Automatic signal processing of front monitor radar for tunneling machines

It is planned to install a front monitor impulse radar on the surface of the rotating drill of tunnelling machines in order to detect obstacles such as casing pipes of vertical borings. The conventional aperture synthesis technique can no more be applied to such cases because the radar image of a pipe does not constitute a hyperbola as is the case for linear scanning radars. We have developed a special purpose signal processing algorithm with the aid of the discrete model fitting method, which can be used for any pattern of scanning. The details of the algorithm are presented together with the results of numerical simulations and test site experiments. Keywords—Target detection, tunneling mechine, subsurface radar data processing.