Advanced Magnetic System for UXO Detection and Discrimination
Abstract
This project addressed issues of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) detection, as a key component of the land remediation problem. Remediation is a formidably expensive operation. Much of the cost is a consequence of "dry" holes dug to reveal a benign object instead of the expected hazardous UXO, and of holes dug in the wrong location, or made much larger than they ought, thanks to faulty localization of the ordnance. The concept proposed for development in the present project is based on the fact that most UXO uses ferrous steel. Its ferromagnetic and conducting properties both distort the earth's static magnetic field and generate a secondary field in response to a time-dependent exciting field. The proposal and initial statement of work set out to develop a single instrument combining target detection and accurate localization (via passive magnetic gradiometry of the earth s-field distortion) with target-clutter discrimination (using the response to a broadband exciting field). No such single instrument exists today. The proposed instrument was to incorporate a full tensor magnetic gradiometer inside a three-axis excitation field source. With the source turned off, the gradiometer enables detection and localization. With the source turned on at closer range, the gradiometer measures the broadband response of the object and a classification algorithm, developed independently at Duke University, would decide whether the object was a UXO or not.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 04, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA479749
Entities
People
- Lawrence Carin
- Peter V. Czipott
- Yacine Dalichaouch