Development of a planetary georadar prototype with agile beam (AGILE)

Abstract

We present the project of developing a radar system presenting agility resulting from a great versatility in the emission of the wavefront. The idea is to build a system using an array of antennas that can automatically reconfigure itself to focus its radiance on a desired target. This new microwave sensor is intended to detect and characterize a target buried in a medium that can be inhomogeneous in various fields like geophysics, medical, planetology, .... The aim is illustrated by analytical simulations using the DORT method. The instrumental developments are described, with numerical validations of the principle of misalignment of the antenna beam. The project emerged after a CNES R&T study for modify the prototype of WISDOM radar.