Tree radar image acquisition and processing

Abstract

Tree falling accidents are common and could bring danger to properties and human lives in urban areas. To avoid such tragedies, regular health monitoring of living tree trunks is necessary. There are lots of non-destructive techniques for tree trunk imaging including microwave tomography, ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity imaging, and so on. Among them, GPR has been used widely for its wide bandwidth, easy to use, and higher imaging resolution. However, scientists encountered difficulties in coupling the antenna to the surface of the bark as well as the interpretation of complex data, countless aspects such as the size of the trunk, different species of trees, and moisture gradients made interpretation trickier. In this research paper, the processed measurement results via Matlab which I collected weekly using the antenna system will be shown in the next few chapters. The two main measurements conducted are detecting the trunk with cavity and control tests with and without wet tissue inside the cavity. The relative dielectric constant is also calculated to determine the moisture content in the tree trunk samples and to predict the overall health of the trees.