Estimation of ground surface topography and velocity model by SAR-GPR and its application to landmine detection

The height variation of ground surface and incorrect velocity will affect imaging processing of landmine. To eliminate these effects, ground surface topography and velocity model are needed. For effective detection of landmines, a stepped-frequency continuous-wave array antenna ground penetrating radar system, called SAR-GPR, was developed. Based on multi-offset common middle point (CMP) data acquired by SAR-GPR, we describe a velocity model estimation method using velocity spectrum technique. Also after pre-stack migration, the ground surface can be identified clearly. To compensate landmine imaging for the effect created by height variation, the ground surface displacement, a kind of static correction technique, is used based on the information of ground surface topography and velocity model. To solve the problem of incorrect velocity, we present a continuous variable root-mean-square velocity based on the velocity model. The velocity is used in normal moveout correction (NMO) to adjust the time delay of multi-offset data, and also applied to migration for reconstruction of landmine image. After the application of ground surface topography and velocity model to data processing, we could obtain good landmine images in experiment.