Finite-Difference Methods and Validity of a Thermal Model for Landmine Detection With Soil Property Estimation

In this paper, we introduce and validate a 3-D linear thermal model for landmine detection. A finite-difference approximation of generalized solutions to the model is proposed, and its convergence properties are proved. An efficient numerical algorithm based on splitting methods is suggested for solving the discretized problem. Moreover, we introduce methods to estimate the (bare) soil and air-soil interface thermal properties. These parameters depend strongly on weather, environmental conditions, and soil type; their accuracy affects strongly the thermal modeling. The validity of the thermal model with the estimated soil properties is verified by comparing the simulations with data sets acquired in outdoor minefields