Full-Wave Modeling of Near-Field Radar Data for Planar Layered Media Reconstruction

A new near-field radar modeling approach for wave propagation in planar layered media is presented. The radar antennas are intrinsically modeled using an equivalent set of infinitesimal electric dipoles and characteristic, frequency-dependent, global reflection, and transmission coefficients. These coefficients determine through a plane wave decomposition wave propagation between the radar reference plane, point sources, and field points. The interactions between the antenna and layered medium are thereby inherently accounted for. The fields are calculated using 3-D Green's functions. We validated the model using an ultrawideband frequency-domain radar with a transmitting and receiving Vivaldi antenna operating in the range 0.8-4 GHz. The antenna characteristic coefficients are obtained from near- and far-field measurements over a copper plane. The proposed model provides unprecedented accuracy for describing near-field radar measurements collected over a water layer, the frequency-dependent electrical properties of which were described using the Debye model. Layer thicknesses could be retrieved through full-wave inversion. The proposed approach demonstrated great promise for nondestructive testing of planar materials and digital soil mapping using ground-penetrating radar.