Multi-station Ground-based Real-aperture Radar for Quasi-static Deformation Measurement

Ground-based Real-aperture Radar (GBRAR) has been applied in recent years for the dynamic analysis of civil constructions. The same technology could be also exploited for the high-precision quasi-static deformation measurement. Unfortunately, in this modality GBRAR still suffers from important drawbacks (accurate repositioning for long-term monitoring, target ambiguity, mitigation of atmospheric effects) which make its application less competitive w.r.t. other techniques. After reviewing a set of experiments to evaluate the instrumental performances of IBIS-S sensor by former IDS Sistemi Italian company, a solution based on the use of multiple stations (‘stereo-radar’) is discussed. This approach may help discriminate target ambiguity and improve the geometric definition of spatial displacements. ‘Stereo-radar’ is based on the use of at least two GBRAR sensors to work concurrently to monitor quasi-static observations. Here a preliminary test to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique is reported.