Novel methods for detecting buried explosive devices
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Quantum Magnetics, Inc., San Diego, CA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Quantum Magnetics, Inc. (QM) are exploring novel landmine detection technologies. Technologies considered here include bioreporter bacteria, swept acoustic resonance, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), and semiotic data fusion. Bioreporter bacteria look promising for third-world humanitarian applications; they are inexpensive, and deployment does not require high-tech methods. Swept acoustic resonance may be a useful adjunct to magnetometers in humanitarian demining. For military demining, NQR is a promising method for detecting explosive substances; of 50,000 substances that have been tested, none has an NQR signature that can be mistaken for RDX or TNT. For both military and commercial demining, sensor fusion entails two daunting tasks, identifying fusible features in both present-day and emerging technologies, and devising a fusion algorithm that runs in real-time on cheap hardware. Preliminary research in these areas is encouraging. A bioreporter bacterium for TNT detection is under development. Investigation has just started in swept acoustic resonance as an approach to a cheap mine detector for humanitarian use. Real-time wavelet processing appears to be a key to extending NQR bomb detection into mine detection, including TNT-based mines. Recent discoveries in semiotics may be the breakthrough that will lead to a robust fused detection scheme.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States); Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 463656
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970465-8; ON: DE97004726; CNN: Contract N00164-97-C-0004; Contract DAAH01-96-C-R272; TRN: AHC29709%%93
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SPIE international conference, Orlando, FL (United States), 21-25 Apr 1997; Other Information: PBD: [1997]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Investigation of Wavelet-Based Enhancements to Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Explosives Detectors
GICHD mine dog testing project : soil sample results #5.