Simulation of Near-Surface Detection of Objects in Layered Media by the BCGS–FFT Method

Abstract

Near-surface electromagnetic characterization of objects buried in multilayered earth is important for the detection and identification of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and underground structures. However, so far little progress has been made in the development of fast algorithms for inhomogeneous objects in a layered medium. We report an iterative technique, the stabilized biconjugate gradient fast Fourier transform (BCGS-FFT) method, that simulates near-surface detection of three-dimensional, inhomogeneous objects buried in multilayered media. The CPU time and memory cost of the BCGS-FFT method is O(NlogN) and O(N), respectively, where N is the number of unknowns. This method is significantly more efficient than method of moments. It is capable of solving large-scale electromagnetic scattering problems with an arbitrary inhomogeneous object embedded in a layered medium with an arbitrary number of layers. Examples in subsurface detection of large buried objects are shown to demonstrate the efficacy of this method. At present, the object must be located completely within one single layer in this multilayer medium, but efforts are underway to remove this limitation.