Abstract
Archaeological GPR data from antennas of different frequencies allow the identification of buried cultural heritage at different scales. Therefore, multi-frequency GPR systems are recommended for complicated subsurface archaeological conditions. GPR data fusion approaches, automatically or semi-automatically, can integrate data measurements from different frequency antennas, combine them into a single representation, and partially overcome the unavoidable trade-off between penetration and resolution. We propose an adaptively weighted fusion method for multi-frequency GPR data based on genetic algorithms (GAs). In order to evaluate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the strategy for archaeological prospection, we tested the procedure on GPR datasets acquired in two totally different archaeological conditions: rammed layers of an ancient wall, in Henan Province, China, and complex and elusive prehistoric archaeological features within a natural stratigraphic sequence on the volcanic Stromboli Island, Italy. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can maximize the information content of GPR profiles, enhancing the GPR interpretation possibilities in an automatic and objective way for different targets and in different subsurface conditions.
Highlights
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a well-accepted near-surface geophysical technique to image and characterize subsurface targets, based on changes in the electromagnetic properties of materials
We introduce genetic algorithms (GAs) to calculate the time-varying weight factors for datasets to be fused, in order to keep the largest number of dominant components from GPR profiles of different frequencies: the forward segment of the integrated representation outcomes has more high-frequency components, while the backward one has more components shifted to low frequencies
We proposed a novel multi-frequency GPR data fusion method based on an
Summary
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a well-accepted near-surface geophysical technique to image and characterize subsurface targets, based on changes in the electromagnetic properties of materials. With relatively fast data acquisition, GPR has been used to solve more and more subsurface problems in the field of archaeology efficiently and accurately [1,2,3]. GPR systems are often used for complicated subsurface archaeological conditions [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. GPR mappings for reconstruction of ancient landscapes associated with archaeological sites in a sequence stratigraphic context require a deeper sedimentary record as well as enhanced high-resolution shallow imaging [11,12]. Multichannel systems involving multi-frequency arrays have permitted an enormous increase in survey efficiency and spatial sampling resolution, and have greatly improved the areal coverage for large-scale archaeological fieldwork [13,14,15,16]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
