SBIR PHASE I: Electronic Beam Steering for Ground Probing Radar

SBIR 第一阶段：地面探测雷达电子波束控制

• 批准号: 9561190
• 负责人: Scott Thompson
• 金额: $ 4.88万
• 依托单位: ChT Engineering Systems
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-03-01 至 1996-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9561190&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; PHASE; Electronic; Beam; Steering

9561190 Thompson This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will attempt to substantially improve ground probing radar (GPR) by providing beam steering capability to existing GPR systems. Ground-probing radar is a proven technology for the investigation of structures and targets in the subsurface. Existing GPR systems utilize a method (referred to as linear profiling) of dragging the transmitter along a surveillance path and gathering reflection time data to detect dielectric interfaces in the subsurface. The system to be developed in this project will sequentially trigger a linear array of transmitter antenna elements to form a single imaging beam from coherent superpositions of the element transmissions to provide beam steering for wider transmitter coverage, greater depth penetration at high frequencies (100 to 500 MHz), and higher probing resolution. These improvements are also expected to permit ground probing from a mobile platform which will greatly reduce costs of gathering areal data. Due to low antenna cost (of those designed by TWS engineers), the system can be permanently affixed to areas requiring periodic monitoring to detect potentially hazardous movements in the earth's surface (such as underground mines) at a greatly reduced cost. Preliminary development of each task will be performed simultaneously by the principal and co-principal investigators during the first 3 months of the proposed project. The results of each task will then be evaluated to develop a single unit for testing during the second half of the project. Testing of the GPR system will be performed in the field using the natural laboratory of the Black Hills of South Dakota to determine beam steering accuracy of the improved system. The transmission field will be measured directly after it has interacted with earth materials. Receiving antennas will be placed to determine the resultant field from the transmitting antennas. During beam steering, it is anticipated that sensors placed i n target locations will receive strong signals as the imaging beam is aimed in their directions while those in areas outside the steered beam will receive weak signals. The results of Phase I will be used to develop and test a commercially marketable GPR system during the Phase II effort. This GPR system represents an innovative approach that will improve and broaden the application of GPR to near-surface earth exploration. Applications of this technology include location of underground utilities, static monitoring of key underground structures to predict failure, subsurface fluid-front migration that may be associated with environmental concerns, multiphase groundwater flow and contaminant transport in geomaterials, soil structure interaction, and location of hazardous waste containers - particularly those constructed of dielectric materials for which an abundance of data is necessary for detection and identification. When employed as a mobile platform, the system would greatly reduce the cost of data acquisition for areal targets while enhancing data quality. The system will be designed to enhance to existing commercial GPR systems. Its low-cost fixed antennas will add to its market potential because they can be thought of as "consumables."

9561190汤普森这个小型企业创新研究阶段I项目将尝试通过为现有GPR系统提供横梁转向能力来大大改善地面探测雷达（GPR）。 地面雷达是对地下结构和靶标的研究的验证技术。 现有的GPR系统利用一种方法（称为线性分析）沿监视路径拖动发射器并收集反射时间数据来检测地下的介电接口。 该项目中要开发的系统将依次触发线性阵列的发射器天线元件，从元素传输的一致叠加中形成单个成像光束，从而为更宽的发射器覆盖率，更大的深度穿透在高频（100至500 MHz）（100至500 MHz）以及更高的探测分辨率方面提供光束转向。 预计这些改进还可以从移动平台进行地面探测，这将大大降低收集面积数据的成本。 由于天线成本低（由TWS工程师设计的），该系统可以永久固定在需要定期监测的区域，以大大降低成本，以检测地球表面（例如地下地雷）的潜在危险运动。 在拟议项目的前三个月中，主要和联合主管研究人员将同时执行每个任务的初步发展。 然后，将评估每个任务的结果，以开发一个在项目的后半部分进行测试的单个单元。 GPR系统的测试将使用南达科他州黑山的天然实验室在现场进行，以确定改进的系统的光束转向精度。 传输场与地球材料相互作用后将直接测量。 接收天线将被放置，以确定从传输天线的产场。 在光束转向过程中，预计将目标位置放置的传感器将接收强信号，因为成像光束的瞄准范围是在其方向上，而转向梁外部的区域将接收弱信号。 第一阶段的结果将用于在II阶段工作期间开发和测试可商业销售的GPR系统。 该GPR系统代表了一种创新的方法，它将改善和扩大GPR在近地面探索中的应用。 该技术的应用包括地下公用事业的位置，对可能与环境问题，多相地下水流量以及地质材料中的多相地下水流动以及污染物相互作用的污染物相关的关键地下结构的静态监控，地下流体迁移，污染物相互作用以及危险浪费容器的位置 - 尤其是识别材料的危险材料的位置，这些材料是必不可少的。 当用作移动平台时，该系统将大大降低面积目标的数据获取成本，同时提高数据质量。 该系统将旨在增强现有商业GPR系统。 其低成本的固定天线将增加其市场潜力，因为它们可以被视为“消耗品”。