SENSORS FOR AIRBORNE DETECTION AND DISCRIMINATION OF BURIED LAND MINES

THE AVAILABILITY OF AIRBORNE SENSORS CAPABLE OF DETECTING BURIED AND SURFACE MINEFIELDS FROM ALTITUDES OF 100 FEET, OR HIGHER, WOULD BE A SIGNIFICANT ASSET TO U.S. DEFENSE FORCES. THIS SYSTEM WOULD NOT ONLY IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR FORCES, BUT ALSO REDUCE MAN AND MATERIAL LOSSES WHICH ARE OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE IN THE FUTURE DOWNSCALED ARMY. THE POSED SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM IS TO UTILIZE NOVEL GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) WITH SUITABLE SIGNAL PROCESSING AND TARGET DISCRIMINATION ALGORITHMS. MWT PROPOSES TO EXPLOIT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES TO SORT THROUGH AND EVALUATE THE LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA, AND GRAPHICALLY PRESENT THE RESULTS TO THE OPERATOR. WE BELIEVE THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WITHIN THE STATE-OF-THE-ART, AND AT LOW COST. THE SELECTED WAVEFORM IS FMCW, AND THE QUASI-MONOSTATIC ANTENNA ARRAY CAN EITHER BE MOUNTED ON THE AIRCRAFT FOR FORWARD OR SIDE LOOKING SCAN FIELD-OF-VIEW (FOV). A CASE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO BE STUDIED IS THE SIDE LOOKING FIXED BEAM WHICH UTILIZES AIRCRAFT FORWARD MOTION TO SCAN THE BATTLEFIELD. THIS CASE HAS NO DOPPLER COMPONENT DUE TO AIRCRAFT MOTION, AND SIMPLIFIES THE SIGNAL PROCESSING PROCESS. POLARIZATION AND COMPLEX NATURAL RESONANCES ARE VIEWED AS STRONG DISCRIMINATION CANDIDATES FOR MINE DETECTION AGAINST BACKGROUND CLUTTER. GENERATION OF A 2-D FIELD MAP AND APPLICATION OF GREY SCALE MAPPING IS ANOTHER POSSIBLE DISCRIMINATION TOOL TO BE RESEARCHED. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - MWT IS SENSITIVE TO THE GROWING NEED OF AN ADVANCED SENSORY INSTRUMENT WHICH WILL ACCURATELY DETECT AND LOCATE UNDERGROUND PIPES AND GAS LEAKS WITHIN UNDERGROUND PIPING SYSTEMS. THIS INSTRUMENT WOULD FIND MAJOR APPLICATIONS WITHIN THE GAS OR PETROLEUM INDUSTRY. OTHER REQUIREMENTS ARE EMERGING WITHIN THE UTILITIES INDUSTRY TO ACCURATELY LOCATE AND CLASSIFY CABLES AND OTHER BURIED ASSETS.