A new ultrawide-bandwidth dielectric-rod antenna for ground-penetrating radar applications

A new ultrawide-bandwidth dielectric-rod antenna is presented with its application in detecting shallow targets, such as antipersonnel (AP) mines. The lowest hybrid mode is launched and guided along a circular-dielectric waveguide. The end of the waveguide is tapered to a point where electromagnetic waves are radiated out with field behavior similar to that radiated from a Hertzian dipole in the forward direction. The low antenna clutter and weak antenna-ground interaction are two unique features. Its near-field radiation properties are investigated by directly probing the fields and by numerical simulation with a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique. Both measurement and numerical simulation results are presented for the detection of buried AP mines using a prototype dielectric-rod antenna operated at a frequency range from 1 to 6 GHz.