20-08-2016, 12:39 PM
WHILE diplomats work to restrict the manufacture, sale, and use of land mines worldwide, a massive cleanup effort is needed to find and destroy the estimated 100 million land mines still buried in 65 countries. Land mines left behind from wars worldwide are one of the century's main unsolved problems of war and remain the focus of humanitarian mine detection and removal primarily in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central and South America.
A combination of technologies from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is being directed toward the most daunting challenge presented by land mines--quickly determining the location of each individual land mine in an area so all of them can be removed. The Laboratory's patented micropower impulse radar and advanced imaging technologies are being combined in a practical system called the Land-Mine Detection Advanced Radar Concept, or LANDMARC, that is making pivotal advances in meeting the challenge of land-mine detection.
The Detection Dilemma
Effective solution of the problem posed by land mines means that close to 100% of the mines in any area must be detected at the fastest rate possible and with few false alarms (i.e., mistaking a buried object, such as a rock, for a mine). The United Nations, for example, has set the detection goal at 99.6%, and the U.S. Army's allowable false-alarm rate is one false alarm in every 1.25 square meters. No existing land-mine detection system meets these criteria. And the reasons for this failure have as much to do with the mines themselves and the variety of environments in which they are buried as with the limits or flaws in the current technology.
Land mines are of two basic types--antitank and antipersonnel. Antitank mines are larger and more powerful than antipersonnel mines. However, antipersonnel mines are the most common type of mine, yet the most difficult to find because they are small and often made of plastic. Antitank mines generally contain more metal than do antipersonnel mines and are thus more easily detectable by simple metal detectors. Both types are buried as close to the surface as possible and are found in a variety of soils and terrain--rocky or sandy soil, open fields, forested areas, steep terrain, jungle. For both types of mines, detonation is typically caused by pressure, although some are activated by a trip-wire or other mechanisms. Thus, a land-mine detector must do its job without having direct contact with a mine. It also must be able to locate all types of mines individually in a variety of environments.
A combination of technologies from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is being directed toward the most daunting challenge presented by land mines--quickly determining the location of each individual land mine in an area so all of them can be removed. The Laboratory's patented micropower impulse radar and advanced imaging technologies are being combined in a practical system called the Land-Mine Detection Advanced Radar Concept, or LANDMARC, that is making pivotal advances in meeting the challenge of land-mine detection.
The Detection Dilemma
Effective solution of the problem posed by land mines means that close to 100% of the mines in any area must be detected at the fastest rate possible and with few false alarms (i.e., mistaking a buried object, such as a rock, for a mine). The United Nations, for example, has set the detection goal at 99.6%, and the U.S. Army's allowable false-alarm rate is one false alarm in every 1.25 square meters. No existing land-mine detection system meets these criteria. And the reasons for this failure have as much to do with the mines themselves and the variety of environments in which they are buried as with the limits or flaws in the current technology.
Land mines are of two basic types--antitank and antipersonnel. Antitank mines are larger and more powerful than antipersonnel mines. However, antipersonnel mines are the most common type of mine, yet the most difficult to find because they are small and often made of plastic. Antitank mines generally contain more metal than do antipersonnel mines and are thus more easily detectable by simple metal detectors. Both types are buried as close to the surface as possible and are found in a variety of soils and terrain--rocky or sandy soil, open fields, forested areas, steep terrain, jungle. For both types of mines, detonation is typically caused by pressure, although some are activated by a trip-wire or other mechanisms. Thus, a land-mine detector must do its job without having direct contact with a mine. It also must be able to locate all types of mines individually in a variety of environments.