Ultrabroadband Tactical UAV Direction Finding Antenna Array

MetroLaser has demonstrated the feasibility of expediting the measurement of surfacevelocity profiles with laser Doppler vibrometers by two orders of magnitude overcommercial systems. This represents a significant breakthrough in the detection ofburied landmines with airborne acoustic methods as demonstrated by scientists at theUniversity of Mississippi.In Phase I we studied the technical feasibility of threemethods for increasing the data acquisition rate of LDV systems. Computer simulations,analytical calculations and laboratory experiments were performed to arrive at a systemarchitecture that would satisfy the high-speed measurement requirements associatedwith landmine detection. The most promising of these methods is the basis for theinstrument to be developed and fielded during Phase II. This innovative LDV instrumentwill enable the measurement of small ground velocities at rates that are two orders ofmagnitude faster than is presently possible. The instrument would initially measure aone-meter span from a standoff distance of two to six meters but it would be expandableto larger spans in the future. At the end of the Phase II program, we anticipate demonstratinghigh-speed land mine detection in a field test at a location selected by the Army.