Imaging model of forward-looking ground penetrating radar with split-aperture transmitting configuration

In this paper, a novel antenna configuration for the forward-looking ground penetrating radar is studied. In the novel configuration, the two transmitting antennas are located at two ends of the receiving array, which is referred to as the split-aperture transmitting (SAT) configuration. Firstly, a modified back-projection (MBP) image formation is proposed according to the imaging geometry of the SAT configuration. And then the analytical azimuth resolution expression of the SAT configuration is derived. Based on the analytical form of the azimuth resolution, the relationship of target scattering information between received raw echo and focused imagery is obtained. The theoretic calculation and analysis in this paper are validated by the field data of the forward-looking ground penetrating radar with the SAT configuration developed by the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT).