Anti-personnel Landmine Detection for Humanitarian Demining: The Current Situation and Future Direction for Japanese Research and Development

221 Pages·2009·6.83 MB·English

by  Katsuhisa Furuta

Anti-personnel Landmine Detection
for Humanitarian Demining
Katsuhisa Furuta • Jun Ishikawa
Editors

Anti-personnel Landmine
Detection for Humanitarian
Demining
The Current Situation and Future Direction
for Japanese Research and Development

123
Katsuhisa Furuta, Dr. Eng Jun Ishikawa, Dr. Eng
Tokyo Denki University Department of Robotics and Mechatronics
2-2 Kanda Nishiki-cho School of Science and Technology
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo for Future Life
101-8457 Japan Tokyo Denki University
2-2 Kanda Nishiki-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
101-8457 Japan

ISBN 978-1-84882-345-7 e-ISBN 978-1-84882-346-4
DOI 10.1007/978-1-84882-346-4
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008941100
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Preface
Most of the articles in the book are reports from researchers engaged in the Japan
Science and Technology Agency (JST) program on research and development of
sensing technology and access, and manipulation technology to support detection
and clearance of anti-personnel mines for humanitarian purposes. The program
started in October 2002 and was terminated in March 2008.
It is said that we still have more than one hundred million landmines buried on
the earth and more than twenty thousand people are victims every year. On
December 3, 1997, the then Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi signed the Convention
on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-
Personnel Landmines and on their Destruction (known as the Anti-personnel Mines
Ban Treaty in Ottawa) and also proposed the “Zero Victim Program” in his address.
On December 2 of the same year, the then Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo
Muraoka announced the agreement of the Cabinet that under certain conditions,
anti-personnel clearance equipment for humanitarian anti-personnel landmine
clearance activities is not against Japan’s three principles banning the export of
weapons. With that decision, the humanitarian detection and clearance technology
of the anti-personnel landmine has been considered and developed in Japan.
Landmine detection and clearance were identified as problems in the
reconstruction of Afghanistan at the International Conference on Reconstruction
Assistance to Afghanistan held on January 21–22, 2002 in Tokyo. The Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) founded the Experts
Committee on Humanitarian Demining Technology after the conference. Its report
“Promotion of R&D for Humanitarian Demining Technology” was submitted to
MEXT. This report described the importance of technological development for the
anti-personnel landmine detection and clearance using advanced technology to
achieve safe and efficient humanitarian demining and provide a basis for their
development in Japan. According to the report, JST started the project at the
request of MEXT. The topics and researchers were selected from proposals and
research and development started in October 2002. In July 2002, the experts from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MEXT, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry and the Defense Agency visited Afghanistan to survey landmine detection
and clearance activities in the neighborhood of Kabul and Jalalabad, and collect
vi Preface
information from the NGO members in charge of the demining operation. This
visit made clear what technology was required in the real landmine detection and
clearance operations.
Anti-personnel landmines are cruel instruments used to injure enemy soldiers to
reducing their fighting ability by demoralizing combatants and forcing them to take
care of the wounded. Most anti-personnel landmines are 7 to 16 cm in diameter
and buried around 10 cm beneath the surface. They contain 20 to 200 g of
explosives with sensors to the load pressure or the trip wire. The depth is changed
and deepened as the climate and environment changes. Deming methods and
equipment differ depending on countries or regions. In places like Cambodia, the
vegetation must be removed before the mine detection, which accounts more than
60% of the overall demining procedure. In Afghanistan vegetation clearance only
accounts for 15%.
The minefield is marked off from the surrounding area by building a safe road
around it and is divided into sections. In large areas, a rotary crusher machine is
used to break the mines, but more than 15% of the mines are said to be left. Mine
dogs are frequently used to detect the possibility of mines. Metal detectors are used
