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iii FORENSIC INVESTIGATION USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) NOORAZLIZA BINTI SUDAR A project report submitted is partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Science (Geomatic Engineering) Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate Universiti Teknologi Malaysia JANUARY 2015

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FORENSIC INVESTIGATION USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR

(GPR)

NOORAZLIZA BINTI SUDAR

A project report submitted is partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Geomatic Engineering)

Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

JANUARY 2015

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DEDICATION

I dedicated this study to my beloved papa and mama

En. Sudar bin Sitra & Pn. Fatimah binti Ehwan

Thank you for always being supportive and always pray for me

To all my family members & my Meor,

Thank you for the blessing

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful. Alhamdullilah,

all priases to Allah for the strenghts and His blessing in completing this thesis. First of

all, special thanks goes to my supervisor, Dr. Zulkarnaini bin Mat Amin for invaluable

help of good comments and suggestions to the succes of this study

My sincere thanks also goes to ASP Nizam from Crime Scene Investigation

Department of Royal Police Malaysia for the assistance and guidance of forensic

investigation. A special thanks to UTM guards, and Osha Department of UTM for

supplied the simulation objects. Not forgotten lab technician, En. Fahmi for being

willing to share his knowledge and help in fieldwork.

Thanks to all my friends, for their kindness and moral support during my study

and willing to help me in finished my fieldwork. Thanks to my family and special thanks

to Meor for support and encouragement.

Last but not least, to my beloved parents; Mr. Sudar bin Sitra and Mrs. Fatimah

binti Ehwan for their endless love, prayers and support. To those who indirectly

contributed in this study, your kindnes means a lot to me.

Thank You.

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ABSTRACT

Controlled forensic using GPR has been successful used by law enforcement agencies

from other countries to locate graves and forensic evidence. However, in Malaysia,

forensic agencies are still using cadaver dogs in order to determine the clandestine

graves. The purpose of this study was to determine the applicability of GPR in detecting

controlled graves for Malaysia environment. The objectives for this study included what

the different images radar between four burial scenarios (e.g naked object, wrapped

object, metal object, and wrapped object in 0.5m) in a month monitoring, comparing

GPR imagery between 250 MHz and 750 MHz antenna and to analyze all the images.

Data and images were collected on controlled graves containing three graves at one

meter and 0.5 meter; naked object, wrapped object, metal object and wrapped object

under 0.5 m. the data then were processed by using Reflex2DQuick. Duo frequencies

were used to detect the location and depth of the simulation object which are 250 MHz

and 750 MHz. The electromagnetic wave velocity is decrease with the depth together. In

terms of antenna performance, 250 MHz data generally provided high resolution image

for earlier week. Over time, the 750 MHz data provided the higher detail resulted. GPR

can be one of the best techniques to determine clandestine graves and this study found

that it suited with Malaysia environment.

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ABSTRAK

Kawalan forensic yang menggunakan alat GPR telah jayanya digunakan oleh pihak

agensi undang-undang dari luar negara dalam menentukan lokasi kubur dan

pengumpulan bukti forensik. Walaubagaimanapun, di Malaysia, pihak agensi forensik

masih lagi menggunakan anjing pengesan untuk mengenalpasti kubur yang tidak

diketahui. Tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan kebolehan alat GPR dalam

mengesan kubur bagi situasi di Malaysia. Objektif kajian ini pula termasuk apakah

perbezaan imej radar antara empat situasi kubur (cth: objek terdedah, objek yang

dibalut, objek metal, objek yang dibalut pada kedalaman 0.5m) dalam satu bulan

perhatian, membezakan imej GPR antara 250 MHz frekuensi dan 750 MHz antena

frekuensi, dan menganalisa semua imej tersebut. Data dan imej-imej diperoleh daripada

empat kubur yang ditetapkan iaitu tiga kubur pada satu meter dan satu kubur pada 0.5

meter; objek yang terdedah, objek yang dibalut, objek metal, dan objek yang dibalut

pada kedalaman 0.5 m. Data-data tersebut kemudiannya diproses menggunakan

Reflex2DQuick. Duo frekuensi digunakan untuk mengenalpasti lokasi dan kedalaman

bagi objek simulasi iaitu 250 MHz dan 7550 MHz. Velociti bagi signal elektromagnetik

