A new densely-sampled Ground Penetrating Radar array for landmine detection

Clearing large civilian areas from anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions is a difficult problem. The FP7-funded research project `TIRAMISU: Toolbox Implementation for Removal of Anti-personnel Mines Sub-munitions and UXO' aims to develop a global toolbox that will cover the main mine action activities, from the survey of large areas to the actual disposal of explosive hazards to mine risk education. For close-in detection a number of tools are being developed, including a new densely-sampled down-looking Ground Penetrating Radar array. It is a vehicle-based imaging array of air-launched antennas, endowed with real-time signal processing for the close-in detection (~0.4 m stand-off) of landmines and UXOs buried within ~0.5 m deep soil layer. Automatic target detection capabilities and integration with a partner's metal detector array onto a suitable autonomous vehicle will increase field data productivity and human safety. In particular, a novel antenna design has been studied to allow dense packing and stand-off operation while providing adequate penetration and resolution in almost all kind of terrains. Great effort is also being devoted to the development of effective signal processing algorithms suited for real-time implementation. This paper presents the general system architecture and the first experimental results from laboratory and in-house tests.