Standard microphones could detect buried landmines

Sure, there's already a myriad of methods for detecting and safely clearing out buried landmines, but the current options certainly aren't easy on the wallet. Thanks to a recent investigation by Georgia Tech, however, commercially available microphones could actually be used "as near-ground sensors for seismic detection of buried landmines," and if effective, could replace the rather pricey radar-based alternatives most commonly used. Recent trials using microphone data in an experimental model were said to "clearly locate buried inert landmines but exhibit more clutter than images formed with seismic displacement data collected using other techniques," but the excess noise may be worth the trouble if the cost savings prove significant.

[Via NewScientistTech, image courtesy of BBC]

[Static @ Jul 29th 2007 1:16PM]

Last I checked, there really wasn't a "Safe" way to clear mines, short of just blowing the bejeesus out of large parcels of land (Bringing to mind the definition of the word "Safe").

Glad to see this massive problem is still being worked on.

[nih @ Jul 29th 2007 1:44PM]

Damned if I can be bothered finding it at 6am, but there's an enormous, armoured 8-wheeled vehicle the army use to simply drive over land mines. It's survivable and can continue moving after taking several hits. Mostly they use it for unavoidable excursions into mined areas rather than ordinary detection, but it really is beyond cool.

[Zonbu @ Jul 31st 2007 9:52AM]

Alford Technologies (http://www.explosives.net/) makes a cool device that burns the device in-situ. Very cheap, easy to deploy, and turns the average AT mine into a crisped shell in moments. NO explosion! It uses an intense jet of flame to burn the device so rapidly that it can not detonate.

Dr Sydney Alford is my hero. He rocks.

[Blef @ Jul 30th 2007 12:34AM]

@NIH:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demining

[Static @ Jul 31st 2007 10:32AM]

I'm going to be that Dr. Alford has never claimed that his device never results in a full detonation of the mine. He's a brilliant, detail oriented man, who knows a ton about mines, including the fact that these mines are only as safe as their weakest component. Too many countries have use cheap, chemically labile substances in their initiators. As these chemicals degrade, they become unstable. This instability frequently results in fuses that begin the detonation process when subjected to any significant amount of energy. Heat is a great energy source for kicking of an unstable detonation chain.

Remember, mine clearing is typically a two step process. If you skimp on either step, you are not going to be sure that you actually got all of the mines. The first step is finding them. The second step is clearing them. Dr. Alford's technologies typically revolve around clearing a located mine. The very act of finding a mine can be lethal (I can hear the jokes coming).

[NovaLand @ Jul 29th 2007 2:08PM]

I'm glad it's cheaper, but sometimes u just pay more to be on the safe side. Doesn't even need to be safer, just let me thinks it is.

[TNP @ Jul 29th 2007 2:17PM]

And who gets to plant the mikes, Unnamed, Red-Shirted, Crewman #3?

[ethana2 @ Jul 29th 2007 6:14PM]

Nice. Hey, you can get yourself into a stone trek episode as a redshirt if you want- ever heard of it?

[Kris Burbidge @ Jul 29th 2007 2:38PM]

For some reason, I wouldn't particularly want to skimp out on my MINE DETECTION equipment.

[nih @ Jul 29th 2007 8:09PM]

Why? You're gonna find it, one way or the other. ;)

[Neebs @ Jul 29th 2007 3:20PM]

You know, I was going to say something extremely witty about thinning out the number of Xbox Live kids there are, but I forgot, so here's a shit version.

"At least it'll cut down on how many times I can get called a jew or the n-word on Live."

[xboxlivekid @ Jul 29th 2007 7:28PM]

Hey neebs your a Jewish N-word!

[Neebs @ Jul 29th 2007 8:09PM]

i c wut u did thar

[xboxlivekid @ Jul 29th 2007 8:24PM]

Sorry I couldn't resist.

