Environmental conditions can hinder detection

Citation

(1998), "Environmental conditions can hinder detection", Sensor Review, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1998.08718dab.004

Environmental conditions can hinder detection

Environmental conditions can hinder detection

Keywords Military (Land mines), Smell

The Sandia group is looking at the development of land-mine chemical sensing technology by modelling the environmental fate and transport of explosive signature molecules. "This work will emphasize the significant influence of environmental conditions, such as temperature, soil type, precipitation and evaporation on the movement of chemical signature molecules", Jim Phelan, a researcher, says. "For instance, the amount of explosive signature molecules emitted from a mine in Bosnia may show a much different concentration at the ground surface than a mine in Iraq or Afghanistan. We'll also evaluate such things as whether it's better to look for mines in the afternoon, when soil is warmer, rather than during the morning, and how rainfall affects detection".

Metal detectors are most commonly used to find mines, but they are ineffective when plastic explosives are involved, according to the Sandia researchers.

Sandia, with funding from the Departments of Energy and Defence, is developing a portable sensor that incorporates ion-mobility spectrometry ­ the same technology developed for explosives-detection portals to check airline passengers ­ that will be capable of quickly detecting and classifying minute quantities of explosive molecules. The project originally focused on detecting sea-mines and unexploded ordnance in shallow water. Land-mines often are placed in rice paddies, fords and domestic water sources.

The new system is not an anomaly detector because it seeks out the explosive molecules themselves. It incorporates a new Sandia-developed concentration technology that, potentially, could chemically amplify the source strength thousands of times. That work, which is ongoing, has been expanded to land-mine detection with the help of Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency and Laboratory Directed Research and Development funding.