Non-Invasive Detection of Landmines, Improvised Explosive Devices and Unexploded Ordnances Using Bespoke Unmanned Aerial Systems

Discovering and clearing legacy landmines, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), and Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) using a force made up of humans or animals is extremely risky, labour- and time-intensive. In this study, a small-scale customised drone was developed to automate the procedures of cleaning explosive devices. It was instrumented with innovative intelligent automated techniques and magnetometer sensor technologies. Its performance was assessed in field tests. The results, obtained in the open-air minefields and the benchmark assessments, verify the viability of the technologies, methods, and approaches employed in this research for the efficient detection of legacy landmines and IDE/UXO.