Landmine Detection by Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR)

Abstract : Landmines continue to threaten U.S. and allied forces. Conventional mine detection sensors. such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), can give many false alarms due to natural and manmade objects in the ground having mine-like characteristics to these sensors. This can result in a slow advance rate as the forces must deal with these false alarms. Nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) technology is being developed by the U.S. Army for application to landmine detection as a confirmation sensor to verify the presence of landmines and eliminate false alarms from GPR. NQR technology has the capability to detect and discriminate explosives from of other items in the environment and it can discriminate among the different types of explosives found in landmines.

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