adalah semakin berkurangan dan begitu juga dengan kedalaman. Bagi prestasi antena

pula, data yang diperoleh oleh 250 MHz antena adalah beresolusi tinggi untuk minggu

terawal. Dari masa ke semasa, 750 MHz antena menyediakan data yang hasilnya lebih

terperinci. GPR adalah salah satu teknik yang berkesan untuk menentukan kubur yang

tidak diketahui dan kajian ini mendapati bahawa GPR adalah sesuai digunakan di

Malaysia.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

THESIS DECLARATION i

SUPERVISOR DECLARATION ii

TITLE iii

DECLARATION iv

DEDICATION v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi

ABSTRACT vii

ABSTRAK viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

LIST OF TABLES xiii

LIST OF FIGURES xiv

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 Statement of Problem 6

1.3 Objectives of Study 8

1.4 Scope of Study 8

1.5 Significance of Study 12

1.6 Methodology 12

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 15

2.2 Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) 17

2.3 Principle of Ground Penetrating Radar 19

2.4 Influence of Soil Properties in GPR 24

2.5 Application of GPR in Forensic 27

2.6 Reflex2DQuick Software 32

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 35

3.2 Instrumentation

3.4.1 IDS Detector Duo Ground Penetrating 37

Radar (GPR)

3.3 Site of Survey Work 39

3.4 Materials and Methods

3.4.1 Dredging and Cultivated the Simulation 41

Objects

3.4.2 Technique Used in Data Collection 43

3.4.3 Data Acquisition 44

3.4.4 Calibration 46

3.4.5 Data Processing 50

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4 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction 54

4.2 Results

4.2.1 Calibration Results 55

4.2.2 First Week of Burial for 250 MHz Antenna 58

4.2.3 Second First Week of Burial for 250 MHz 61

Antenna

4.2.4 Third First Week of Burial for 250 MHz 63

4.2.5 Fourth First Week of Burial for 250 MHz 66

Antenna

4.2.6 First Week of Burial for 750 MHz Antenna 68

4.2.7 Second Week of Burial for 750 MHz 71

Antenna

4.2.8 Third First Week of Burial for 750 MHz 74

Antenna

4.2.9 Fourth First Week of Burial for 750 MHz 76

Antenna

4.3 Discussion 79

4.3.1 Comparison between Simulation Graves 81

at 250 MHz Antenna

4.3.2 Comparison between Simulation Graves 87

at 750 MHz Antenna

4.3.3 Velocity of Electromagnetic Wave 93

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5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion 103

5.2 Recommendation 105

6 REFERENCES 106

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Advantages and disadvantages using GPR for forensic 19

application (Adopted from Shultz, 2007)

