An Automated Anomaly Detection Study to Map Cemetery Lot Using GPR

Abstract

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has been widely used for near surface exploration from archaeology to civil engineering. The non-invasive nature and the ease of setup separates GPR from other geophysical methods. In this study, a 500 MHz GPR antenna was used to assess the conditions of two cemetery lots. The survey was set up with two parallel lines running North-South for each row of the cemetery. The processed data were imported to MATLAB for an automated detection of the anomalies. For each anomaly, the peak amplitude, velocity, and location was noted. If the anomalies matched between the two profiles spaced 1m apart, the connecting line was interpreted to indicate a buried coffin and therefore occupied. The matching anomalies were then cross referenced with the existing lot map and burial records. Through the non-invasive method of GPR, cemetery lots could be accurately assessed. Additionally, the use of an algorithm for automated detection of the anomalies greatly reduced overall time for interpretation.