3D Mapping of Buried Pipes in Multi-Channel GPR Data

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) allows a non-destructive analysis of the subsurface by using electromagnetic waves. GPR is used in application fields such as archeology and civil engineering, where the detection of buried objects is in demand. Such objects, e.g. pipes, lead to a disturbance of the propagation of the radar signal in the underground. A manual detection of disturbing objects can be both time-consuming and tedious, depending on the number of GPR images to be investigated. Hence, automatic methods should be considered. In this study, an object-oriented image analysis approach for the automatic detection and mapping of buried pipes is presented and evaluated. As dataset, measurements of the multi-channel system Stream C are considered.