2.2 Examples of controlled research using GPR in 30

forensic context

3.1 Simulation scenarios 42

3.2 Types of materials 49

4.1 Scenarios of study 57

4.2 Velocity of 250 MHz antenna for week 1 94

4.3 Velocity of 250 MHz antenna for week 2 95

4.4 Velocity of 250 MHz antenna for week 3 96

4.5 Velocity of 250 MHz antenna for week 4 97

4.6 Velocity of 750 MHz antenna for week 1 98

4.7 Velocity of 750 MHz antenna for week 2 99

4.8 Velocity of 750 MHz antenna for week 3 100

4.9 Velocity of 750 MHz antenna for week 4 101

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NUM. TITLE PAGE

1.1 GPR Antenna Frequency 2

1.2 Detecting Unmarked Burial in Florida 4

1.3 Cadaver Dog Used for Search and Recovery 5

1.4 Case Study Area 9

1.5 Dimension of Rectagular Box for Simulation Grave 9

1.6 The Simulation Area and Type of Used in this Study 10

1.7 Ground Penetrating Radar 11

1.8 Flow Chart 14

2.1 Examples of GPR Application 17

2.2 The Use of Application Throughout the Years 18

2.3 Transmitted Electromagnetic Wavefront Scattered from 21

a Buried Object with a Constrasting Permitivity

2.4 Scattering Mechanism 22

2.5 Sequence of Producing a GPR Profile 23

2.6 Type of Sandy Soil 26

2.7 Type of Clay Soil 26

2.8 Example of Forensic Investigation 32

2.9 Reflex2DQuick Interface 34

3.1 GPR Unit 37

3.2 Tough Book 38

3.3 Hyperbolic Image on Screen 39

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3.4 Site Survey 40

3.5 The Soil Type and Environment of Site Survey 40

3.6 Dredging Work 41

3.7 Grid Technique during Data Collection 44

3.8 DetectorDuo Icon 44

3.9 Radar Setup Menu 45

3.10 Naming the File 45

3.11 Acquisition Menu Setting 46

3.12 Plan View 48

3.13 Reflex2DQuick Software Icon 50

3.14 Geometry Processing Table 51

3.15 Manual Scaling Menu 52

3.16 Amplitude of electromagnetic wave 53

4.1 0.81 m and 1.04 m Hyperbolic Image 56

4.2 1.80 m Water Reticulation Piping 56

4.3 Longitudinal Grid Image 57

4.4a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 1 59

4.4b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 1 59

4.4c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 1 60

4.4d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 1 60

4.5a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 2 61

4.5b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 2 62

4.5c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 2 62

4.5d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 2 63

4.6a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 3 64

4.6b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 3 64

4.6c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 3 65

4.6d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 3 65

4.7a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 4 66

4.7b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 4 67

4.7c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 4 67

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4.7d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 250 MHz Antenna for Week 4 68

4.8a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 1 69

4.8b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 1 70

4.8c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 1 70

4.8d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 1 71

4.9a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 2 72

4.9b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 2 72

4.9c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 2 73

4.9d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 2 73

4.10a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 3 74

4.10b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 3 75

4.10c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 3 75

4.10d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 3 76

4.11a Naked Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 4 77

4.11b Wrapped Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 4 77

4.11c Metal Object (1.0 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 4 78

4.11d Wrapped Object (0.5 m) for 750 MHz Antenna for Week 4 78

4.12 Comparison for Naked Object Images at 250 MHz 83

4.13 Comparison for Wrapped Object Images at 250 MHz 84

4.14 Comparison for Metal Object Images at 250 MHz 85

4.15 Comparison for Wrapped Object (0.5 m) Images at 250 MHz 86

4.16 Comparison for Naked Object Images at 750 MHz 89

4.17 Comparison for Wrapped Object Images at 750 MHz 90

4.18 Comparison for Metal Object Images at 750 MHz 91

4.19 Comparison for Wrapped Object (0.5 m) Images at 750 MHz 92

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

During crime investigations to detect clandestine graves, some agencies involved

such as law enforcement agencies, coroners, medical examiners, and police department

request forensic investigators to aid them in searches for bodies or skeletal remains

(France et al. 1992; Schultz et al. 2006; Schultz 2007, 2008). The problem that law

enforcement agencies are faced from time to time is to locate, detect and recovering the

buried bodies in clandestine graves. In Malaysia, Crime Scene Investigation Department

of Royal Police Malaysia is using cadaver dogs to identify the location of the crime area.

This technique cannot locate the exactly object under hard ground and narrow the area

of target.

The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a non-destructive tool which has been

accepted for forensic investigation. This instrument is operated by scanning the

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underground features and locating the subsurface utilities by penetrating the image

display in digital format which easier to analyze and interpreted the underground data.

In earliest inception, GPR were used to natural geologist material and it used the

method of radio waves to probe the ground. Use of radio waves to sound the earth was

contemplated for decades before results were obtained in the 1950s (El said. 1956;

Waite and Schmidt, 1961)

The most important parameter is the frequency of the electromagnetic wave

which is used to determine the good image resolution of GPR and to achieve the best

study area. The high frequency will come out the accurate information but the depth of

the study is short. For the lower frequency, antenna will penetrate deeper into the

ground. However, because the wavelength is longer, the response is less detailed as in

Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: GPR antenna frequency

(http://gprtrainingcourses.com)

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Currently, GPR is one of geophysical option for the grave detection.

Archeologists usually used this kind of instrument at their site area where is containing

burials. Therefore, they need to document the location of unmarked graves and with this

technology also has proven as useful technique to identify the areas that have the

unmarked graves.