[Leoedin @ Jul 29th 2007 4:30PM]

My dad worked on a mine clearing vehicle known as the "Dervish" in the late 90's and early 00's.

http://www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=373

http://www.maic.jmu.edu/journal/3.2/profiles/salter/Image29.gif

http://diwww.epfl.ch/lami/detec/images/dervish.gif

The principle - seen in the last photo, is that it spins around, covering areas of ground completely. However, because it uses a lightweight small frame instead of a solid structure, the mine blasts completely pass through it.

Unfortunately mine clearing hasn't been in the public eye for some time, and so along with a lot of other potentially revolutionary projects people I know have worked on, it has lost funding and died.

The sad thing about mine clearing is that those who are most at risk are those with the least money, and so the vast majority of the rich west are not interested.

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Jul 29th 2007 4:40PM]

Whatever happen to "hire a random kid for a dollar and give him a stick to clear mines?"

NOW, That's cheap!!!

[Dennis @ Jul 29th 2007 10:37PM]

cause then that would be child labour... duh!

[peshue @ Jul 29th 2007 4:48PM]

That's not nearly as interesting as using trained rats
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0210_040210_minerats.html
Although you don't run the risk of staring a real lfe secret of nimh.

[loutang82 @ Jul 29th 2007 5:07PM]

I don't really get how a microphone is supposed to detect seismic activity from a mine that hasn't exploded already

[KC @ Jul 29th 2007 5:33PM]

Finally! I guess now I can set aside a weekend to clear out all those pesky landmines from around the yard. My neighbor Tom is sure going to be jealous, what with him still using the old fashioned expensive way.

[Paul @ Jul 29th 2007 5:46PM]

"I don't really get how a microphone is supposed to detect seismic activity from a mine that hasn't exploded already"

they jiggle the ground and record the feedback, a large chunk of metal isn't going to jiggle like dirt.

[Miles Pulsford @ Jul 29th 2007 9:35PM]

whoa they jiggle the ground? how in the hell do they do that?

[obiwan @ Jul 29th 2007 6:32PM]

When I was in Bosnia, I saw the guys in the big blue bomb suits with sticks, inching along on the ground, clearing land around apartments, so that the locals, who had moved back in already would be safe. Nerve-wracking work, slow as snails. Of course, some joker at our compound just took a big @$$ bulldozer out and drove it over every inch outside the fence several times -- he cleared a 1000 feet in every direction that way in a single day. Of course, it turned out there weren't any mines there...
so he may have just been lucky!

[yelohbird @ Jul 29th 2007 7:48PM]

Sorry for being so anal, but "a myriad of" is not correct usage. The corrected sentence should be, "Sure, there already are myriad methods of..."

[StandardAI @ Jul 29th 2007 8:21PM]

Actually myriad can be used as a noun or adjective making that sentance completely valid.

[Static @ Jul 29th 2007 10:21PM]

If we could rely on landmines to detonate reliably, then sure, some of the above methods would be great (Bulldozers, the Dervish, etc). However, even the best mines have a failure rate. If that failure rate is 0.1% (And that would be a fantastic failure rate), then one out of every thousand mines isn't going to reliably detonate. Couple that with munition systems that lay hundreds of mines in a single pass, and you see the problem. Mine fields made up of thousands or tens of thousand of mines are cheap and economical to the military planner.

Trying to farm in that field, ten years later, worrying about the one that was missed..... kinda puts you on edge.

Any method that can locate a mine BEFORE it detonates is great, and should be worked on, especially something like this.

[Lili @ Jul 30th 2007 9:14AM]

Leoedin - thank you very much for the links. Some of us here in the US are working on retraining programs for returning soldiers, many of whom have lost limbs. This tool should be supported and employed. I'll pass this on to folks who be interested in supporting the Professor's efforts. Best wishes to you and tell your Dad thanks for his efforts.

[TonyaRashcan @ Aug 1st 2007 8:33AM]

Take the savings and set up two of the mic versions, compare them side by side to get a better picture of the problem.

Maybe even set them up a little ways apart from each other so they give you a 'stereo' view. Should help in seeing what is a mine and what is an old car part.