Development of an ultra wide-band SAR for minefield detection

The UK Government is currently funding a Remote Minefield Detection System (REMIDS) technology demonstrator programme (TDP). This programme is being managed by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). The aim of this programme is to build and trial an airborne system capable of identifying and locating minefields. The focus of the programme is to detect fields of metallic or plastic anti-vehicle mines that are either shallow buried or on the surface. Two complementary sensors have been chosen for the technology demonstrator, these are a polarimetric infrared imager and an ultra wide-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This paper is concerned with the design of the ultra wide-band SAR sensor, for which Systems Engineering and Assessment (SEA) Ltd. are the prime contractor.