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Researchers are breeding fluorescent bacteria to uncover landmines
One of the many tragedies of war are the dangers that persist long after conflicts formally end -- dangers like abandoned minefields peppered with active, deadly ordnance. Buried landmines threaten the lives of ordinary people near former battlefields all over the world, and disarming them has always been a dangerous effort. Now, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are working on a way to make landmine identification easier and safer. No, the trick isn't to build a better metal detector, it's to cultivate bacteria that glows in the presence of deadly explosives.
Smartphone-powered mine detectors readied for field-testing in Cambodia (video)
Red Lotus Technologies is now refining and pitching its PETALS technology for real-world use around the world. Short for Pattern Enhancement Tool for Assisting Landmine Sensing, the system connects acoustic sensors to smartphones, outputting a silhouette of what lies below onto the phone's screen. The company has expanded from an initial research project that paired mine-detecting sensors with the processing clout (and availability of) smartphones. It's now developed some tablet-based training equipment for de-miners and, working alongside the Landmine Relief Fund, aims to field-test the devices in Cambodia before launching them next year.
Metal detectors and smartphones make beautiful, mine-sniffing music together
Harvard researchers have married a smartphone to a metal detector to create PETALS, a low cost way to improve mine detection in third-world countries. Traditionally, locating land mines has required a carefully trained ear to distinguish deadly explosives from, say, a can. This new system removes some of the guesswork by mapping the beeps on a cell phone screen, creating a silhouette of whatever is beneath the surface. Similar results have been accomplished using acoustic sensors, but so far they've been relegated to research projects and would likely be too expensive for use where they're needed most. Not only should the simplicity of PETALS (which stands for Pattern Enhancement Tool for Assisting Land mine Sensing) make it cheap and easy to deploy but, in tests novice de-miners were able to improve their performance by 80 percent -- that's a least a few less brave humanitarians going "boom" in the field.
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]
Camera kit smartens up Claymore land mine
Like most underground anti-personnel mines, above-ground Claymore land mines (notorious for having "front toward enemy" spelled out on their housings), are considered "dumb," since they're incapable of distinguishing innocent bystanders from the enemy. Claymore Camera Kits add the brains that Claymores have been missing since their introduction over 50 years ago, transforming the weapon from tragically stupid to useful and intelligent (or at least as useful and intelligent as something that's designed to kill and maim can be). The compact camera unit is mounted atop the mine, enabling command-detonation upon proper identification of the target. A motion-detecting sensor can be added to ensure that no one sneaks past the mine and there's even an option to record video feedback with GPS positioning. The infrared camera has outputs from 380 to 600 TV lines and connects to standard Giraffe tactical ruggedized display units with cable reels ranging from 50 to 200 meters in length -- not exactly new technology, but at least you can see who you're blowing up.
New "imaging machines" distinguish between grass and camouflage
While we've got robots that can sniff out faux wine, and cyclops cameras that distinguish between humans and blow-up dolls (saywha?), Dr. Andy Harvey's latest invention could actually prove useful in battle and on the operating table. Although he hasn't tied the latest rounds of DIY artillery to this technology, the camcorder-styled machine can reportedly "distinguish the world's best camouflage from real foliage," not to mention its ability to "spot buried landmines" and "hidden enemies." Developed in Edinburgh, the imaging machine could be toted by soldiers to tip them off to unusual patterns in the grass (like carefully painted iRobots) before they come too close, as it can supposedly "identify 30 times more colors than the human eye." Interestingly, it is possible that the technology could eventually be used to "detect forms of cancer that are currently hard to pick up." While £800,000 ($1.56 million) have already been invested by the Department for Trade and Industry and QinetiQ, we don't imagine this project slowing down anytime soon, and it looks to be just one more reason we ought to simply let robots do all the fighting, anyway.
