Innovative Humanitarian Demining: A Novel Low-Cost UAV System for Anomaly Detection via Pulse Induction Metal Detector

Unexploded landmines continue to pose threats in post-conflict areas, and the need for mine clearance has been exacerbated by the negative impacts that the presence of these landmines has on the affected communities and the environment. However, the process and cost associated with landmine clearance in such regions have been extensive and pose risks to the clearance teams. This research proposes a cost-effective system using a UAV with a Pulse Induction metal detector and a LiDAR terrain-following system capable of autonomous flight at low altitude. The system proposes the application of a digitized process that eliminates manual marking in the detection process and offers a Virtual Minefield Map to be used by the clearance ground team once a mine has been located through the automated system. The system was tested in a field experiment consisting of buried landmine substitutes and identified 9 out of 10 landmine targets at an accuracy level of 87 percent. The data we obtained confirms the system is a scalable solution for preliminary mine detection surveys, which can be provided to ground teams as reliable data to speed up clearance operations safely.