Early developments in ground-probing radar at ERA Technology Ltd.

A survey of the developments in ground-probing radar technology undertaken by the team at ERA Technology between 1980 and 1985 is presented. These span all of the contributing areas of technology including hardware, software and field experience. Radars of advanced design with wide dynamic ranges, high resolution and capable of much higher data rates than previous systems have been built. They incorporate important developments in antennas, pulse generators and receiver design. The use of digital circuitry wherever possible has allowed great flexibility in the design, allowing signal processing to be readily included in real-time systems. A hierarchy of software has been implemented ranging from simple detection procedures to advanced target recognition algorithms. Ground-probing radars have been operated in a wide range of conditions for the detection of plastic mines, the inspection of civil engineering structures and the assessment of mineral resources.