Thermal inertia (effusivity) contrast marks the borders of naturally heated below ground object and void sites. The Dual Infrared Effusivity Computed Tomography (DIRECT) method, patent pending, detects and locates the presence of enhanced heat flows from below ground object and void sites at a given area. DIRECT maps view contrasting surface temperature differences between sites with normal soil and sites with soil disturbed by subsurface, hollow or semi-empty object voids (or air gaps) at varying depths. DIRECT utilizes an empirical database created to optimize the scheduling of daily airborne thermal surveys to view and characterize unseen object and void types, depths and volumes in “blind” areas.

Date Published: 31 May 2013
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 8709, Detection and Sensing of Mines, Explosive Objects, and Obscured Targets XVIII, 870918 (31 May 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2016144

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8709:
Detection and Sensing of Mines, Explosive Objects, and Obscured Targets XVIII
J. Thomas Broach; Jason C. Isaacs, Editor(s)