Full Wave Modeling of Electromagnetic Scattering by an Object buried between two Rough Surfaces: Application to GPR

Abstract

In this paper, we present an efficient numerical method to calculate the frequency and time responses of the field scattered by an object buried between two random rough surfaces. This method is called Generalized PILE (GPILE) method because it extends the PILE method which considers only two surfaces or an object buried under a surface. The GPILE method solves rigourously the Maxwell equations by using a simple matrix formulation. The obtained results have a straightforward physical interpretation and allow us to investigate the influence of the object buried between the two rough surfaces. We distinguish the primary echo of the upper surface, the multiple echoes coming from the lower surface and those arising from the object. The GPILE method is applied to simulate the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) signal at nadir. The resulting time response helps the user to detect the presence of the object buried between the two random rough surfaces.