Multistatic Radar System - MRS

Single channel impulse radars have been in operation for several years for ground penetrating surveys. Usually the radar antenna is kept very close to the surface in order to get an efficient coupling to the ground. This is important when the radio wave absorbtion is strong and the desired penetration is deep. In some cases it has been possible to elevate the antenna and still get a good result. Such applications is the airborne measurement of the equivalent water content in the snow cover and the thickness of freshwater ice. The maximum measured impulse radar penetration we have obtained is 575 m which was obtained in glacial ice in Greenland (Jonsson & Ulriksen 1988). A fundamental problem when operating a ground penetrating radar in the frequency range 80-1000 MHz is that the antennas must be electrically small to be physically manageable. Thus the directivity is always poor. For this reason no results with imaging side looking airborne impulse radars have been presented. Such imagery is very desireable since it would mean the advent of the true color airborne radar image.