Abstract:
This thesis proposes the implementation of and experimentation of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for real-time automatic detection of buried improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The implementation of GPR, including of hardware and software, was implemented. An ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna was designed and implemented, particularly for the GPR operation. The experiments were conducted in order to demonstrate the real-time automatic detection of the GPR using a Region-Based Convolutional Neural Network (R-CNN) algorithm for the buried IED. In the experiments, the GPR was mounted on a pickup truck and a maintenance train in order to find the IED buried under a road and a railway, respectively. B-scan images were collected using the implemented GPR. R-CNN-based detection for the hyperbolic pattern, which indicates the buried IED, was performed along with pre-processing, for example using zero-offset removal, and background removal and filtering. Experimental results in terms of detecting the hyperbolic pattern in B-scan images have been shown and verified that the proposed GPR system is superior to the conventional one using region analysis processing-based detection. Results have also shown that pre-processing is required in order to improve and/or clean the hyperbolic pattern before detection.
In conclusion, the GPR system demonstrated its ability to automatically detect IEDs buried under roads and railways in real-time by identifying the hyperbolic pattern in the collected B-scan images.
The system achieved a detection probability of 98.83% and 96.50% for roads and railways, respectively.