Advanced MIMO Radar Development for Geophysical Imaging Applications

用于地球物理成像应用的先进 MIMO 雷达开发

• 批准号: EP/K00767X/1
• 负责人: Paul Brennan
• 金额: $ 38.9万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FK00767X%2F1
• 关键词: Advanced; MIMO; Radar; Development; Geophysical

Mass movement flows are a significant natural hazard throughout the world and yet our ability to predict their behaviour and plan for their effects is limited, in part, by our lack of understanding of their flow dynamics and lack of detailed experimental data, particularly of sub-surface movements. Similarly, polar ice shelf depletion, particularly in Antarctica, is a significant and increasing contributor to climate change and sea level rise, but is difficult to readily measure with conventional techniques.This research, involving collaboration between electronic engineers at UCL and geophysicists at the University of Sheffield, aims to develop and deploy a sophisticated, versatile, modular phased array radar system that is able to form detailed 2 or 3 dimensional images of the dense flow in snow avalanches, by penetrating the powder cloud, which is not possible using optical instruments. This technology can also perform mm-precision cross-sectional imaging through antarctic ice shelves to monitor changes, in the basal layer depth in particular, over periods of seasons or years. This will provide invaluable new experimental data to inform the flow laws in the case of mass movement flows and models governing ocean circulation and its impact on ice shelf depletion in the case of ice shelf monitoring.At present in snow avalanches, opto-electronic instruments can provide flow information at a single point in the dense flow only. For other flows such as pyroclastic density currents there are almost no data available. Prior to our recent collaboration, Doppler radar for snow avalanches and Strombolian eruptions provided crude images of the flow speed, averaged over 50 m and only giving an overall measure of the velocity magnitude (with no information on direction). Our instrument reduces the averaging distance to only 1 m so that, for the first time, information on individual blocks in the flow can be obtained and assessed in relation to their significance for the overall flow dynamics. In addition, a MIMO phased array approach will be adopted that will provide high azimuth resolution, of the order of 1 degree, to yield both range and azimuth resolution of these flows, providing a wealth of new data for researchers in this area. For Antarctic ice shelf imaging, satellite radar imaging is unable to offer high precision estimates of ice shelf depth due to the large stand-off distance, and no precision portable ground penetrating radar instruments are currently available This is addressed by means of a phase-sensitive FMCW processing technique recently developed at UCL will be adopted to provide mm-resolution of features within the ice shelf, including the basal layer, and with a 2D cross-sectional imaging capability. This will produce data of unrivalled clarity and precision in this application.The new experimental data provided by these instruments will lead to improved models for these processes by constraining the coefficients to reasonable values and perhaps rejecting some proposed laws outright, resulting in more accurate modelling of geophysical mass flows and of the influence of ocean circulation in ice shelf depletion. In turn, this will improve risk analyses and the effect and design of defensive structures. The expected outcome of this study will considerably improve our understanding of flow movement and polar ice shelf depletion and sustain and boost the status of UK research in these areas to internationally-leading standards.

大规模流动是世界各地的一种重大自然灾害，但我们预测其行为和规划其影响的能力有限，部分原因是我们缺乏对其流动动力学的了解，缺乏详细的实验数据，特别是关于地下运动的数据。同样，极地冰架的消耗，特别是在南极洲，是气候变化和海平面上升的一个重要且日益增加的因素，但很难用传统技术进行测量。这项研究涉及伦敦大学学院的电子工程师和谢菲尔德大学的海洋学家之间的合作，旨在开发和部署一种复杂的，多功能的，模块化相控阵雷达系统，能够通过穿透粉末云形成雪崩中密集流的详细2或3维图像，这是使用光学仪器无法实现的。这项技术还可以通过南极冰架进行毫米精度的横截面成像，以监测季节或年份的变化，特别是基底层深度的变化。这将提供宝贵的新的实验数据，在物质流动的情况下为流动定律提供信息，在冰架监测的情况下为海洋环流模型及其对冰架消耗的影响提供信息，目前在雪崩中，光电仪器只能提供密集流动中单一点的流动信息。对于其他流动，如火山碎屑密度流，几乎没有可用的数据。在我们最近的合作之前，用于雪崩和Strombolian喷发的多普勒雷达提供了流速的粗略图像，平均超过50米，仅给出了速度大小的总体测量（没有方向信息）。我们的仪器将平均距离降低到仅1米，因此，第一次可以获得流中各个块的信息，并根据其对整体流动动力学的重要性进行评估。此外，将采用MIMO相控阵方法，该方法将提供1度量级的高方位分辨率，以产生这些流的距离和方位分辨率，为该领域的研究人员提供丰富的新数据。对于南极冰架成像，由于距离太远，卫星雷达成像无法提供高精度的冰架深度估计，目前也没有高精度的便携式探地雷达仪器。并具有2D横截面成像能力。这些仪器提供的新的实验数据将改进这些过程的模型，将系数限制在合理的数值上，也许完全否定某些拟议的定律，从而更准确地模拟地球物理物质流动和海洋环流对冰架消耗的影响。反过来，这将改善风险分析以及防御结构的效果和设计。这项研究的预期成果将大大提高我们对水流运动和极地冰架枯竭的理解，并将英国在这些领域的研究水平提高到国际领先水平。

项目成果

Range migration compensation in static digital-beamforming-on-receive radar

静态数字接收波束成形雷达中的距离偏移补偿

• DOI: 10.1049/iet-rsn.2014.0355
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation
• 作者: Brennan P

Wideband T-squared patch antenna with reduced cross-polarization

• DOI: 10.1109/apwc.2015.7300176
• 发表时间: 2015-09
• 期刊: 2015 IEEE-APS Topical Conference on Antennas and Propagation in Wireless Communications (APWC)
• 作者: M. A. Tanha;P. Brennan

Practical implementation of a 16-channel C-band phased array radar receiver

• DOI: 10.1109/radarconf.2015.7411856
• 发表时间: 2015-10
• 期刊: 2015 IEEE Radar Conference
• 作者: M. Ash;M. A. Tanha;P. Brennan;A. Kohlert;J. McElwaine;C. Keylock

Radar Altimetry as a Robust Tool for Monitoring the Active Lava Lake at Erebus Volcano, Antarctica

• DOI: 10.1029/2018gl079177
• 发表时间: 2018-09-16
• 期刊: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Peters, N. J.;Oppenheimer, C.;Kyle, P.
• 通讯作者: Kyle, P.

Looking inside an avalanche using a novel radar system

使用新型雷达系统观察雪崩内部

• DOI: 10.1111/gto.12033
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Geology Today
• 作者: Keylock C