<title>Ground-penetrating radar for buried mine detection</title>

Abstract

LLNL is developing an ultra-wideband, side-looking, ground-penetrating impulse radar system that can be mounted on an airborne platform for the purpose of locating buried mines. The radar system is presently mounted on an 1 8-meter boom. We have successfully imaged a minefield located at the Nevada Test Site. The minefield consists of real and surrogate mines of various materials and sizes placed in natural vegetation. Some areas have been cleared for non-cluttered studies. A technical description of the system will be presented, describing the wideband antennas, the video pulser, the receiver hardware, and the data acquisition system. The receiver and data acquisition hardware are off-the-shelf-components. The data was processed using LLNL-developed image reconstruction software, and has been registered against the ground truth data. Images showing clearly visible mines, surface reference markers, and ground clutter will be presented.