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Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications

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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 43024

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Dr. Pier Matteo Barone

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Archaeology and Classics Program, American University of Rome, Via Pietro Roselli 4, 00153 Rome, Italy
Interests: archaeological methods and science; remote sensing and GIS; landscape archaeology; archaeological prospections; forensic archaeology; forensic geophysics; forensic geoscience; art crime; cultural heritage protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Raffaele Persico

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Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Ambiente–DIAm, Via Pietro Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy
Interests: remote sensing; earth sciences; geophysics; applied geophysics; scattering; inversion; remote sensing applications; antennas; inverse problems; ground penetrating radar; radar systems
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Dr. Salvatore Piro

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Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale, Institute of Heritage Science, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, National Research Council, C.da S. Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo, PZ, Italy
Interests: applied geophysics; earth sciences; archaeogeophysics; ground penetrating radar; electrical resistivity tomography; gradiometer; integrated geophysical methods; archaeological prospections; landscape geophysics; inverse problems; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

An advanced Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) system has the potential of efficiently and reliably providing high-resolution images for inspecting several different media. To achieve the required performance, improvements in GPR techniques are needed. Recent and on-going developments in computer technologies have made it possible to consider more capable systems for various applications. The present Special Issue of Remote Sensing is devoted to highlighting most advanced researches in GPR technology, methodology, and applications.

This Special Issue welcomes papers on traditional GPR researches, emerging GPR applications based on (but not exclusively) the use of drones, positioning systems, and positioning sensors, 3D and 4D applications, virtual and augmented reality and monitoring. Advanced research and field applications involving other remote sensing methods or geophysical data are also of interest. We invite researchers to contribute original articles presenting the most advanced progresses and interesting case studies regarding the following topics and beyond:

GPR theory
Design, realization, and testing of GPR systems and antennas
GPR data processing and analysis
Modelling and inversion methods for GPR
Applications of GPR in the geosciences
Applications of GPR in agriculture and water management
GPR archaeological prospection
New data processing algorithms
Forensic GPR
Combined use of GPR and other remote sensing techniques

Dr. Pier Matteo Barone
Prof. Raffaele Persico
Dr. Salvatore Piro
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

GPR theory
GPR antennas
GPR data processing and analysis
GPR Modelling and inversion
GPR in Geosciences
GPR in Agriculture and Water Management
GPR in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
Forensic GPR
GPR and Remote Sensing

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 6574 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Ground Penetrating Radar for Permafrost Monitoring from 2015–2017 at CALM Sites in the Pechora River Delta

by Maria Sudakova, Marat Sadurtdinov, Andrei Skvortsov, Andrei Tsarev, Galina Malkova, Nadezda Molokitina and Vladimir Romanovsky

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(16), 3271; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13163271 - 18 Aug 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2170

Abstract

This paper describes the results of ground penetrating radar (GPR) research combined with geocryological data collected from the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) testing sites in Kashin and Kumzha in August 2015, 2016, and 2017. The study area was located on the Pechora River delta. Both sites were composed of sandy ground and the permafrost depth at the different sites ranged from 20 cm to 8–9 m. The combination of optimum offset and multifold GPR methods showed promising results in these investigations of sandy permafrost geological profiles. According to direct and indirect observations after the abnormally warm conditions in 2016, the thickness and water content of the active layer in 2017 almost returned to the values in 2015 in the Kashin area. In contrast, the lowering of the permafrost table continued at Kumzha, and lenses of thin frozen rocks that were observed in the thawed layer in August of 2015 and 2017 were absent in 2016. According to recent geocryological and geophysical observations, increasing permafrost degradation might be occurring in the Pechora River delta due to the instability of the thermal state of the permafrost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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20 pages, 10156 KiB

Open AccessArticle

GPR-Based Automatic Identification of Root Zones of Influence Using HDBSCAN

by Xihong Cui, Zhenxian Quan, Xuehong Chen, Zheng Zhang, Junxiong Zhou, Xinbo Liu, Jin Chen, Xin Cao and Li Guo

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(6), 1227; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13061227 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2935

