• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2009

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is an effective tool for detecting shallow subsurface targets. In many GPR applications, these targets are veiled by the strong waves reflected from the ground surface, so that we need to apply a signal processing technique to separate the target signal from such strong signals. A pulse-compression technique is used in this research to compress the signal width so that it can be separated out from the strong contaminated clutter signals. This work introduces a filter algorithm to carry out pulse compression for GPR data, using a Wiener filtering technique. The filter is applied to synthetic and field GPR data acquired over a buried pipe. The discrimination method uses both the reflected signal from the target and the strong ground surface reflection as a reference signal for pulse compression. For a pulse-compression filter, reference signal selection is an important issue, because as the signal width is compressed the noise level will blow up, especially if the signal-to-noise ratio of the reference signal is low. Analysis of the results obtained from simulated and field GPR data indicates a significant improvement in the GPR image, good discrimination between the target reflection and the ground surface reflection, and better performance with reliable separation between them. However, at the same time the noise level slightly increases in field data, due to the wide bandwidth of the reference signal, which includes the higher-frequency components of noise. Using the ground-surface reflection as a reference signal we found that the pulse width could be compressed and the subsurface target reflection could be enhanced.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2009

We report an implementation of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey at a site that corresponds to a ruined castle. The objective of the survey was to characterise buried archaeological structures such as walls and tiles in Van Khan Tooril's Ruin, Mongolia, by 2D and 3D GPR techniques. GPR datasets were acquired in an area 10mby 9 m, with 10 cm line spacing. Two datasets were collected, using GPR with 500MHz and 800MHz frequency antennas. In this paper, we report the use of instantaneous parameters to detect archaeological targets such as tile, brick, and masonry by polarimetric GPR. Radar polarimetry is an advanced technology for extraction of target scattering characteristics. It gives us much more information about the size, shape, orientation, and surface condition of radar targets. We focused our interpretation on the strongest reflections. The image is enhanced by the use of instantaneous parameters. Judging by the shape and the width of the reflections, it is clear that moderate to high intensity response in instantaneous amplitude corresponds to brick and tiles. The instantaneous phase map gave information about the location of the targets, which appeared as discontinuities in the signal. In order to increase our ability to interpret these archaeological targets, we compared the GPR datasets acquired in two orthogonal survey directions. A good correlation is observed for the alignments of reflections when we compare the two datasets. However, more reflections appear in the north-south survey direction than in the west-east direction. This is due to the electric field orientation, which is in the horizontal plane for north-south survey directions and the horizontally polarised component of the backscattered high energy is recorded.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2012

Humanitarian demining is very important issue not only in mine affected courtiers but also for the courtiers which are technically, politically and financially supporting the mine affected courtiers. In order to achieve higher efficiency of the mine clearance operation, new technologies can significantly contribute to the societies. Since 2002, Tohoku University, Japan has developed a sensor system "ALIS" for humanitarian demining. ALIS is a hand-held dual sensor, which combines an electromagnetic induction sensor (EMI) and a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). ALIS has a real-time sensor tracking system based on a CCD camera and which enables the image reconstruction. We have tested ALIS in Cambodia and found that it can eliminate more than 70 % metal fragments. Since 2009, 2 sets of ALIS have detected more than 80 anti-personnel mines, and cleared more than 137,000 $m^2$ in Cambodia.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.9
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• pp.1790-1795
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• 2009

For GPR(Ground Penetrating Radar) applications, an accurate analysis of the scattered field is necessary to identify the unknown target. Dyadic Green's function of the multilayered medium is developed and applied to analysis of the underground conducting object. We used method of moment(MOM) with dyadic Green's function, and Discrete Complex Image Method(DCIM). To reduce the computational complexity, fast multipole method is introduced and we showed the accuracy of the method comparing with the conventional method of moment. For investigating the underground conducting target, several numerical experiments were accomplished using this method.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.171-184
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• 2023

Machine learning (ML)-based cavity detection using a large amount of survey data obtained from vehicle-mounted ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been actively studied to identify underground cavities. However, only simple image processing techniques have been used for preprocessing the ML input, and many conventional seismic and GPR data processing techniques, which have been used for decades, have not been fully exploited. In this study, based on the idea that a cavity can be identified using diffraction, we applied ML-based diffraction separation to GPR data to increase the accuracy of cavity detection using the YOLO v5 model. The original ML-based seismic diffraction separation technique was modified, and the separated diffraction image was used as the input to train the cavity detection model. The performance of the proposed method was verified using public GPR data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Underground cavities and objects were more accurately detected using separated diffraction images. In the future, the proposed method can be useful in various fields in which GPR surveys are used.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2010