Forensic geophysics also can used this technique to study the localization and

mapping the buried objects instead of the elements beneath the soil. There are many

geophysical techniques for the forensic investigation to detect the underground material

or buried objects in large area which have different dimensions (from weapons or

metallic barrels to human burials and bunkers). This kind of method have the possibility

to aid the search and recovery the targets because it is non-destructively and can

investigate in a short time in large areas where suspect, illegal burial or forensic target is

hidden in the subsoil. Usually, there is always a contrast in physical properties between

the target and the material that buried under soil, so it may help to define precisely the

concealing place of the search and recovery target.

GPR has being broadly accepted in forensic investigation since it is increasingly

known as one of the geophysical search methods. This is because the GPR is non-

invasive and possible for the investigation of the search and recovery without disturbing

or destruction to evidence. In particular, GPR has become popular in geophysical option

especially for grave detection (Vaughn 1986; Bevan 1991; King et al, 1993; Nobes

1999; Davis et al. 2000; Conyers 2006; Jones 2008). As example, in Utah, the police

department helped to search a suspected burial site for missing person with using GPR.

There is no other information about the clandestine grave but the detectives working for

that case believed that the missing person may have been buried somewhere around the

residence. So the technician on site was mobilized quickly to the site area and scan

using GPR. In Florida, at least 81 boys died. Their remains lie in unmarked graves

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spread over the shuttered campus of the Florida Reform School for Boys. So, the

forensic teams working in collaboration with USF archaeologist have begun to use

ground-penetrating radar in the search as in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2: Detecting unmarked burial in Florida

(http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology, 2012)

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, no technique has been used to detect the burial objects

under the soil unless our forensic teams use cadaver dog (see Figure 1.3) to determine

the location of area that containing the object buried underground (Personal

Communication with ASP Nizam, 2014). It may be the responsible party may not yet

know the effectiveness of GPR equipment in identifying object buried underground.

With this advent of this study, can be share with respective party about the use of GPR

tool in detecting objects buried underground. The police and forensics should use the

latest methods as technology is increasingly sophisticated. GPR has the ability detect

with accurate and faster method than others.

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Figure 1.3:Cadaver dog used for search and recovery

(http://www.rmp.gov.my, 2010)

The police dog unit (K9) will train dogs to find corpses submerged underwater or

buried underground as part of its upgrades and facelift. Some 30 sniffer dogs which were

purchased in December were also shown to the public. The canines from Germany and

the Czech Republic are believed to have been bought for RM30,000 each.

Unfortunately, cadaver dog only can define objects in soft ground and the dogs cannot

detect or hardly detect objects buried under hard ground. With using GPR instruments,

K9 team can detect the burial object in a short time and in large area either in soft

ground or hard ground.

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1.2 Statement of problem

GPR can assist in identifying the underground utilities objects in a short time

compared to other techniques such as excavation and water blasting. Information

generated by these devices is in the form radar image that contains a hyperbolic shape

and it shows the depth of detected objects as well. The instrument is influenced by

many factors in order to transmit the signal and depth. The factors that affect the GPR

are (Doolittle and Collins, 1995):

i. Porosity and water saturation level

ii. The amount and type of soil in solution

iii. The amount and type if clay

iv. Scattering

GPR has been utilized in forensic investigation and has become well known

method because has been used in some high profile case histories. With this techniques

also can greatly assist police detectives and investigators or forensic team to pinpoint the

suspicious areas and thus saving the unnecessary excavation and time.

To define the good GPR survey results, the area or ground should not been

disturbed by anything either the heavy vehicle or by digging which can compress the

soil and will affect the reflections.

This study was conducted and monitored to systematically assess the changing

geophysical response of simulated burial objects for a month and was monitored for

every week. Graves containing monkey carcasses and metal object were defined in this

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study as an unrecorded burial and have been excavated and dug about 1m depth and

0.5m below ground level. This should be noted that geophysical results will vary

depending upon the period of buried. The discover grave are usually rectangular in

planview, and it is just large enough to deposit the object before being backfill with

excavated soil and associate surface debris. There are four scenarios for this study:

i. Naked burial

ii. Wrapped burial

iii. Metal objects

iv. Wrapped burial (0.5 m depth)

The aims of this one month geophysical monitoring study of different period of

time clandestine burials will answer some questions posed by forensics search teams

such as:

i. Could GPR surveys successful locate the simulated clandestine burials

ii. How long were surveys detect the unmarked graves

iii. When should a geophysical survey using GPR take action

iv. How about the processing technique

v. What images will come out from the processing

These questions by forensic search teams listed above will be answered after the

survey has been taken throughout monitoring the graves every week in a month.

