Numerical simulation of electromagnetic-wave propagation for land mine detection using GPR

The ground penetrating radar (GPR) has demonstrated good potential for the remote imaging of surface-laid or shallow-buried landmine-like objects (typically ~ 5-30 cm) and its use is currently receiving much attention. It has turned out to be a promising alternative technology for low dielectric contrast objects, a difficult detection situation that is often encountered in practise (e.g. detection of plastic mines in dry or sandy soils environment). This paper examines numerically the imaging of buried objects using ultrawide-band (UWB) time domain radar. We develop a simplified model to characterize the system, air-ground-buried targets-antennas and simulate the electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering at a bandwidth of 0.5-2.5 Ghz. All the elements need to be modelled simultaneously in order to obtain an accurate estimation of our radar performance and surface response to the incoming radar pulses. The final goal is to improve the detection rate of plastic antipersonnel mines, reducing the false alarm level. We show some simulated results in 2D and 3D assuming plane waves and afterwards we introduce a model for our GPR antennas to characterize the real source.