Forward-Looking GPR Imaging with Near-Optimal 3-D Synthetic Array

In this paper, we propose an Elevation-Radial scanned Synthetic Aperture Radar (E-RadSAR) for forward-looking ground penetrating radar (GPR) imaging. The E-RadSAR exploits the advantages of both RadSAR and Elevation-Circular SAR (E-CSAR) by utilizing the SAR technique in the cross- and down-range directions for signal acquisition. It could be implemented with fewer antennas compared to the RadSAR but provides higher spatial resolutions than that of E-CSAR. These features make it very attractive for space-and/or cost-constrained imaging applications, for instance, the GPR systems used for tunnel boring machines (TBM). However, the E-RadSAR synthesizes a three-dimensional (3-D) array by taking measurements in a volume, which makes the traditional sampling criterion no longer applicable for its sampling strategy design. To tackle 3-D (synthetic) array sampling/design, we formulate it as a sensor selection problem and suggest an efficient selection algorithm, i.e., modified clustered FrameSense (modified CFS). Then it is used for 3-D array sampling design. The imaging performances of the resultant near-optimal 3-D arrays are demonstrated through numerical simulations.