Improved landmine detection capability (ILDC): systematic approach to the detection of buried mines using passive IR imaging

摘要

Abstract: In order to reduce the serious problem associated withthe mining of important supply/communication roads byhostile parties during peacekeeping operations, theCanadian Department of National Defense has recentlybegun the development of a multi-sensor teleoperatedmine detection vehicle, the Improved Landmine DetectionCapability. One sensor identified as a seriouscandidate for that project is a passive IR camera. Inthe past, many organizations have assessed theefficiency of this technique of detection and reportedwidely fluctuating results. It is believed that themain reason for these fluctuations is associated withthe ad hoc interpretations used by differentresearchers. In this paper, a more systematic analysisis presented which takes into account variables such astime of the day, time of the year, weather conditions,type of road and many others. A working model isproposed in order to facilitate the prediction of theIR signature of the buried land-mine and is comparedwith data acquired from multiple trials. These trialswere done with live mines (without fuzes) andsurrogates buried in different types of road (packedgravel and sand) and during different times of the dayand different times of the year.!10