Subsurface Sensing Technologies and Applications, Vol. 6, No.

1, January 2005 ( 2005)

DOI: 10.1007/s11220-005-4228-x

Frequency Dependence of the Soil Electromagnetic

Properties Derived from Ground-Penetrating Radar
Signal Inversion
Sbastien Lambot1,2, , Idesbald van den Bosch3 , Benoit Stockbroeckx4 ,
Pascal Druyts5 , Marnik Vanclooster2 , and Evert Slob1
1 Department

of Geotechnology, Delft University of Technology,

Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2628 RX Delft, The Netherlands
2 Department of Environmental Sciences and Land Use Planning,
Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
3 Microwave Laboratory, Catholic University of Louvain,
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
4 Mic6 Company, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
5 Signal and Image Center, Royal Military Academy, Brussels, Belgium
Received October 22, 2004; revised February 1, 2005
The accuracy at which the subsurface electromagnetic properties can be identied from full
wave inversion of ground penetrating radar (GPR) signals relies on the appropriateness of
the model describing their frequency dependence. In this paper, we focus on the characterization of the frequency dependence of the dielectric permittivity and electric conductivity of
a sandy soil subject to different water contents from inversion of GPR measurements. Based
on previous studies of Lambot et al. the methodology relies on an ultrawide band (UWB)
stepped-frequency continuous-wave (SFCW) radar combined with an off-ground monostatic transverse electromagnetic (TEM) horn antenna. Forward modeling of the radar signal
is based on linear system transfer functions for describing the antenna, and on the exact
solution of Maxwells equations for wave propagation in a horizontally multilayered medium
representing the subsurface. Model inversion, formulated by the classical least-squares problem, is carried out iteratively using advanced global optimization techniques. The frequency
dependence of the electromagnetic properties of the sandy soil is characterized by performing inversions of the radar signal in different and subsequent limited frequency bands, in
which the electromagnetic parameters are assumed to be constant. We observed that over the
entire frequency band considered in this study (13 GHz), the dielectric permittivity of the
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Phone: 31-15-278 6028; fax: 31-15-2781189;
e-mail: s.lambot@citg.tudelft.nl
73
1566-0184/05/0100-0073/0 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.