Abstract

The belowground root zone of influence (ZOI) is fundamental to the study of the root–root and root–soil interaction mechanisms of plants and is vital for understanding changes in plant community compositions and ecosystem processes. However, traditional root research methods have a limited capacity to measure the actual ZOIs within plant communities without destroying them in the process. This study has developed a new approach to determining the ZOIs within natural plant communities. First, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), a non-invasive near-surface geophysical tool, was used to obtain a dataset of the actual spatial distribution of the coarse root system in a shrub quadrat. Second, the root dataset was automatically clustered and analyzed using the hierarchical density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (HDBSCAN) algorithm to determine the ZOIs of different plants. Finally, the shape, size, and other characteristics of each ZOI were extracted based on the clustering results. The proposed method was validated using GPR-obtained root data collected in two field shrub plots and one simulation on a dataset from existing literature. The results show that the shrubs within the studied community exhibited either segregated and aggregated ZOIs, and the two types of ZOIs were distinctly in terms of shape and size, demonstrating the complexity of root growth in response to changes in the surrounding environment. The ZOIs extracted based on GPR survey data were highly consistent with the actual growth pattern of shrub roots and can thus be used to reveal the spatial competition strategies of plant roots responding to changes in the soil environment and the influence of neighboring plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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24 pages, 8817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Root-Soil Water Relationship Is Spatially Anisotropic in Shrub-Encroached Grassland in North China: Evidence from GPR Investigation

by Xihong Cui, Zheng Zhang, Li Guo, Xinbo Liu, Zhenxian Quan, Xin Cao and Xuehong Chen

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(6), 1137; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13061137 - 17 Mar 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2068

Abstract

To analyze the root-soil water relationship at the stand level, we integrated ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which characterized the distribution of lateral coarse roots (>2 mm in diameter) of shrubs (Caragana microphylla Lam.), with soil core sampling, which mapped soil water content (SWC) distribution. GPR surveys and soil sampling were carried out in two plots (Plot 1 in 2017 and Plot 2 in 2018) with the same size (30 × 30 m²) in the sandy soil of the semi-arid shrubland in northern China. First, the survey area was divided into five depth intervals, i.e., 0–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80, and 80–100 cm. Each depth interval was then divided into three zones in the horizontal direction, including root-rich canopy-covered area, root-rich canopy-free area, and root-poor area, to indicate different surface distances to the canopy. The generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to analyze the correlation between root distribution density and SWC after the spatial autocorrelation of each variable was eliminated. Results showed that the root-soil water relationship varies between the vertical and horizontal directions. Vertically, more roots are distributed in soil with high SWC and fewer roots in soil with low SWC. Namely, root distribution density is positively correlated with SWC in the vertical direction. Horizontally, the root-soil water relationship is, however, more complex. In the canopy-free area of Plot 1, the root-soil water relationship was significant (p < 0.05) and negatively correlated in the middle two depth intervals (20–40 cm and 40–60 cm). In the same two depth intervals in the canopy-free area of Plot 2, the root-soil water relationship was also significant (p < 0.01) but non-monotonic correlated, that is, with the root distribution density increasing, the mean SWC decreased first and then increased. Moreover, we discussed possible mechanisms, e.g., root water uptake, 3D root distribution, preferential flow along roots, and different growing stages, which might lead to the spatially anisotropic relationship between root distribution and SWC at the stand level. This study demonstrates the advantages of GPR in ecohydrology studies at the field scale that is challenging for traditional methods. Results reported here complement existing knowledge about the root-soil water relationship in semi-arid environments and shed new insights on modeling the complex ecohydrological processes in the root zone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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13 pages, 5085 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Combined Migrations and Time-Depth Conversions in GPR Prospecting: Application to Reinforced Concrete

by Raffaele Persico and Gianfranco Morelli

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(17), 2778; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12172778 - 27 Aug 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2302

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the combination of different migration results achieved on the same data in order to account for different values of the propagation velocities of the electromagnetic waves within the considered Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) profile. These different values can be the result of a variable lithological composition or (more probably for short Bscans) the results of different moisture levels, or both. Here, we separately consider the two cases of horizontal or vertical variability of the propagation velocity with a transition zone between two zones with constant propagation velocity. Moreover, we also propose a time-depth conversion accounting for these different values of the propagation velocity along the considered GPR Bscan. The method is applied to real data gathered in the field with regard to a concrete coverage containing liner layers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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15 pages, 31679 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Remote Sensing Materials for a Preliminary Archaeological Evaluation of the Giove Countryside (Terni, Italy)

by Pier Matteo Barone, Elizabeth Wueste and Richard Hodges

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(12), 2023; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12122023 - 24 Jun 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2539

