In subsurface investigations, it is common practice to employ multiple Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques in order to gather as much information as possible about the area under study. The concept of “data integration” arises from the need to combine these different datasets in order to obtain more insights than those obtained from any single dataset, thereby enhancing information content and reducing interpretative ambiguities.
Among the different NDT techniques, this study focuses on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and magnetic methods. The former is an active technique sensitive to dielectric permittivity, whereas the latter is a passive method sensitive to contrasts in magnetic susceptibility. These two NDT methods, despite being fundamentally different, are often used together for several applications, allowing for the detection of buried targets through the analysis of electromagnetic and magnetic anomalies occurring within the investigated area.
Moreover, beyond standard processing and filtering procedures, both methods benefit from advanced imaging techniques, such as Microwave Tomography (MWT) for GPR and Depth from EXtreme Points (DEXP) for magnetic methods, which allow further information to be obtained for the detection and localization of subsurface targets.
In this study, we present an approach for the quantitative integration of GPR and magnetic data based on combining the results obtained from their respective MWT and DEXP imaging techniques, yielding a single composite result that enhances the interpretability and improves the characterization of the subsurface. The reliability of the proposed approach was validated through its application to simulated GPR and magnetic data for a reference scenario, as well as to a real-world environmental scenario. In both cases, the integrated results outperform the individual methods, enabling more accurate subsurface models.
This research has been founded by the EU - Next Generation EU Mission 4, Component 2 - CUP B53C22002150006 - Project IR0000032 – ITINERIS - Italian Integrated Environmental Research Infrastructures System.