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1.3 Objectives of study

The objectives of this study are:

i. To evaluate the image radar between the clandestine burial within first day of the

burial till a month.

ii. To define the comparison between four scenarios of the simulated burial.

iii. To analysis the image after the processing in order to identify the location and

the depth of the buried objects.

1.4 Scope of Work

This study involves the simulation of clandestine graves by developing a

rectangular box with 1m depth below ground-level. The simulation process are

conducted at the Faculty of University Technology Malaysia (refer Figure 1.4). To

execute this study, several factors should be given attentions, which are:

i. Designed and construct the simulate grave area

- The study area is at open area near the UTM gate to Senai Highway (see Figure 1.4).

The dimension rectangular box for the survey areas for this simulation graves are 1.9 m

x 0.8 m and depth 1.0 m for three graves and one 0.5m as in Figure 1.5

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Figure 1.4: Case study area

Figure 1.5: The dimension of rectangular box for simulation grave

0.8m

1.9m

A: naked burial

B: wrapped burial

C: metal objects

D: wrapped burial (0.5m depth)

A B

D C

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ii. The type of soil that used in this study

- For this study, the soil type that used is clay because the forensic team said that usually

the crime scene happened in oil palm and plantation which is containing clay. See

figure 1.6.

Figure 1.6: The simulation area and type of soil that used in this study

iii. The instrument (GPR) and software

- GPR was used in order to detect the burial object underground (see Figure 17) and as

for software, Utilities Detector Duo System was applied to identify and interpret the real

time result of the targets and type of the data structure which have been buried. These

real time images were displayed on the screen of the tough book. For the processing

step, Reflex2DQuick software was used in order to analyze the image and define the

type of data.

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Figure 1.7: Ground Penetrating Radar

iv. The comparison of time period in a month (monitor every week) between the

simulation object

- The several of period were done to analyze and compare the images that have been

process between 1st weeks until 4

th weeks of the month.

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1.5 Significance of Study

The benefits of this study that are expected as following:

i. Guidelines for police to investigate in searching for died bodies

ii. Results from the literature study is expected to give a clear picture of guidelines

for carrying out the investigation on a buried bodies as defined by the policeman,

and forensic investigation

iii. In addition, the study of these works can be used for any parties that requires and

as a reference for the management of their plans for the future.

iv. Having extensive knowledge about the procedure in order to detect buried object

with using GPR. Results and analysis can be used to produce and improve the

quality of the production of the image of GPR.

1.6 Methodology

The research methodology is the process to achieve the objective or the aim of

the study. A methodology should be emphasized and should not be taken lightly.

According to Wikipedia methodology is defined as a guideline system for solving a

problem, with specific components phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools". The

methodology is a process, a set of tools for research and retrieval, as well as an art of

performing a scientific paper (Adam and Schvaneveldt, 1985). Generally, the study is

started from the problem until the data acquisition and analysis of such data. This

method uses 5 phases methodology (Figure 1.8):

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i. First phase: preliminary study

Which is including objectives, problem statement, significance of study and scope of the

study.

ii. Second phase: literature review

Which should be obtained from the reading of books and search on the internet that

relating to the study.

iii. Third phase: data collection

Divided into 2; primary data is do the observation to soils and find out the properties of

the soil, do the simulation of objects that are buried and analyze images obtained from

GPR tool. Secondary data were reviewed from educational materials and books for

reference.

iv. Fourth phase: result and analysis.

Result obtained from measurements made and the analysis will come out from the

results.

v. Fifth phase: conclusion and recommendations.

Conclusion involves the entire phase and whether the objectives of the study achieve or

not. Recommendations are needed to improve and extend this study.

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PHASE 1

PHASE 2

PHASE 3

PHASE 4

PHASE 5

Figure 1.8: Flow chart

Secondary

- Reference books

- Internet

Primary

- Simulation and dug the

grave

- Soil determination

- Determine of the image

radar of GPR

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