SGER: A New Method for Landmine Detection and Minefield Mapping

SGER：地雷探测和雷区测绘的新方法

• 批准号: 0225424
• 负责人: Gary Brown
• 金额: $ 6.43万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-06-15 至 2004-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0225424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; New; Method; Landmine; Detection

0225424BrownThis proposal is being submitted under the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER)program and it focuses on answering critical feasibility questions pertaining to a newtechnique for the detection and location of buried landmines and unexploded ordnance. Thesubject technique comprises a standoff, ground based, pulsed radar that launcheselectromagnetic energy into the Norton surface wave mode of propagation. The Nortonsurface wave travels along the air-ground surface at the speed of light in a vacuum andexponentially decays into the ground due to the losses in the ground. By selecting thefrequency properly, sufficient energy will be scattered by the landmine back along thesame propagation path and then received by the radar. This energy is usually insufficientto be above the system noise level so return pulse averaging is carried out using coherenttechniques. If N return pulses are averaged coherently the signal-to-noise power ratiowill increase by a factor of N rendering the signal scattered from the landminedetectable. Location of the mine is achieved by using the pulse width to accomplishresolution in the range coordinate and the radar antenna to achieve resolution in theazimuth angle. In order to achieve area coverage and the best possible angular resolutionclose to the antenna, it is proposed to simultaneously employ both beam steering and nearfield focusing techniques. The critical study, to establish feasibility, is thedetermination of the highest operating frequency for which the Norton surface wave canpropagate on the surface and penetrate sufficiently deep to detect antipersonnel andantitank mines. It is also proposed to develop the appropriate radar range equation forthe Norton surface wave, investigate techniques for maximizing the coupling of the radarantenna to the Norton surface wave, determine the variation of soil conductivity and theradar cross section values for typical nonferrous landmines, and investigate the maximumrange and angle resolution or the acceptable frequencies of operation. Having answeredthese questions, it should be possible to establish the viability of such a radar subjectonly to the need to compute the effects of surface roughness and buried debris on the minescattered signal strength, i.e., the low signal-to-clutter ratio problem.

0225424布朗的提案是根据探索性研究（SGER）计划的小额赠款提交的，它侧重于回答与探测和定位埋在地下的地雷和未爆炸弹药的新技术有关的关键可行性问题。该主题技术包括一个远距离，地面，脉冲雷达发射电磁能量到诺顿表面波传播模式。诺顿表面波在真空中以光速沿着气-地界面传播，由于在地面中的损耗，它以指数衰减进入地面。通过适当地选择频率，足够的能量将被地雷沿沿着相同的传播路径散射回来，然后被雷达接收。这种能量通常不受系统噪声水平的影响，因此使用相干技术进行返回脉冲平均。如果对N个返回脉冲进行相干平均，则信噪比将增加N倍，从而使从地雷散射的信号可检测。利用脉宽在距离坐标上提高分辨力，利用雷达天线在方位角上提高分辨力，实现对水雷的定位。为了实现区域覆盖和最佳的角分辨率接近天线，它被提议同时采用波束转向和近场聚焦技术。确定可行性的关键研究是确定诺顿表面波能在表面传播并穿透足够深以探测杀伤人员地雷和反坦克地雷的最高工作频率。本文还建议为诺顿表面波建立适当的雷达距离方程，研究使雷达天线与诺顿表面波耦合最大化的技术，确定土壤电导率的变化和典型有色金属地雷的雷达截面值，并研究最大距离和角度分辨率或可接受的工作频率。回答了这些问题后，应该可以确定这种雷达的可行性，只需计算表面粗糙度和掩埋碎片对地雷散射信号强度的影响，即，低信号杂波比的问题。