To determine subglacial topography and internal features of the Fourcade Glacier on King George Island in Antarctica, helicopter-borne and ground-towed ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data were recorded along four profiles in November 2006. Signature deconvolution, f-k migration velocity analysis, and finite-difference depth migration applied to the mixed-phase, single-channel, ground-towed data, were effective in increasing vertical resolution, obtaining the velocity function, and yielding clear depth images, respectively. For the helicopter-borne GPR, migration velocities were obtained as root-mean-squared velocities in a two-layer model of air and ice. The radar sections show rugged subglacial topography, englacial sliding surfaces, and localised scattering noise. The maximum depth to the basement is over 79m in the subglacial valley adjacent to the south-eastern slope of the divide ridge between Fourcade and Moczydlowski Glaciers. In the ground-towed profile, we interpret a complicated conduit above possible basal water and other isolated cavities, which are a few metres wide. Near the terminus, the GPR profiles image sliding surfaces, fractures, and faults that will contribute to the tidewater calving mechanism forming icebergs in Potter Cove.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.27-37
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• 2021

In this paper, we propose Automatic detection system of underground pipe which automatically detects underground pipe to help experts. Actual location of underground pipe does not match with blueprint due to various factors such as ground changes over time, construction discrepancies, etc. So, various accidents occur during excavation or just by ageing. Locating underground utilities is done through GPR exploration to prevent these accidents but there are shortage of experts, because GPR data is enormous and takes long time to analyze. In this paper, To analyze 3D GPR data automatically, we use 3D image segmentation, one of deep learning technique, and propose proper data generation algorithm. We also propose data augmentation technique and pre-processing module that are adequate to GPR data. In experiment results, we found the possibility for pipe analysis using image segmentation through our system recorded the performance of F1 score 40.4%.

• The Journal of Bigdata
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.197-206
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• 2021

GPR data is used for underground exploration. The data gathered are interpreted by experts based on experience as the underground facilities often reflect GPR. In addition, GPR data are different in the noise and characteristics of the data depending on the equipment, environment, etc. This often results in insufficient data with accurate labels. Generally, a large amount of training data have to be obtained to apply CNN models that exhibit high performance in image classification problems. However, due to the characteristics of GPR data, it makes difficult to obtain sufficient data. Finally, this makes neural networks unable to learn based on general supervised learning methods. This paper proposes an image classification method considering data characteristics to ensure that the accuracy of each label is similar. The proposed method is based on semi-supervised learning, and the image is classified using clustering techniques after extracting the feature values of the image from the neural network. This method can be utilized not only when the amount of the labeled data is insufficient, but also when labels that depend on the data are not highly reliable.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2017

Recently, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys have been actively carried out for precise subsurface void investigation because of the rapid increase of subsidence in urban areas. However, since the interpretation of GPR data was conducted based on the interpreter's subjective decision after applying only the basic data processing, it can result in reliability problems. In this research, to solve these problems, we analyzed the difference between the events generated from subsurface voids and those of strong diffraction sources such as the buried pipeline by applying the edge detection technique, which is one of image processing technologies. For the analysis, we applied the image processing technology to the GRP field data containing events generated from the cavity or buried pipeline. As a result, the main events by the subsurface void or diffraction source were effectively separated using the edge detection technique. In addition, since subsurface voids associated with the subsidence has a relatively wide scale, it is recorded as a gentle slope event unlike the event caused by the strong diffraction source recorded with a sharp slope. Therefore, the directional analysis of amplitude variation in the image enabled us to effectively separate the events by the subsurface void from those by the diffraction source. Interpretation based on these kinds of objective analysis can improve the reliability. Moreover, if suggested techniques are verified to various GPR field data sets, these approaches can contribute to semiautomatic interpretation of large amount of GPR data.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2014

Environmental problems typically occurring in abandoned mine lands (AML) include: contaminated and acidic surface water and groundwater; stockpiled waste rock and mill tailings; and ground subsidences due to mining operations. This study examines the effectiveness of various geophysical techniques for mapping potential hazard and contaminated zones. Four AML sites with sedimentation contamination problems, acid mine drainage (AMD) channels, ground subsidence, manmade liner leakage, and buried mine tailings, were selected to examine the applicability of various geophysical methods to the identification of the different types of mine hazards. Geophysical results were correlated to borehole data (core samples, well logs, tomographic profiles, etc.) and water sample data (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and heavy metal contents). Zones of low electrical resistivity (ER) corresponded to areas contaminated by heavy metals, especially contamination by Cu, Pb, and Zn. The main pathways of AMD leachate were successfully mapped using ER methods (low anomaly peaks), self-potential (SP) curves (negative peaks), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) at shallow penetration depths. Mine cavities were well located based on composite interpretations of ER, seismic tomography, and well-log records; mine cavity locations were also observed in drill core data and using borehole image processing systems (BIPS). Damaged zones in buried manmade liners (used to block descending leachate) were precisely detected by ER mapping, and buried rock waste and tailings piles were characterized by low-velocity zones in seismic refraction data and high-resistivity zones in the ER data.