EM-61-3D at Blossom Point, MD, Test Range. Note orange box.
Somewhere around 10-20% of bombs and projectiles do not detonate as intended. Cleanup of UXO has become a high priority as military base closures continue and the land is turned over to the public for uses as varied as ranching to housing. Traditional "mag-and-flag" detection has been replaced by vehicle-towed and airborne sensor platforms with GPS navigation that produce a permanent archive of geophysical anomalies. Telling the "trash" from the "treasure" remains a key obstacle to cost-effective cleanup, as a simple metal detector cannot distinguish UXO from exploded scrap or other similar-sized metal. State-of-the-art electromagnetic (EM) sensors record multiple components of the EM field at multiple frequencies or times in order to maximize the data available to discriminate targets based on size and shape. My work in UXO discrimination includes:
Finite-element modeling of UXO electromagnetic responses
Discrimination study using a multicomponent, multichannel sensor
Design of a next-generation Advanced Ordnance Locator
Development of interactive modeling and discrimination software
EM-61-3D at Blossom Point, MD, Test Range. Note orange box.