Detection of Root Orientation Using Ground-Penetrating Radar

Due to its in situ and nondestructive nature, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has recently been applied to the field investigation of plant roots. The discrepancy between the roots and surrounding soils creates a dielectric constant contrast, forming clear hyperbolic reflections on the GPR radargram. The intensity and shape of the reflecting signals from roots are substantially affected by the root orientation as well as the relative geometry between the root in the subsurface and the GPR survey direction on the ground surface. However, no previous study has utilized the information on the intensity and shape of a root’s GPR reflection to map its orientation, which is crucial in interpreting radargrams and rebuilding 3-D root system architecture. In this paper, a mathematical formulation of hyperbolic reflection formed by a single root was first deduced based on the principles of electromagnetic wave propagation. Then, using this formulation, curve fitting was conducted on both simulated and field collected data sets by GPR. Information on the horizontal orientation and vertical inclination of a single root was acquired according to the formulation coefficient retrievals. Conditions for this method of application and factors impacting the extraction of root orientation information were analyzed. The results indicated fairly precise root orientation estimations. The proposed method has extended the application of GPR in root investigation, thus advancing the frontier of noninvasive root system architecture mapping.