Theoretical and experimental investigations of a ground-based high-resolution SAR for buried object detection

Many countries face the problem of land mines and unexploded ordnance contaminated land sections which present a significant risk to the civilian population. The detection and subsequent clearance of these explosive hazardous substances is therefore extremely important and necessary. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a suitable tool and is considered as a complementing sensor since nearly two decades. However, most GPRs operate in very close distance to ground in a rather punctual method of operation. In contrast, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a technique allowing fast and laminar stand-off investigation of an area. In this paper the final radar hardware setup and first railway based measurements are described.