Detection and discrimination of buried metal and low-metal content landmines can be accomplished using dielectrometry technology. Dielectrometry measurements can detect and discriminate both non-metal and metal objects buried in the ground, whereby the presence of low dielectric constant plastic landmines in a high dielectric constant sand will decrease the measured capacitance while a metal landmine would increase the capacitance for most configurations. Further improvements in measurement sensitivity and object discrimination is gained from low frequency measurements of terminal conductance as well as capacitance and from their variation with frequency. Signatures from dielectrometry frequency spectroscopy measurements can be used to enhance detection sensitivity and to minimize false alarms. Computer based models can relate sensor terminal admittance measurements to identification of the size, location, and material of buried objects.
Measurements show good agreement with computer simulations.
Hz to 10 KHz. Since sugar is considered to be an adequate simulant for explosives, its dielectric properties were also measured as a function of frequency. Inc. Long cylinders of aluminum, solid Teflon, and hollow Teflon were used as surrogate landmines and were buried just under the sand surface. The hollow Teflon cylinder could be filled with other materials to simulate the presence of explosive material or other landmine components. Frequency sweeps and surface scans were performed with this apparatus.