Abstract

A collaboration between the American University of Rome, the Municipality of Giove, and Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio dellʼUmbria has resulted in an academic project aimed at a preliminary evaluation of a particular area along the Tiber river that straddles the border between Umbria and Lazio. Archaeological prospection methods, such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based remote sensing, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and photogrammetry, have made it possible to better study the landscape with respect to not only the changes the area has undergone recently, but also its evolution during the Roman and Medieval periods, while keeping the main communication route represented by the Tiber river as its fulcrum. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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19 pages, 11869 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Portable and Easily-Deployable Air-Launched GPR Scanner

by María García-Fernández, Yuri Álvarez López, Alessandro De Mitri, David Castrillo Martínez, Guillermo Álvarez-Narciandi and Fernando Las-Heras Andrés

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(11), 1833; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12111833 - 05 Jun 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3366

Abstract

In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)-based Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems have been developed due to their advantages for safe and fast detection of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and landmines. The complexity of these systems requires performing extensive measurement campaigns in order to test their performance and detection capabilities. However, UAV flights are limited by weather conditions and battery autonomy. To overcome these problems, this contribution presents a portable and easily-deployable measurement setup which can be used as a testbed for the assessment of the capabilities of the airborne system. In particular, the proposed portable measurement setup replicates fairly well the conditions faced by the airborne system, which can hardly be reproduced in indoor GPR measurement facilities. Three validation examples are presented: the first two analyze the capability of the measurement setup to conduct experiments in different scenarios (loamy and sandy soils). The third example focuses on the problem of antenna phase center displacement with frequency and its impact on GPR imaging, proposing a simple technique to correct it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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22 pages, 5663 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ballistic Ground Penetrating Radar Equipment for Blast-Exposed Security Applications

by Federico Lombardi, Maurizio Lualdi, Francesco Picetti, Paolo Bestagini, Gerardus Janszen and Luca Angelo Di Landro

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(4), 717; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12040717 - 21 Feb 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7336

Abstract

Among all the forensic applications in which it has become an important exploration tool, ground penetrating radar (GPR) methodology is being increasingly adopted for buried landmine localisation, a framework in which it is expected to improve the operations efficiency, given the high resolution imaging capability and the possibility of detecting both metallic and non-metallic landmines. In this context, this study presents landmine detection equipment based on multi-polarisation: a ground coupled GPR platform, which ensures suitable penetration/resolution performance without affecting the safety of surveys, thanks to the inclusion of a flexible ballistic shielding for supporting eventual blasts. The experimental results have shown that not only can the blanket absorb blast-induced flying fragments impacts, but that it also allows for the acquisition of data with the accuracy required to generate a correct 3D reconstruction of the subsurface. The produced GPR volume is then processed through an automated learning scheme based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) capable of detecting buried objects with a high degree of accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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Review

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22 pages, 4157 KiB

Open AccessReview

Using Ground Penetrating Radar and Resistivity Methods to Locate Unmarked Graves: A Review

by Victoria Berezowski, Xanthé Mallett, Justin Ellis and Ian Moffat

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(15), 2880; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13152880 - 23 Jul 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6893

Abstract

The location of unmarked graves in forensic and archaeological investigations is legally and culturally important. In a forensic context, locating covert burials of missing persons can provide closure to the family, as well as facilitating the successful prosecution of the individual(s) responsible. Archaeologically, burials provide an important source of information about health, diet, physical anthropology, and culture. Despite the importance of these features, the location of unmarked graves with conventional archaeological and forensic techniques, such as excavation, is difficult and expensive. As a result, geophysical techniques have been widely applied to the location of unmarked graves as they are non-invasive, cost and time effective, and avoid the unnecessary disturbance of human remains. This article brings together the literature on ground penetrating radar (GPR), and two resistivity methods, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and fixed probe resistivity (FPR), on their ability to locate burials and reviews their use in forensic and archaeological investigations. This paper aims to provide law enforcement personnel, archaeologists, geophysicists, and interested academics with an overview of how these techniques work, how they have been previously applied to grave detection, and the strengths and weakness of these methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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Other

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18 pages, 2906 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Preliminary Application of Ground-Penetrating Radar for Reconstruction of Root System Architecture in Moso Bamboo

by Longdong Xiao, Chong Li, Yue Cai, Mingxing Zhou, Tao Zhou, Xueyan Gao, Huaqiang Du, Yufeng Zhou and Guomo Zhou

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(14), 2816; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13142816 - 17 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2693

