A resistive-vee dipole based polarimetric antenna

An antenna system is developed for ground penetrating radar (GPR) applications. It uses four, crossed, resistive-vee dipole (RVD) antennas to measure the transmission and reception of multiple polarizations. The RVD was selected because it has low self clutter, low radar cross section and wideband performance. The RVD is linearly polarized, but other polarizations can be synthesized through the use of two orthogonal RVDs to transmit or receive orthogonal field components. The antenna system can help to distinguish between different target types with its ability to transmit right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) fields and receive both left-hand circularly polarized (LHCP) and RHCP fields by comparing the received LHCP and RHCP signals. Numerical and preliminary experimental results show good target discrimination between linear and symmetric targets.