Depth Estimation and Ray Tracing Model Selection of Buried Utilities on Ground Penetrating Radar Data

When assessing a target depth from a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) image, one typically assumes a certain wave propagation model as well as the model parameters (typically the dielectric of the medium). While much work has been conducted on the automatic inference of the model parameters, not much work has been performed testing the validity of the model itself. The work presented here closes this gap for a low-frequency GPR system (350 MHz center frequency). It compares the measurement, taken from known targets at known depths, with different ray propagation models. It also presents a novel method for efficiently estimating the depth of a target without using any knowledge of the medium's wave propagation speed, or even the time of the signal's emission from the transmitter (time zero). Experiments on 26 targets of varying depths showed an averaged estimation error of less than 0.5%, with a standard deviation of 3% using this robust and efficient method.