Archaeo-rover: A Low-Cost Robotic System for the Collection of Geophysical Data

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Conventional methods for collection of ground penetrating radar (GPR), magnetic gradiometry, and other archaeo-geophysical data generally require precise grid layout ahead of surveys and significant labor to set up and move survey ropes, slowing data collection and creating a hurdle to larger, landscape-scale investigations. Although some commercial systems now employ Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GNSS for precise positioning of instruments during data collection, consistent and high-resolution coverage over large areas remains difficult without preliminary grid surveys, while the cost of such RTK systems is prohibitive to many archaeologists. In an effort to expand the possibilities of RTK-enabled geophysical survey, we built the "Archaeo-Rover": an autonomous vehicle designed to carry a GPR antenna while towing additional geophysical instruments, incorporating a new generation of low cost RTK GNSS tools. The Archaeo-Rover is capable of autonomously surveying areas many times larger than what is possible using traditional techniques, providing consistent, high-resolution geophysical data at a fraction of the cost of commercially available towed systems. This poster presents our ongoing experiments with the Archaeo-Rover as well as results of field testing at archaeological sites in New Hampshire and Illinois.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25643