Acoustic imaging of objects buried in soil

Catherine H. Frazier,  Nail Cadalli,  David C. Munson, Jr., and  William D. O'Brien, Jr.


In this study, we demonstrate an acoustic system for high-resolution imaging of objects buried in soil.  Our goal is to image cultural artifacts in order to assess, in a rapid manner, the historical significance of a potential construction site. We describe the imaging system and present preliminary images produced from data collected from a soil phantom. A mathematical model and associated computer software are developed in order to simulate  the signals acquired by the system. We have built the imaging system,  which incorporates a single element source transducer and a receiver array. The source and receiver array are moved together along a  linear path to collect data. Using this system, we have obtained B-mode images of several targets by using  delay-and-sum beamforming and we have also applied synthetic aperture theory to this problem.

J. Acoust. Soc.  Am., vol. 108, pp.  147-156, July 2000.