Patent ID: 7659847

Claim:
A radar mining guidance control system, comprising: a radar pack including isolation devices to control mechanical vibrations; a pocket mounting for protecting and enclosing said radar pack in a surface of a mining tool; an antenna radome to enclose the pocket and cover said radar pack; a radar transmitter included in said radar pack for launching pairs of separated and coherent continuous waves in a double-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation through the air; a radar receiving antenna included in said radar pack for placement proximate to an air interface with a first layer of material, and having impedance characteristics that depend on a surrounding natural medium adjacent to the antenna and an operating frequency; a radar receiver included in said radar pack with coherent demodulation for suppressing a first reflection of radio signals emitted by the radar transmitter from an air interface with a first layer of material and received by the radar receiving antenna; a receiver processor included in said radar pack for determining any electrical parameters of the natural medium adjacent to the antenna from stored a priori data and impedance measurements of the radar receiving antenna; a radar processor included in said radar pack for calculating the depth of an interface between said first layer of material and a second deeper layer of material, by measuring a signal delay of a second reflection of radio signals emitted by the radar transmitter from said first and second material interface which was received by the radar receiving antenna; wherein, said earthpenetrating radar provides for guidance control of mining machinery according to said calculations of the depth of an interface between said first layer of material and a second deeper layer of material.