Army Research Laboratory land mine and unexploded ordnance experiments and results

The (ARL), as part of customer and mission-funded exploratory development programs, has been evaluating low-frequency, ultra-wideband imaging radar for detection of buried mines and unexploded ordnance. As part of these programs, ARL has designed and built an instrumentation-grade radar measurement asset. In addition, ARL has established and conducted experiments at two nationally significant subsurface target test sites at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. This paper reviews the significance of the test sites and recent modeling and data analysis results using the Eglin and Yuma data. It also discuses the difference in soil conditions from these data collections and the impact that they may have on mine radar cross section (RCS) and detection performance. Finally, new imagery is presented that shows positive contrast of low metal content mines at these test sites.