Land mine detection Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Land mine detection - Assignment Example 1.2 Problems with Depth and Speed An efficient detection system must not be sensitive to the depth of the mine underground and detection should be performed at a reasonable speed (Hussein & Waller 1999). On the subject of depth, if the mine detector is sensitive to the depth of the buried mine, then it will probably not be able to detect mines buried relatively deeper but which will still explode upon contact. Moreover, on the subject of speed, if the personnel in charge of the mine detector do not perform the operation reasonably fast, this will result in relatively more expensive operational costs. 1.3 Problems with the Background Since mines are buried all over different soil types and terrain as well as different local circumstances, then it follows that a good detection system must be extremely specific in the identification of the mine itself and should not be affected by the surrounding conditions (Hussein & Waller 1999). This means that the detection system must remain unaffe cted by the weather, the temperature of the soil as well as the relative amount or mere presence of moisture in the area where the mine is buried. Otherwise, the detection system may fail to identify the presence of the mine. Another problem concerning the fact that mines are buried underground is that even detection of dogs and electronic chemical sniffers can be thwarted because of the presence of residual vapor emissions from explosives that recently detonated (Hussein & Waller 1999). This means that despite the highly sensitive olfactory sense of dogs and the sophisticated nature of electronic chemical sniffers, they are still apt to detect the wrong vapors that would lead them to remnants of explosives and not mines. Other mine detection systems like pulse-induction metallic detectors and ground penetrating radars may be able to detect microwaves, but these microwaves are not pronounced if the mines are non-metallic. Moreover, echoes from the surface and from rocks and tree roo ts may interfere with the microwaves emitted by a particular mine, thus preventing accurate detection. 2. WHAT EFFECT DOES NEW TECHNOLOGY HAVE ON THE COST OF REMOVING LANDMINES? The cost to remove all of the estimated 110 million active mines in the world is around $33 billion and a total operation time of around 1,100 years given the current conditions (United Nations 1997). Moreover, the main reason for the high cost of landmine removal has always been the â€Å"the amount of clutter in typical minefields,† which account for 95% of detected objects by many landmine removal systems (Won et al. 2001). 2.1 Manufacturing and Operation Costs of Modern Mine Flails Mine flails, or devices mounted on vehicles that detonate land mines along its path, are highly sophisticated and complex that their manufacturing and operating costs are extremely expensive. The Aardvark, which operates on a 160 hp turbo charged diesel engine and which has a full armored structure and communication equ ipment, actually operates at the rate of $0.33 per square meter while clearing mines at the rate of around 600 square meters per hour (LandmineClearance.com 2004; Green 1999). Other flails however would cost up to $2 per square meter (Hartley 2003). That means $198