MIMO-Software Defined Radio based GPR System for Land Mine Detection

In this paper, a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) coherent transmit and receive Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system, totally software-defined, is presented. all its Tx/Rx parameters can be controlled by the software along with signal processing capability of digitized signals. The system is capable of transmitting and receiving signals over the band of 450 MHz to 6 GHz. To cover this wide band range of frequencies, Three Log Periodic Directive Antennas (LPDA`s) ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas are designed, fabricated and tested. These antennas can be switched using microwave switches. A software-defined and computer-controlled 8-inputs and 32-outputs antenna switching matrix is realized using 1×4 microwave switches. The proposed system can be considered as a non-invasive sensor to detect and image underground targets for various applications that includes detection of land mines, tunnels, bunkers, utility pipes and exploration of natural resources like oil, gas, etc.