GSTAMIDS pulsed magnetic induction metal detector: hardware description and data processing algorithms

Abstract

The Ground Standoff Mine Detection System (GSTAMIDS) is now in the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) Block 0 phase for USA CECOM. The Mine Detection Subsystem (MDS) presently utilizes three different sensor technologies to detect buried anti-tank (AT) land mines; Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Pulsed Magnetic Induction (PMI), and passive infrared (IR). The GSTAMIDS hardware and software architectures are designed so that other technologies can readily be incorporated when and if they prove viable. Each sensor suite is designed to detect the buried mines and to discriminate against various clutter and background objects. Sensor data fusion of the outputs of the individual sensor suites then enhances the detection probability while reducing the false alarm rate from clutter objects.The metal detector is an essential tool for buried mine detection, as metal land mines still account for a large percentage of land mines. Technologies such as nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR or QR) are presently being developed to detect or confirm the presence of explosive material in buried land mines, particularly the so-called plastic mines; unfortunately, the radio frequency signals required cannot penetrate into a metal land mine. The limitation of the metal detector is not in detection of the mines, but in the additional detection of metal clutter. A metal detector has been developed which uses matrix pencil pole extraction techniques to discriminate the mines from the clutter, thereby greatly reducing false alarm rates. This mine detector is designed to characterize the impulse response function of the metal objects, based on a parametric three-pole model of the response, and to use pattern recognition to determine the match of the responses to known mines. In addition to discrimination against clutter, the system can also generally tell one mine type from another.