Mine Clearance in a Virtual Environment
Abstract
At the same moment as France completed destruction of its stock of anti-personnel mines (21/12/99) in accordance with the 1998 Ottawa Agreement in more than 60 countries there were 100 million live, buried "permanent sentinel" mines continuing to mutilate the inhabitants of mine-infested regions, most of the wounded being children (600.000 people affected over 20 years, one person killed every 20 minutes by these devices designed to terrorise civil populations during the war, whose effects persist for a long time afterwards). Paradoxically, confronted by the sophisticated manufacturing techniques of these "cowardly weapons", French sappers use a rudimentary mine clearance technique to render zones viable for the civil population with the aid of a bayonet-type tool, the operator probes the ground until he hits a suspect device, This task is carried out blind and one of the problems is identifying the presence of a mine and distinguishing it from a false alarm This technique, demanding 100% results, based on the skill and experience of the mine disposal team, is taught by the Minex Centre of the Applied Engineering Applications College.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP010781
Entities
People
- Laurent Todeschini
- Pascal Hue
- Paul Gorzerino
- Therese Pasquier