A multisensor system for detection and characterization of UXO(MM-0437) - Demonstration Report
The Berkeley UXO discriminator (BUD) (Figure 1) is a portable Active Electromagnetic (AEM) system for UXO detection and characterization that quickly determines the location, size, and symmetry properties of a suspected UXO. The BUD comprises of three orthogonal transmitters that 'illuminate' a target with fields in three independent directions in order to stimulate the three polarization modes that, in general, characterize the target EM response. In addition, the BUD uses eight pairs of differenced receivers for response recording. Eight receiver coils are placed horizontally along the two diagonals of the upper and lower planes of the two horizontal transmitter loops. These receiver coil pairs are located on symmetry lines through the center of the system and each pair sees identical fields during the on-time of the pulse in all of the transmitter coils. They are wired in opposition to produce zero output during the on-time of the pulses in three orthogonal transmitters. Moreover, this configuration dramatically reduces noise in the measurements by canceling the background electromagnetic fields (these fields are uniform over the scale of the receiver array and are consequently nulled by the differencing operation), and by canceling the noise contributed by the tilt of the receivers in the Earth's magnetic field, and greatly enhances receivers sensitivity to the gradients of the target response. The BUD performs target characterization from a single position of the sensor platform above a target. BUD was designed to detect and characterize UXO in the 20 mm to 155 mm size range for depths between 0 and 1 m. The relationship between the object size and the depth at which it can be detected is illustrated in Figure 2. This curve was calculated for BUD assuming that the receiver plane is 20 cm above the ground. Figure 2 shows that, for example, BUD can detect and characterize an object with 10 cm diameter down to the depth of 90 cm with depth uncertainty of 10%. Any objects buried at the depth more than 1 m have a low probability of detection. With existing algorithms in the system computer it is not possible to recover the principal polarizabilities of large objects close to the system. Detection of large shallow objects is assured, but at present real time discrimination for shallow objects is not. Post processing of the field data is required for shape discrimination of large shallow targets. Next generation of BUD software will not have this limitation. Successful application of the inversion algorithm that solves for the target parameters is contingent upon resolution of this limitation. At the moment, interpretation software is developed for a single object only. In case of multiple objects the software indicates the presence of a cluster of objects but is unable to provide characteristics of each individual object.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 923343
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-60549; R&D Project: 0; BnR: YN0100000; TRN: US200806%%406
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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