Context-dependent feature selection using unsupervised contexts applied to GPR-based landmine detection

Context-dependent classification techniques applied to landmine detection with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) have demonstrated substantial performance improvements over conventional classification algorithms. Context-dependent algorithms compute a decision statistic by integrating over uncertainty in the unknown, but probabilistically inferable, context of the observation. When applied to GPR, contexts may be defined by differences in electromagnetic properties of the subsurface environment, which are due to discrepancies in soil composition, moisture levels, and surface texture. Context-dependent Feature Selection (CDFS) is a technique developed for selecting a unique subset of features for classifying landmines from clutter in different environmental contexts. In past work, context definitions were assumed to be soil moisture conditions which were known during training. However, knowledge of environmental conditions could be difficult to obtain in the field. In this paper, we utilize an unsupervised learning algorithm for defining contexts which are unknown a priori. Our method performs unsupervised context identification based on similarities in physics-based and statistical features that characterize the subsurface environment of the raw GPR data. Results indicate that utilizing this contextual information improves classification performance, and provides performance improvements over non-context-dependent approaches. Implications for on-line context identification will be suggested as a possible avenue for future work. © 2010 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering.