BoomSAR
US Army UWB SAR radar
The boomSAR is a mobile ultra-wideband synthetic aperture radar (UWB SAR) system designed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in the mid-1990s to detect buried landmines and IEDs. Mounted atop a 45-meter telescoping boom on a stable moving vehicle, the boomSAR transmits low frequency (50 to 1100 MHz) short-pulse UWB signals over the side of the vehicle to scope out a 300-meter range area starting 50 meters from the base of the boom. It travels at an approximate rate of 1 km/hour and requires a relatively flat road that is wide enough to accommodate its 18 ft-wide base.
Characteristics
The boomSAR is a fully polarimetric system that transmits and receives low-frequency waveforms with over 1 gigahertz of usable bandwidth, covering a spectrum from approximately 40 MHz to 1 GHz. Its testbed radar subsystems consist of the antennae, the transmitter, the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, the processor/data storage system, the timing and control assembly, the MOCOMP subsystem, and the operator interface computer. Much of these components are modular in nature for easy modification and upgrades and were constructed with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to reduce costs.
Boom platform
The boom lift platform for the boomSAR is a 150-ft-high telescoping lift device with a basket which can be moved axially and radially and is able to handle a load capacity of 500 to 1000 lbs depending on the position of the telescoping arms. Built by JLG Inc, it possesses the unique capability of base movement while the boom is extended, allowing the boomSAR to conduct data collection using simulated airborne geometry. The down-look angles to the target typically varies from 45 degrees to 10 degrees depending on the range to the target and the height of the boom.
Antennas
The boomSAR utilizes two transmitting and two receiving antennas to provide the full polarization matrix (HH, HV, VH, VV) in a quasi-monostatic sense.
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