A Novel Direction-Finding Algorithm for Directional Borehole Radar

A directional borehole radar system has been developed for the purpose of 3-D imaging of subsurface targets in a single-hole measurement. The radar system is equipped with a uniform circular array consisting of four dipole antennas as a receiver in order to realize azimuth bearing sensitivity. We propose a new direction-finding (DF) algorithm that is suitable for directional borehole radar measurement, and we apply this algorithm to actual field measurement data. This algorithm is based on the Adcock DF antenna principle where the complex time series (analytic signal) expression, the optimization, and the filtering procedure are incorporated to provide more accurate estimation. The algorithm was first verified in a transmission measurement in boreholes with a cross-hole configuration (15 m apart from each other) by estimating a direction of the incident wave from a transmitter to the receiver. Finally, the algorithm was applied to single-hole measurement data to demonstrate the ability to detect the 3-D location of a subsurface tunnel which was located 5.5 m from the borehole. The result showed fairly good agreement with the actual location of the tunnel, i.e., to an azimuth estimation error of within 10deg.