Time-varying deconvolution of GPR data in civil engineering

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) profiles are often used in civil engineering problems. Overlapping reflections from thin subgrade layers are observed when a relatively low frequency antenna is used. An efficient GPR data processing method, which increases the dominant frequency of GPR data and the temporal resolution, is proposed. It is implemented in the t–f domain. The proposed time-varying deconvolution technique avoids the need for both the calculation of an inverse zero-phase whitening operator and subsequently the application of a band-pass filtering. The user must select the dominant frequency of the Ricker wavelet and use the phase of a reference electromagnetic wavelet, which is acquired experimentally, for stationary dephasing. Apart from delineating thin layers, this method reduces the number of antennas for imaging both shallow and deeper layers in civil engineering. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through four civil engineering applications.