Multisensor technology for buried land mines detection

The main problems in practical realization of mass scale demining consist in the presence of two opposite tendencies: (1) express methods of mines detection have unacceptable number of false alarm and/or mine omissions in real field conditions and in presence of different natural and man made items, (2) reliable methods of hidden explosive and buried mine identification have unacceptable low speed of detection. To overcome this difficulty, we have implemented multisensor technology that combines a fast method of mine detection and a slow but very reliable method of explosive identification in suspicious places. We have used the neutron-neutron (n,n) method for fast detection of buried land mines because it has much lower omission rate as compared to other methods. The (n,n) method is based on the difference of neutron moderation capability of the explosive substance and that of the surrounding media. To identify explosives the neutron-gamma (n,/spl gamma/) method is used. The (n,/spl gamma/)-technology is based on irradiation of an object by neutron flux, registration and comparative analysis of the characteristic features of the secondary gamma-rays generated by nuclei of the substance. In other words, we provide real time in situ qualitative and quantitative analysis of the object (soil) and different inclusions (items) via registration of features of the prompt secondary gamma-rays (intensity, angular, energy, and spatial distributions) which are specific for every nucleus.