July 8, 1997
Contact:
Andrew Careaga
Phone: 573-341-4328
Email: [email protected]
UM-ROLLA DEVELOPING METHODS TO DETECT, NEUTRALIZE LAND MINES
ROLLA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri-Rolla is leading a team of five universities in a five- year project to develop new methods to detect and neutralize the concealed land mines that currently endanger the populations of more than 60 nations.
A $5 million grant from the Department of Defense funds the five-year study, in which researchers will develop a battery of approaches to detecting and removing land mines. The approaches include the use of sound waves and ground-penetrating radar to find the deadly booby traps, injecting electromagnetic pulses into the ground to find and neutralize the mines, and shooting streams of water underground to look for and "float" the mines to the surface.
The researchers also will test various robotic vehicles with infrared "remote sensing" capabilities, and develop mathematical and computational models to classify and detect various land mines.
Working in cooperation with the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., the researchers will test these techniques at the Army base's mine field range.
The UMR-led consortium is one of three in the nation to receive U.S. Army funds for the research. The funding comes through the Department of Defense's "Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative" (MURI).
"There is no one best solution for determining how to locate and neutralize these mines," says Dr. Robert Mitchell, dean of the UMR School of Engineering and one of the researchers on the project. "One mine-detection method may work well in one environment -- in the desert, for instance -- but not in another environment, such as snow-covered or forested terrain.
"Part of our research is to develop a 'library' of information about which detection methods to use in a particular situation and environment," Mitchell adds.
The number of uncleared mines worldwide ranges from 85 million to 105 million spread over 62 nations, according to a Department of Defense report. Somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 people are said to be killed or maimed by them annually.
The Intelligent Systems Center at UMR is leading this research project, with the help of UMR's Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center and Center for Environmental Science and Technology. Working with these UMR research centers are Carnegie Mellon University's Field Robotics Center, the University of Kansas' Remote Sensing Center, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the University of Texas at Arlington's Wave Scattering Research Center.
Altogether, 18 researchers from the five universities will work on the project. Several government laboratories and industries will also be involved in the effort.
The research will fall under four areas:
-- Mine-detection research. In this area, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia will develop electromagnetic detection systems that can be "shot" into the ground from an aircraft, while researchers from the University of Kansas test ground-penetrating radar systems. Four teams of UMR researchers also will work on the mine-detection research, with Dr. Richard D. Rechtein, associate professor emeritus of geological engineering, using acoustic detection methods similar to ultrasound; Dr. David Summers, Curators' Professor of mining engineering and director of the Rock Mechanics and Explosives Research Center, using waterjet technology to find buried objects; Dr. James L. Drewniak, assistant professor of electrical engineering, studying electromagnetic interference technology as a means for detection; and Dr. Shubhender Kapila, professor of chemistry, developing chemical methods for "sniffing out" mines.
-- Mine identification. At UMR, Mitchell will lead studies on the use of infrared sensors to identify various classes of mines and will work with Dr. James Keller at UM-Columbia to combine different sensing methods. UMR's Dr. Richard DuBroff, associate professor of electrical engineering, will use "acoustic wave imaging" to characterize mines via sound waves. University of Texas at Arlington researchers will create computer models to analyze mine- detection and identification methods, while UM-Columbia researchers develop three- dimensional models.
-- Mine neutralization. UM-Columbia researchers will study the feasibility of shooting electromagnetic energy into the ground as a means of defusing mines. UMR researchers will study ways to neutralize the explosives with waterjets, electromagnetic interference and chemical foaming.
-- System integration. Here, researchers from Carnegie Mellon will develop a method to integrate the various detection and neutralization systems into unmanned vehicles. During more than a decade of work with NASA, the Army and DARPA, Carnegie Mellon has developed several mobile robots, including two military vehicles, as well as numerous techniques for remote, semi-automatic and completely autonomous driving. Researchers will build on this foundation to configure a mobile platform with navigation capabilities appropriate to demining scenarios. Dr. Vittal S. Rao, professor of electrical engineering and director of the UMR Intelligent Systems Center, will lead research in developing an "intelligent" system to control the vehicle, while Dr. Virgil Flanigan, professor of mechanical engineering, will work with the Army in making the systems usable and in testing them in the mine field.
Visit the project's World Wide Web site for more information.
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