N96-185 Man-Portable UXO Detection System: Phase I Final Report November 4, 1996 - May 4, 1997

Existing methods to detect landmines and UXOs depend on inducing an oscillating electric current in the metallic components of the target. For objects with very small metallic content such as plastic-cased mines, these methods have false alarm rates approaching 1000:1. Recently an electromagnetic te...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Burnett, Lowell J
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Ammunition and Explosives
Atomic and Molecular Physics and Spectroscopy
ELECTRIC CURRENT
ELECTROMAGNETISM
EXPLOSIVES DETECTION
FALSE ALARMS
LAND MINES
MANPORTABLE EQUIPMENT
NUCLEAR QUADRUPOLE RESONANCE
RADIO WAVES
SBIR(SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH)
SIGNALS
SUPERCONDUCTORS
UNEXPLODED AMMUNITION
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Summary:Existing methods to detect landmines and UXOs depend on inducing an oscillating electric current in the metallic components of the target. For objects with very small metallic content such as plastic-cased mines, these methods have false alarm rates approaching 1000:1. Recently an electromagnetic technique known as nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) has been developed to detect explosives directly in their bulk form using radio waves. In the last year, large scale NQR systems have been used to screen airline baggage and mail at airports in the US and Europe. In this Phase I SBIR program, we investigated the feasibility of modifying current airline NQR systems to make them man-portable and capable of detecting landmines under field conditions. In the context of an overall engineering redesign, we investigated two principal technical issues: 1) the use of advanced signal processing techniques to increase sensitivity and signal discrimination, and 2) the limits of conventional (transistor-based) NQR receivers and the potential improvements offered by superconducting sensors. These studies show that it should be possible to develop a man-portable detection system capable of detecting over 90% of all plastic-cased mines (regardless of metal content) and 100% of metallic-cased mines and UXO when buried at typical depths. We estimate that an NQR-based mine detection system will produce 10 or less false alarms per 100 m(2) at a detection probability of 90%. Phase I successfully sets the groundwork for development and field testing of a prototype NQR-based mine and UXO detector in Phase II.