to detect the metal mine fuses and to identify the location. When metal is detected,
the identified area is prodded and if the mine is found, it is removed manually or
brown up. Metal detectors cannot discriminate metal fragments from landmines
and generally one landmine is found for every 1000 metal reactions. They do not
give metal depth information, which is very important for deminers in determining
the starting point for prodding.
Many national mine action bodies in co-operation with United Nations Mine
Action Centre (UNMAC) and Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian
Demining (GICHD) are trying to develop and/or improve methods, techniques and
technologies for humanitarian demining operations. The Croatian Mine Action
Centre (CROMAC) has developed a contemporary mechanical demining method
in the Republic of Croatia conducted by demining machines of different types
equipped with different tools (flails, tillers and combinations of flails and tillers).
In this way, mechanical demining in the Republic of Croatia took the primary role
in humanitarian demining. Good results were achieved, especially in applying
combined demining methods using demining machines, manual mine detection,
and mine and UXO detection dogs. CROMAC has also developed an efficient
system of quality control over demining process, although there still remains the
problem of fast and efficient distinction of different metal wastes, metal fragments
of mines or parts of mines buried in the ground. In these cases, each detection has
to be dug up manually and identified, considerably slowing down the demining
process and quality control of the demined area.
The JST program of developing humanitarian mine detection and clearance
technology decided to develop sensors visualizing the underground objects using
ground penetrating radars in three years (short term projects) and ones detecting
explosives using nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), neutron or bio-sensors in
five years (middle term projects). The sensors combining metal detectors and
ground penetrating radar have been developed by Tohoku University, University of
Electro-Communications and Nagoya University with the help of Mitsui
Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. The sensors were developed to visualize the
Preface vii
underground three-dimensional image by combining sliced two-dimensional
images. They are held and operated by deminers or put on the vehicles developed
by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tadano Ltd. The
results of these short-term projects were introduced at the Nairobi Review
Conference of the Ottawa Convention in November 2004. In March 2005, experts
from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Croatia and GICHD were invited to domestic trials
in Sakaside, Kagawa Prefecture. The experts from Afghanistan evaluated that the
visual image of the three-dimensional underground information given by the
developed ground-penetrating radar (GPR) would not only aid safe and efficient
demining, but also provide quality control by storing the measured data in the
database.
Some instruments developed by the short-term projects were tested at the trial
field of the Croatian Mine Action Centre - Center for Testing, Development
(CROMAC–CTDT, CROMAC-related organization) in Croatia. Trials in Croatia
showed that GPR systems have an advantage over classic metal detectors in
increasing the detection depth and reducing the false alarm rate. Although the
systems are still in their development phase, with minimum modifications, they
could be used in quality assurance operations during demining and quality control
of the demining project. Trial use of two Advanced Landmine Imaging Systems
(ALISs) systems has been carried out in Croatia in quality control operations over
completed demining projectes. The results were more than satisfying. Under the
framework of Official Development Assistance (ODA), tests were done in
Cambodia by the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC). These sensors and
vehicles have been included in the Guidebook on Detection Technology and
Systems for Humanitarian Demining.
The sensors detecting the explosive have been developed by Kyusyu University,
Osaka University, Kyoto University and Nagoya University, where Kyusyu
University developed the biosensor, Osaka University developed the NQR sensor,
and Kyoto University and Nagoya University developed the nitrogen sensors using
neutrons generated by D-D fusion reactions.
The middle-term projects thus have achieved the research and development of
sensors and access vehicles for humanitarian anti-personnel mine detection and
clearance.
We hope that this book will publicize the results of the JST program and that
they will be used for people in mine-affected countries.

