Experimental Investigations on Microwave Radar Imaging of Buried Objects

In this work, detailed investigations on the microwave radar imaging and remote sensing of metallic and dielectric objects hidden beneath the sand surface using both time and frequency domain measurement data are carried out. To this end, a microwave imaging system comprising of RF antennas, an automated scanning setup, the network analyzer and other microwave components is established. The imaging system is properly calibrated so as to nullify any reflection from the background medium. The measured scattering data are processed using appropriate algorithms in order to obtain the 2D microwave image of the test area containing the buried objects. A detailed quantitative analysis of various parameters which affect the quality of subsurface imaging such as the frequency of operation, effect of antenna aperture, directivity etc. is performed. Numerous experiments using different types of antennas in various frequency bands are carried out to determine the optimum parameter for the subsurface microwave radar imaging and remote sensing.