Borehole Interferometric SAR : A preliminary study

The objective of borehole radar interferometry is to reconstruct subsurface structures (such as an orebody) in three dimensions, which in turn, will help in optimizing the design of mines. Synthetic aperture radar technology uses the reflected data from two or more antenna tracks and to convert interferogram phase difference to the corresponding height values. To study the potential of SAR technology in borehole environment we have considered the reflection between a homogeneous (ε_r=9) host rock and a perfectly reflecting surface such as a conductive orebody. Taking into consideration practical exploration borehole geometries and the high attenuation of RP signals in host rock, the boreholes are made non-parallel and the master antenna is kept 100 metre away from near the reflecting surface. The coherence value in slant range, simulated and expected DEM in both slant range and ground range, the error between simulated and expected values in slant range have been calculated. Future work involves the use of 3D vector model to convert the phase values into corresponding height values, multiple boreholes and layered medium EM wave propagation to reconstruct the subsurface