Tokyo Denki University Katsuhisa Furuta
Croatian Mine Action Centre Oto Jungwirth
December 2008
Contents
Abbreviations and Acyronyms ............................................................................ xv
List of Contributors ............................................................................................. xix
Part I Introduction
1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3
Jun Ishikawa and Katsuhisa Furuta
1.1 The Anti-personnel Landmine Problem, Existing Demining
Technologies and Operating Procedures .................................................... 3
1.2 Japanese Action for Humanitarian Demining ............................................ 7
1.2.1 Short-term R&D Project ................................................................. 8
1.2.2 Mid-term R&D Project ................................................................. 13
References......................................................................................................... 15
Part II Dual Sensor Systems Ground Penetrating Radar and Metal Detectors
2 Principles of Mine Detection by Ground-penetrating Radar ...................... 19
Motoyuki Sato
2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 19
2.2 GPR Principles ......................................................................................... 19
2.2.1 Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Soil .................................. 19
2.2.2 Reflection of Electromagnetic Waves from Land Mines .............. 20
2.2.3 Clutter ........................................................................................... 23
2.3 GPR Survey ............................................................................................. 24
2.3.1 Operation Frequency .................................................................... 24
2.3.2 GPR System ................................................................................. 26
2.3.3 Signal Processing .......................................................................... 26
References......................................................................................................... 26
x Contents
3 Development of Dual Sensors and Deployment in Mine Affected
Countries ...................................................................................................... 27
Motoyuki Sato and Kazunori Takahashi
3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 27
3.2 ALIS ...................................................................................................... 28
3.2.1 ALIS Configuration and GPR ...................................................... 28
3.2.2 Sensor Head .................................................................................. 29
3.2.3 Sensor Tracking System ............................................................... 29
3.2.4 Data Processing and Display ........................................................ 31
3.2.5 ALIS Operation ............................................................................ 33
3.3 Evaluation Test of ALIS .......................................................................... 33
3.3.1 ALIS Evaluation Before 2006 ...................................................... 33
3.3.2 Test Lane Trial in Cambodia, 2006 .............................................. 36
3.3.3 Test Lane Trial in Croatia, 2007 ................................................... 38
3.3.4 Quality Control Test in Mine-fields in Croatia, 2006--2007 ........ 40
3.4 Buggy-Mounted System .......................................................................... 42
3.5 ALIS-EMI ................................................................................................ 42
3.6 Summary .................................................................................................. 43
References......................................................................................................... 44
4 Development of an Array Antenna Landmine Detection Radar System ... 45
Yoshiyuki Tomizawa, Ikuo Arai and Shinji Gotoh
4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 45
4.2 Anti-personnel Landmine Detection Radar Using an Array Antenna ..... 46
4.2.1 Radar Waveform .......................................................................... 46
4.2.2 Development of the Wideband Antenna ....................................... 47
4.2.3 Creating an Antenna Array ........................................................... 48
4.2.4 Development of the Ultra-compact Impulse Radar ...................... 48
4.2.5 Architecture of the Landmine Detection Radar ............................ 49
4.3 Prototype .................................................................................................. 50
4.4 Detection Tests ........................................................................................ 52
4.4.1 Single Antenna Laboratory Testing .............................................. 52
4.4.2 Array Antenna Laboratory Testing ............................................... 53
4.4.3 Evaluation Testing in Japan .......................................................... 54
4.4.4 International Evaluation Testing ................................................... 55
4.5 Scan-image Improvements ...................................................................... 56
4.5.1 Effects of Ground Surface Unevenness ........................................ 56
4.5.2 Improving Identification Accuracy Through Super-resolution
Signal Processing .......................................................................... 57
4.5.3 Applying MUSIC Processing to Pulse Radar ............................... 58
4.6 Reducing the Size and Weight of the Array Antenna Landmine
Detection Radar ....................................................................................... 60
4.6.1 Size and Weight of the Antenna ................................................... 60
4.6.2 Increasing Data Acquisition Speed ............................................... 60
4.7 Installation on a Gryphon All-terrain Vehicle ......................................... 61
4.8 Summary .................................................................................................. 61
References......................................................................................................... 62
Contents xi
5 Test and Evaluation of Japanese G PR-EMI Dual Sensor Systems at the
Benkovac Test Site in Croatia ........................................................................ 63
Jun Ishikawa, Katsuhisa Furuta and Nikola Pavković
5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 63
5.2 Test and Evaluation Overview ................................................................. 64
5.2.1 Benkovac Test Site ....................................................................... 65
5.2.2 Four Devices to Be Evaluated ...................................................... 66
5.3 Test and Evaluation Plan ......................................................................... 67
5.3.1 Experimental Design .................................................................... 67
5.3.2 Trial Procedures ............................................................................ 70
5.3.3 Evaluation Method ....................................................................... 70
5.4 Experimental Results ............................................................................... 74
5.4.1 ANOVA Results ........................................................................... 74
5.4.2 Probability of Detection ................................................................ 76
5.4.3 ROC Curves and the Role of GPR ............................................... 77
5.5 Summary .................................................................................................. 79
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................ 79
References......................................................................................................... 79
Annex 5.1 Comprehensive Result of Probability of Detection (PD).............. 80
Part III Vehicle Systems Based on Advanced Robotics for Humanitarian
Demining
6 Environment-adaptive Anti-personnel Mine Detection System:
Advanced Min e Sweeper................................................................................ 85
Toshio Fukuda, Yasuhisa Hasegawa, Kazuhiro Kosuge, Kiyoshi Komoriya,
Fumihisa Kitagawa and Tomohiro Ikegami
6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 86
6.2 System Architecture ................................................................................. 87
6.3 Sensing Technology ................................................................................. 89
6.3.1 Integrated Sensor .......................................................................... 89
6.3.2 Signal Processing for Geography-adaptive Sensing ..................... 91
6.4 Access-control Technology ..................................................................... 91
6.4.1 Sensor Manipulation System ........................................................ 91
6.4.2 Sensing Vehicle ............................................................................ 93
6.4.3 Access Vehicle ............................................................................. 95
6.4.4 Assist Vehicle ............................................................................... 96
6.5 Information Management System ............................................................ 97
6.6 Experiments ............................................................................................. 98
6.7 Summary ................................................................................................ 100
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... 100
References....................................................................................................... 101