Abstract

Root system architecture (RSA) refers to the geometric features and topology of the root system. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a possible method of RSA reconstruction. However, because the topology of the root system is not directly accessible by GPR, GPR-based reconstruction must be complemented by manual connection of root points, resulting in limited accuracy. In this study, we used both GPR and direct excavation to obtain 3D coordinates (XYZ coordinates) and diameters of moso bamboo rhizomes on an orthogonal grid. A score function for selecting the best-connected root points was developed using rhizome diameter, depth, extension angle, and measured line spacing, which was then used to recover the topology of discrete root points. Based on the recovered topology, the 3D RSA of the rhizomes was reconstructed using a smoothing function. Based on the excavation data, the reconstructed RSA was generally consistent with the measured RSA, with 78.13% of root points correctly connected. The reconstructed RSA based on GPR data thus provided a rough approximation of the measured RSA, with errors arising due to missing root points and rhizome displacement. The proposed algorithm for reconstructing 3D RSA further enriches the application of ground-penetrating radar to root detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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12 pages, 2958 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Water Ice Detection Research in Utopia Planitia Based on Simulation of Mars Rover Full-Polarimetric Subsurface Penetrating Radar

by Ying Wang, Xuan Feng, Haoqiu Zhou, Zejun Dong, Wenjing Liang, Cewen Xue and Xiaotian Li

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(14), 2685; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13142685 - 08 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2579

Abstract

The probe of China’s first Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1, has been successfully launched. It will carry out scientific exploration on the topography, soil characteristics, water ice, climate, ionosphere, and physical fields of Mars. Different from other rovers landing on the moon and Mars, the Zhurong rover is equipped with a full polarimetric subsurface penetrating radar (FP-SPR) system for the first time. The radar’s mission is to depict the shallow subsurface structure of Mars and search for possible water ice. Therefore, in this paper, a 3D realistic structure model is established and numerically simulated based on the possible subsurface structure of Utopia Planitia (the landing area). Influencing factors such as topographical fluctuations, rocks, water ice, and the variation of dielectric constant of different layers are added to the model. The analysis of the acquired FP-SPR data set shows that the two-dimensional principal component analysis (2D-PCA) method can extract effective reflected signals from the radar data with noise interference and improve the data quality. These clearly imaged targets may be water ice blocks, so the application of 2D-PCA to FP-SPR data increases the imaging quality of suspected water ice targets. The results of this paper are the basis for future processing of the measured FP-SPR data on Mars, which will help to identify more details of subsurface structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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12 pages, 5181 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Improvement of GPR-Based Rebar Diameter Estimation Using YOLO-v3

by Sehwan Park, Jinpyung Kim, Kyoyoung Jeon, Junkyeong Kim and Seunghee Park

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(10), 2011; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13102011 - 20 May 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2895

Abstract

As the frequency of earthquakes has increased in Korea in recent years, designing earthquake-resistant facilities has been increasingly emphasized. Structures constructed with rebars are vulnerable to shaking, which reduces their seismic performance and may result in damage to human life and property. Because the construction of facilities requires the maintenance of sub-constructions, such as by cutting rebars or compensating for missing rebars, information on rebar diameter is required. In this study, the YOLO-v3 algorithm, which has the fastest object recognition performance, was applied to the structural correction data, and a basic experiment was conducted in the air to predict the diameter of rebars in a facility, in real time based on ground-penetrating radar data. The reason for using the YOLO-v3 algorithm is that in the case of GPR data that change slightly according to the diameter of the reinforcing bar, it is difficult to discriminate with the naked eye, and the result may change depending on the inspector. The model achieved a higher accuracy than conventional rebar detection and diameter prediction methods. In addition, the possibility of real-time rebar diameter prediction during construction, using the proposed method, was verified. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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11 pages, 6744 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of the Floor of the Accademia Gallery (Florence, Italy)

by Lapo Miccinesi, Alessandra Beni, Silvia Monchetti, Michele Betti, Claudio Borri and Massimiliano Pieraccini

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(7), 1273; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13071273 - 26 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1867

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the ground-floor of Academia Gallery (Florence, Italy) where the Michelangelo’s David is exhibited to the public. The equipment used was a step-frequency GPR operating in the 100 MHz-1 GHz band, named ORFEUS. The survey covered an area of 13 m × 7.3 m, and the scans were performed along two orthogonal directions. Acquisitions in the same direction were separated by 0.25 m from each other. The GPR was able to confirm the underground structure, as it can be deducted by planimetry and historical documentation. In particular, the radar clearly detected the air-conditioning ducts under the floor and an approximately circular foundation below the basement of the statue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar Theory and Applications)

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