Radar Technology for Mine Detection

Much attention is being given to the challenge of detecting buried non-metallic mines and National and International programmes are underway to develop more effective detection and clearance systems. Reported results from the US national programmes on mine detection suggest that radar can outperform conventional metal detectors, which only respond to the metal content of a mine and hence are insensitive to minimum metal mines. Radar, and in particular ground penetrating radar, used in conjunction with other sensor arrays can result in an improved fused performance in terms of reduced false alarm rate. This paper reviews key aspects of the performance of radar as a sensor, in particular the system design, antenna characteristics, signal and image processing as well as detection performance. Examples of the radar images of mines and the factors that influence image quality are presented. Current demonstrator radar systems can detect buried AT mines with some confidence, but the reliable detection of AP mines will require further development of antennas, clutter rejection algorithms and target detection methods.