Acoustic imaging of objects buried in soil

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. (C) 2000 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(00)00207-1].