Forensic application of sweep-frequency and impulse GPR

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology has supplied invaluable assistance in numerous criminal investigations. However, field personnel desire further development such that the technology is rapidly deployable, and it provides both a simple user interface and sophisticated target identification. To assist in the development of target identification algorithms, our efforts involve gathering background GPR data for the various site conditions and circumstances that often typify clandestine burials. For this study, forensic anthropologists established burial plots at The University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility (ARF). These plots contain donated human cadavers lying in various configurations and depths. Each plot includes a fleshed cadaver with varying combinations of human skeletal remains, construction material, and backfill. We scanned the plots using two GPR systems. The first system is a multi-frequency synthetic-aperture unit (GPR-X) developed by the Department of Energy's Special Technologies Laboratory (STL), Bechtel Nevada (Koppenjan et al., 2000). The impulse radar system is a newly released commercial unit (SIR-20) manufactured by Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. (GSSI). This paper provides example scans from each system, and a discussion of the survey protocol and general performance.