Dual height metal detection for clutter rejection and target classification

摘要

Metal detection has been in use for many years as a method for mine detection. The one major downside to metal detection is that most objects with sufficient metal content will be detected thus increasing the false alarm rate and decreasing the efficiency of metal detection as a sensor for mine detection. Based on land mine detection research carried out by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), this paper focuses on methods to reduce the negative effect of metallic clutter on sensor performance by using a dual height metal detector array on a vehicle mounted platform to reject unwanted clutter while highlighting objects that are more likely to be of interest. The paper also covers the potential of exploiting the dual height configuration for target classification and identification using feature extraction methods and neural networks.