Anti-personnel Landmine Detection for Humanitarian Demining reports on state-of-the-art technologies developed during a Japanese National Research Project (2002–2007). The conventional method of landmine detection is using metal detectors to sense the metal in mines, but often other metal fragments in minefields camouflage landmines and hinder progress using this form of demining. The challenge is to develop detection systems that can discriminate between AP landmines and random metal fragments. The JST adopted research proposals and the results are reported here. This book concentrates on aspects of three approaches to AP mine detection: enhancing and confirming the results of metal-detection scans using GPR; using robot vehicles and manipulators to operate within minefields remotely; and methods of sensing the explosives within mines. Results are presented in the fields of GPR, nuclear quadrupole resonance, neutron thermal analysis and biosensors. The integration of these methods for workable robot operation is demonstrated. The project was carried out in conjunction with mine action centers in Croatia, Cambodia and Afghanistan. Evaluation data from field trials are also given.

Anti-personnel Landmine Detection for Humanitarian Demining reports on state-of-the-art technologies developed during a Japanese National Research Project (2002–2007). The conventional method of landmine detection is using metal detectors to sense the metal in mines, but often other metal fragments in minefields camouflage landmines and hinder progress using this form of demining. The challenge is to develop detection systems that can discriminate between AP landmines and random metal fragments. The JST adopted research proposals and the results are reported here. This book concentrates on aspects of three approaches to AP mine detection: enhancing and confirming the results of metal-detection scans using GPR; using robot vehicles and manipulators to operate within minefields remotely; and methods of sensing the explosives within mines. Results are presented in the fields of GPR, nuclear quadrupole resonance, neutron thermal analysis and biosensors. The integration of these methods for workable robot operation is demonstrated. The project was carried out in conjunction with mine action centers in Croatia, Cambodia and Afghanistan. Evaluation data from field trials are also given.

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) supports the efforts of the international community in reducing the impact of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). The Centre provides operational assistance, is active in research and supports the implementation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.

A survey was made of technologies and systems available to detect anti-personnel landmines for the purpose of monitoring or verifying a potential treaty-based landmine ban. A literature search revealed that numerous devices and supporting research exist for the point-source detection of anti-personnel landmines (APL), but only a few systems were found to be under development that address the more rapid detection of multiple APL and entire minefields over a wide area. Given the potential treaty verification need to be able to detect and describe the boundaries of existing and new APL use, and a complementary technical requirement in humanitarian demining, an assessment was made of those technologies that might be applicable to the wide-area detection mission, followed by the identification and assessment of pertinent systems. This survey identified certain promising RDT & E efforts, but none currently appear to provide a complete or near-term solution to the wide-area detection of landmines and minefields. A combination of sensors through sensor fusion and data fusion may hold promise for minefield detection with a higher degree of confidence An investigation was also made of other technical disciplines not normally associated with landmine detection for the contribution they might make for the wide-area detection of landmines. None of the ten fields explored, however, offered any unique or more effective approaches or solutions to the mission. The study concludes with observations on the state of research and development in wide-area landmine detection and offers recommendations concerning the specification of technical requirements and for potential future initiatives in this field.

At the rate that government and nongovernmental organizations are clearing existing landmines, it will take 450-500 years to rid the world of them. Concerned about the slow pace of demining, the Office of Science and Technology asked RAND to assess potential innovative technologies being explored and to project what funding would be required to foster the development of the more promising ones. The authors of this report suggest that the federal government undertake a research and development effort to develop a multisensor mine detection system over the next five to eight years.

This ARW is the third NATO-sponsored workshop on Explosives Detection and Humanitarian Demining. The previous events were • Detection and Destruction of Anti-Personnel Landmines Moscow, 1997 • Explosives Detection and Decontamination of the Environment Prague, 1997. Over the last decade applied research in Humanitarian Demining has made progress to some extend, but according to the tremendous tasks of Demining and the lack of scientific methods for practical detection of explosive devices, research activities are still of the same importance than ever before. Concerning countermeasures against terrorism the detection of explosives is one of the keyfactors, but the practical applications are not sufficient solved. An international exchange of research results are therefore urgent, to find out the most promising measures for application. The coincidence of this ARW and the terrible disaster of New York and Washington may demonstrate the importance of this task. In consequence the explosive device detection technologies can make a major contribution to collective, family and individual security. In developed countries, these technologies provide a strong deterrent and preventative measure against terrorist threats. In less developed regions, they can improve individual, institutional and state security, lessening the insecurity that motivates many terrorists acts. The elimination of landmine threats is just one of many ways of achieving this. However our attempts to meet the extremely difficult technical challenges posed by landmine and UXO contamination are inevitably leading us to new technological approaches.

Anti-Personnel Mines under Humanitarian Law: A View From the Vanishing Point considers in depth the various customary and conventional legal regimes applicable to the use of anti-personnel mines. All involved with the global effort to control and eliminate anti-personnel mines as well as the policy-makers who are concerned about the devastation resulting from the widespread deployment of these arbitrary weapons need to familiarize themselves with the information presented in this timely volume. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

"An estimated 100 million unexploded land mines left over from this century's various wars and conflicts lie scattered in 94 countries, still lethal - decades after the peace treaties have been signed. Many of those mines are of the more modern "anti-personnel" variety which are designed to maim, rather than kill ... Due to the exorbitant cost of current demining techniques, there is a need for a simple but cost effective method to neutralize mines. The present study, actually, considers a properly singled out mission: mine neutralization in shrubby, dry grounds"--Abstract, leaf iii.

Antipersonnel mines remain a significant international threat to civilians despite recent intense efforts by the United States, other developed countries, and humanitarian aid organizations to clear them from postconflict regions. Mines claim an estimated 15,000-20,000 victims per year in some 90 countries. They jeopardize the resumption of normal activities-from subsistence farming to commercial enterprise-long after periods of conflict have ceased. For example, in Afghanistan during 2000, mines claimed 150-300 victims per month, half of them children. Although most of these mines were emplaced during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (from 1979 to 1988), they continue to pose a serious risk to returning refugees and have placed vast tracts of farmland off limits. The United States currently invests about $100 million annually in humanitarian mine clearance-the largest commitment of any country. Despite this investment and the funding from many other developed nations and nongovernmental organizations, at the current rate clearing all existing mines could take 450-500 years.