Detection of buried objects using reflected GNSS signals

Abstract

The use of reflected Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals for sensing the Earth has been growing rapidly in recent years. This technique is founded on the basic principle of detecting GNSS signals after they have been reflected off the Earth's surface and using them to determine the properties of the reflecting surface remotely. This is the so-called GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) technique. In this paper, a new application regarding the detection of metallic buried objects is analyzed and it is validated through several experimental campaigns. Although the penetration depth of GNSS signals into the ground is not optimal and depends on the soil moisture, GNSS signals can likely interact approximately with the first 10 cm of the ground and therefore can be reflected back by any metallic object buried on the first terrain layer. A very light and low-cost GNSS receiver prototype based on a software-defined radio approach was developed. This receiver can be used as a payload on board small drones or unmanned aerial systems to detect metallic objects (mines or other explosive devices). A signal processing tool based on an open-loop GNSS signal acquisition strategy was developed. The results of two experiments which show the possibility of using GNSS-R signals to detect buried metallic objects and to provide an estimate of their dimensions are discussed.

Passive Bistatic Radar Using Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Signal for Subsurface Target Detection

“…where m = fI/Δf is an integer bigger than 0. It can be learned that, since 01 ML   , m cannot be estimated by (6). In such a case, Fourier transform may make each sub-carrier locate at incorrect frequency bin, introducing negative influences on the following processing as the prior knowledge of the carriers are all obtained according to the ISDB-T standard.…”

“…In this research, subsurface target detection, which is commonly realized by using ground penetrating radar (GPR) techniques [4][5], is considered to be carried out by using the PBR technique. Previously, with GNSS signal (1.5 GHz) and WiFi signal (2.4 GHz), subsurface targets have been successfully detected by PBR, as presented in [6] and [7], respectively. As we know, the rule of thumb for subsurface detection is that: the stronger signal with a lower frequency normally has a deeper penetration capability.…”

Aerial and Under-water Dronal Communication: Potentials, Issues and Vulnerabilities

“…The components of this system include two IR sensors, an RGB camera integrated with laser illuminator and a radar. Paper [49] introduces GNSS 141 reflectometry (GNSS-R) which uses reflected GNSS signals to determine the properties of the object on Earth that reflected these signals.…”

Dual-Port Reflectometry Technique: Charge identification in nanoscaled single-electron transistors

“…today, it is widely used in a variety of applications, ranging from the detection of faulty wires in cables [1] and objects buried in the ground [2] to soil moisture detectors [3] and the measurement of dielectric properties of blood [4]. Recently, one important application of this technique, which requires a very small amount of applied power, was developed for the characterization of electronic nanostructures [5].…”