarities between the effects of rough surface and soil inhomogeneity clutter on underground GPR images. Another important outcome is the large improvement in performance of a 3-D imaging system as compared to the 2-D version.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1150877
Entities
People
- Traian Dogaru
Organizations
- United States Army