Simulation of a ground penetrating radar environment by means of FDTD methods using an automatic control approach

A novel approach for the design and the simulation of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) environment by means of FDTD methods is presented. Simulating GPR data is essential for the development and comparison of algorithms using exactly defined data. The development of the model and the selection of optimum parameters for the electromagnetic FDTD field simulator are addressed. Also discussed is how to solve the problem of necessary changes to the model by means of an ActiveX server control, which allows control of the whole functionality of the FDTD solver from an external Win32 application, providing a possibility for the automation of the GPR simulation. Several simulation results are presented. The success of the approach is presented through the excellent quality of the results achieved.