Enhanced research in ground-penetrating radar and multisensor fusion with application to the detection and visualization of buried waste. Final report

Recognizing the difficulty and importance of the landfill remediation problems faced by DOE, and the fact that no one sensor alone can provide complete environmental site characterization, a multidisciplinary team approach was chosen for this project. The authors have developed a multisensor fusion approach that is suitable for the wide variety of sensors available to DOE, that allows separate detection algorithms to be developed and custom-tailored to each sensor. This approach is currently being applied to the Geonics EM-61 and Coleman step-frequency radar data. High-resolution array processing techniques were developed for detecting and localizing buried waste containers. A soil characterization laboratory facility was developed using a HP-8510 network analyzer and near-field coaxial probe. Both internal and external calibration procedures were developed for de-embedding the frequency-dependent soil electrical parameters from the measurements. Dispersive soil propagation modeling algorithms were also developed for simulating wave propagation in dispersive soil media. A study was performed on the application of infrared sensors to the landfill remediation problem, particularly for providing information on volatile organic compounds (VOC`s) in the atmosphere. A dust-emission lidar system is proposed for landfill remediation monitoring. Design specifications are outlined for a system which could be used to monitor dust emissions in a landfill remediation effort. The detailed results of the investigations are contained herein