Overview of current radar land mine detection research at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Salisbury, South Australia

This paper describes the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation´s (DSTO) efforts in buried land mine detection by ultra wide band (UWB) radar technology. Detection of low-metallic content land mines with reduced probability of false detection is a high priority. Emphasis is on the development of a hand-held system for demining operations, Vehicle-mounted land mine warning systems are also being investigated. An effective hand-held system is likely to combine a ground probing radar (GPR) with a metal detector. An initial version of such a system could be a cheap, light-weight GPR attachment for current mine detectors. This work is also being extended to cover close-in vehicle-mounted systems for road clearance. Experimental work has commenced on stand-off UWB radar systems for vehicle-mounted anti-vehicle mine warning systems. The current thrust is in the application of 1 to 3 GHz bandwidth impulse radar systems. Later development will include integrated multiple-sensor systems incorporating automated target recognition and sensor fusion