The use of onboard decimeter-band radar stations for humanitarian demining

Humanitarian demining is a pressing issue today. This paper examines various technical means used in engineer reconnaissance to detect mines and substantiates the need for radar support for humanitarian engineer reconnaissance. An airborne engineer reconnaissance radar system based on a side-looking P-band radar, intended for deployment on unmanned aerial vehicles, is proposed as the main information link. The physical principles of radar image formation using aperture synthesis are described. The application of the radar relief function in describing the radio-reflective properties of a surface and the use of the superposition principle in radar signal processing are demonstrated. The main mathematical expressions used in calculating radar images of a surface using the aperture synthesis method are presented, consisting of the application of correlation signal processing independently by the coordinates of the ground and slant ranges. The features of using the decimeter range of electromagnetic waves in constructing radar images for the purpose of detecting mines on various underlying surfaces are analyzed and a comparison with the centimeter range is made. The demonstrated advantages include a significant increase in the contrast of metal objects against the background of reflection from the underlying surface and an increase in the penetration depth into the underlying surface. Disadvantages are also identified, including increased requirements for the stability of the flight of the carrier, the need to increase the size of the aperture to achieve comparable detail and take into account the migration of range channels. The software architecture is demonstrated, comprising an onboard unit for acquiring radar images and a graphical interface for a ground-based automated operator-decipherer workstation for solving the problem of mine detection during humanitarian demining. A sample system and the results of its testing on various carriers, including quadcopter and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles, are presented.