China develops AI radar for underground space detection in cities

BEIJING — Chinese researchers have developed a new 3D radar with artificial intelligence (AI), offering urban underground space detection a higher accuracy than previous generations.

The ground penetrating radar, Eagle Eye-A, was designed and built by a research institute affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

Jiao Xiaoliang, director of the institute's science and technology committee, said the newly-developed radar is capable of detecting soil diseases and pipelines as deep as six meters underground, with a fast response and no harm to the environment. Its detection accuracy rate is over 90 percent and its false alarm rate is less than 5 percent.

Urban underground space is always at risk of road collapses and pipeline leakages. With its AI system, the new radar will greatly boost the efficiency of auto-detection and identification while requiring less manpower in data processing.

The radar is equipped with both BeiDou satellite navigation and GPS systems, which can help obtain high precision positioning of underground targets.