TY - JOUR
T1 - Antenna Design Considerations for Ground Penetrating Radar Landmine Detection
AU - Daniels, David J.
AU - Van Verre, Wouter
AU - Podd, Frank
AU - Peyton, Anthony J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 1963-2012 IEEE.
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - The performance of very short-range radar systems, such as ground penetrating radar for antipersonnel landmine detection, is critically dependent on the impulse characteristics of the antennas that are used. Typically, a pair of individual antennas is used in the radar, one for transmit and one for receive. These antennas are usually closely spaced for reasons of both portability and close in detectability. A variety of design techniques are used to achieve their wideband performance in terms of return loss, isolation, radiation patterns, polarization, and impulse formation. Not only the antenna elements but also their surrounds form the overall antenna structure and this ensemble becomes integral to the antenna performance and design process. Both the antenna and the surrounding structure can create late time signals or time sidelobes, which are in effect a form of self-generated clutter. Minimizing the duration of the antenna impulse response assists in reducing self-generated clutter and achieving optimum radar performance. This article considers the impact of the antenna on the system performance of the radar and shows that the clutter performance of the antenna can be the prime metric of system detection rather than the noise figure, given that the self-clutter often exceeds the latter.
AB - The performance of very short-range radar systems, such as ground penetrating radar for antipersonnel landmine detection, is critically dependent on the impulse characteristics of the antennas that are used. Typically, a pair of individual antennas is used in the radar, one for transmit and one for receive. These antennas are usually closely spaced for reasons of both portability and close in detectability. A variety of design techniques are used to achieve their wideband performance in terms of return loss, isolation, radiation patterns, polarization, and impulse formation. Not only the antenna elements but also their surrounds form the overall antenna structure and this ensemble becomes integral to the antenna performance and design process. Both the antenna and the surrounding structure can create late time signals or time sidelobes, which are in effect a form of self-generated clutter. Minimizing the duration of the antenna impulse response assists in reducing self-generated clutter and achieving optimum radar performance. This article considers the impact of the antenna on the system performance of the radar and shows that the clutter performance of the antenna can be the prime metric of system detection rather than the noise figure, given that the self-clutter often exceeds the latter.
KW - Antennas
KW - ground penetrating radar (GPR)
KW - ring down
KW - ultrawideband (UWB) radar
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123386677&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TAP.2022.3142309
DO - 10.1109/TAP.2022.3142309
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123386677
SN - 0018-926X
VL - 70
SP - 4273
EP - 4286
JO - IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
JF - IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
IS - 6
ER -