Ground penetrating radar and microwave tomography for the safety management of a cultural heritage site: Miletos Ilyas Bey Mosque (Turkey)

Detection and assessment of structural damage affecting foundation robustness is of significant relevance for the safety management of cultural heritage sites. In this framework, ground penetrating radar (GPR) is worth consideration owing to its capability of providing high resolution and detailed information about the inner status of a structure, without involving significant invasive actions and ensuring a fast survey. On the other hand, the effectiveness of a GPR diagnostic survey can be impaired by the low interpretability of the raw data radargrams; thus huge interest is currently focused on the development of advanced and application-oriented data processing strategies. In this paper, a data processing chain based on the combined use of the commercial REFLEXW program and a microwave tomography approach is presented. An assessment of the achievable imaging capabilities is provided by processing measurements collected during a survey at the Great Mosque of Ilyas Bey (Ilyas Bey Mosque), one of the most important cultural heritages in ancient Miletos-Iona in Soke-Aydin city (Turkey).