A New Ground-Based SAR Technique for Roadway Characterization and Deterioration Inspection

This paper proposes a new sliding off-nadir Ground-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar configuration for roadway inspection. The method uses a bistatic SAR configuration to address the limitations of ground-penetrating radar in the along-track direction. A horizontal synthetic aperture provides along-track resolution, whereas opposite-side bistatic acquisitions permit to capture scattering mecanisms that are relevant for underground material inspection. An experiment is performed with real asphalt samples and artificially generated horizontal and vertical cracks. Results demonstrate the potential of the proposed sliding bistatic SAR mode as a valuable alternative to classical ground penetrating radar for roadway monitoring.