Development of linear/non-linear radar system

Modern ground warfare platforms are burdened with the critical need for escalating capabilities effectiveness in the face of prohibitive competition for platform size, weight, and power (SWAP). Traditionally, stand-alone sensor packages were developed singly, and treated as individual add-ons to already SWAP-burdened platforms; the inherent inefficiency of stand-alone capabilities can no longer be tolerated or treated as viable for modern applications. One critical application where this new truth is readily apparent is in the space of improvised explosive device (IED) detection. This small business innovation research (SBIR) topic enables the opportunity to mature sensor system development paradigms for the IED application by combining multiple sensor modalities into a single package, significantly reducing SWAP, simultaneous to advancing the overall effectiveness and refinement of two core technologies: ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and non-linear radar (NLR). The Phase I effort will: Establish performance, form factor, and application requirements; conceptually integrate two existing sensor technologies into a new combined MMGPR capability and evaluate gaps in the combined capability to be addressed; develop and evaluate candidate implementation architectures, hardware modules, and control elements; and perform specific analysis, simulation, and modeling to evaluate the feasibility of achieving the performance, form factor, and application requirements.