Remote Sensing Monitoring and Assessment of Silk Road in Turkey: Integrating Drone Systems with GPR and RM

Abstract

Maintaining a country’s heritage requires the implementation of appropriate methods, which enable the condition assessment of historic infrastructure with preferably zero damages/interventions and minimum post-inspections. A vast expanse of intricate land- and sea-route networks is known as the Silk Roads. They were crucial in bringing Eastern and Western cultures together. Additionally, it has been noted that major cities in Western Anatolia, such as Baghdad or Izmir, have been able to establish links because to their advantageous position. Non-Destructive Techniques (NDT) can meet such criteria, while they are also time and cost-efficient. This paper recommends the combined use of several techniques to maximize information range and accuracy. More specifically, High Definition and Infrared Thermography (IRT) drone systems to assess sub-surface state and detect external heritage defects, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Resistivity Measurement (RM) for detecting internal defects. By accumulating suitable data from heritage structures along the Silk Road in Turkey, this study presents a comprehensive approach that can accurately identify surficial and internal defects, in terms of their location and size.