Investigation of the effects of operator technique on handheld sensor data for landmine detection

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a commonly employed sensing modality for landmine detection. It has been successfully deployed in vehicular systems, and is also being integrated into handheld systems. Handheld mine detection systems are typically deployed in situations where either the terrain or mission renders a vehicular-based system less effective. Handheld systems are often more compact and maneuverable, but quality of the sensor data may also be more dependent on the operators experience with and technique in using the system. In particular, the sensor height with respect to the air-ground interface may be more variable than with a vehicular-based system. This variation in sensor height above the air-ground interface may have the potential to adversely affect mine detection performance with the GPR sensing modality. In this work, the effects of operator technique on handheld sensor data quality is investigated, and ground alignment is explored as a potential approach to reducing variability in the sensor data quality due to operator technique. Results for data measured with a standard GPR/EMI handheld sensor at a standardized test site are presented. © 2012 SPIE.