Statistical method to detect subsurface objects using array ground-penetrating radar data

Xiaoyin Xu, Eric L. Miller, Carey M. Rappaport, Gary D. Sower

Abstract: We introduce a combination of high-dimensional analysis of variance (HANOVA) and sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) to detect buried objects from an array ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveying a region of interest in a progressive manner. Using HANOVA, we exploit the transient characteristic of GPR signals in the time domain to extract information about buried objects at fixed positions of the array. Based on the output of the HANOVA, the SPRT is employed to make detection decisions recursively as the array moves downtrack. The method is on-line implementable and of low computational complexity. Our approach is validated using field-data from two quite different GPR sensing systems designed for landmine detection applications.