SBIR-STTR Award

A simple, rugged, and novel forward- looking, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is proposed for mapping terrain variations in front of a countermine vehicle system for control of mine-clearing plow depth. Antennasteering is not required. Range resolution is obtained with a steppedfrequency waveform and accurate terrain elevation relative to the vehicle is obtained with the aperture generated by the vehicle's forward motion. High quality SAR imaging is possible in the presence of severemotion irregularities because of a reliable, high accuracy, computationally efficient, auto-focus / autonomous-motion-compensation technique developed by GORCA Technologies (GT) to focus data in the presence of severe motion irregularities without the uuse of INS, GPS, nor any of the external data source. GT has successfully imaged F-15 radar datacollected during a 4g maneuver, and forward-looking synthetic-aperture sonar data (for shallow-water mine avoidance). GT is currently building a tiny mm-wave sensor prototype for side-looking SAR imaging from a small UAV. Phase I will include experiments with the microSAR(tm) equipment mounted on a test vehicle traveling over rough terrain. The data will be processed to obtain accurate elevation estimates 10 meters ahead of the sensor, and the Phase II real-time terrain-mapping plow-control system will be defined.

Benefits:
Mine clearing operations via a remotely piloted plow vehicle such as the drive-by-wire Grizzly requires information to control plow depth under all visibility conditions. This sensor can also be used in civilian mine clearing, and in earth and snow moving equipment. A similar sensor could provide look- ahead terrain data for an active suspension system in an off-road military vehicle or a civilian luxury, sports-utility, or emergency medical vehicle.