A novel 3-D subsurface radar imaging technique

The problem of the formation of subsurface images using stand-off forward looking radar is by far more severe than that of forming the radar images in the free-space. A subsurface image needs to be accurately focused taking into account both the refraction and dispersion of the wavefield. This paper presents a novel imaging algorithm specially tailored for subsurface sensing. A simple and effective characterization technique for the retrieval of the dielectric permittivity is outlined. The proposed soil characterization and subsurface imaging techniques are validated experimentally. Results show that the geometric distortion in the subsurface images due to the refraction and dispersion of the wavefields is successfully corrected.