Abstract: An implement for use with an excavator includes a lightweight housing, a first coupling feature, a ground penetrating radar antenna, a controller, a wireless communication circuit and a rotation unit. The lightweight housing has an upper surface, a lower surface and a cavity. The first coupling feature is located on the upper surface and cooperates with a second coupling feature on an excavator arm. The ground penetrating radar antenna is mounted near the lower surface. The controller is mounted within the cavity and provides outgoing signals to the radar antenna, receives incoming signals from the radar antenna and interprets the incoming signals so as to provide implement output information. The wireless communication circuit is mounted within the cavity and transmits the implement output information. The rotation unit is mounted within the cavity and rotates the housing vis-à-vis the excavator arm.

Abstract: An antenna for a ground-penetration radar system is disclosed. The antenna has a housing that defines a cavity. A radiator is located on a surface of a planar substrate within the cavity. A wear-block is located between the radiator and the opening to the cavity for providing mechanical protection to the radiator. An absorber assembly is located on an opposite side of the radiator from the opening. The absorber assembly comprises a microwave absorber and a first dielectric layer. The first dielectric layer is located between the radiator and the microwave absorber.

Abstract: A radar system is disclosed for detecting profiles of objects, particularly in a vicinity of a machine work tool. The radar system uses a direct digital synthesiser to generate an intermediate frequency off-set frequency. It also uses an up-converter comprising a quadrature mixer, single-side mixer or complex mixer to add the off-set frequency to the transmitted frequency. It further uses a down-converter in the receive path driven by the off-set frequency as a local oscillator. The radar system enables received information to be transferred to the intermediate frequency. This in turn can be sampled synchronously in such a way as to provide a complex data stream carrying amplitude and phase information. The radar system is implementable with a single transmit channel and a single receive channel.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method of operating a machine comprising an implement and a machine for performing such a method. The implement is configured for motion in at least three degrees of freedom. In response to an input, movement of the implement from first to second positions is constrained to a first motion in a first plane or a second motion in a second plane. Sensor data received from an IMU attached to the implement is indicative of the movement of the implement. A first or second estimation mode is selected based upon a determination that the movement is the first or second motion. The first or second estimation mode is implemented to estimate the trajectory of the implement and the second position based upon the sensor data.

Abstract: A ground penetration radar (GPR) antenna system is integrated into a digging machine such that the system is configured to remain operable under the same environmental conditions as the machine. The system includes a GPR antenna and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The GPR antenna includes a rectangular hollow enclosure made of a conductive material defining a cavity therein and is affixed to a bucket of the digging machine. The IMU is mounted to the hollow enclosure and provides a space trajectory over time of the GPR antenna on the bucket as the digging machine is operated.

Abstract: A trajectory tracking system includes a set of dynamic models, a trajectory database, a trajectory handler, a parameter extractor and a classifier. There is one dynamic model per expected obstacle type and it models an expected trajectory of a point of normal incidence (PNI) of the expected obstacle. The trajectory database stores trajectories for a current set of obstacles being tracked. The trajectory handler at least associates incoming detections to existing trajectories and to update the existing trajectories. The parameter extractor periodically extracts parameters from the trajectories and the classifier classifies obstacles associated with the trajectories at least based on the parameters of the trajectories and on associated the dynamic models for the trajectories.

Abstract: A ground penetration radar (GPR) antenna system is integrated into a digging machine such that the system is configured to remain operable under the same environmental conditions as the machine. The system includes an RF antenna and an antenna monitor. The antenna includes a rectangular hollow enclosure made of a conductive material defining a cavity therein and is affixed to a bucket of the digging machine. The antenna monitor is rigidly connected to the hollow enclosure and monitors inertial antenna location and/or movement.

Abstract: A system for detecting a target, the system comprises a transceiver and a signal processor; wherein the transceiver that is configured to: transmit a first pulse train that comprises multiple radio frequency (RF) pulses of a first non-linear polarity; receive first echoes resulting from the transmission of the first pulse train; generate first detection signals that represent the first echoes; and wherein the signal processor is configured to process the first detection signals to provide an estimated polarization orientation of a target; wherein the processing of the first detection signals comprises estimating a Jones matrix of the target.

Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) antenna that may include a hollow enclosure made of a conductive material; wherein a first portion of the hollow enclosure has a bow tie shaped slot; a conductor that is spaced apart from the slot, is positioned within a cavity defined by the hollow enclosure, and is electrically isolated from the hollow enclosure; a first port that is coupled to the conductor; and a dielectric element that is made of dielectric material that at least partially fills the cavity and the bow tie shaped slot; wherein the conductor is configured to perform at least one operation out of: (a) receive, via the cavity, received RF radiation and send a received RF signal to the first port; (b) receive, from the first port, a transmitted RF signal and radiating transmitted RF radiation via the cavity.