Field tests of an experimental helicopter time‐domain electromagnetic system for unexploded ordnance detection

Abstract

Field trials of a low‐flying time‐domain helicopter electromagnetic system designed for detection of unexploded ordnance have yielded positive and encouraging results. The system is able to detect ordnance as small as 60‐mm rounds at 1‐m sensor height. We examined several transmitter and receiver configurations. Small loop receivers gave superior signal‐to‐noise ratios in comparison to larger receiver loops at low heights. Base frequencies of 90 Hz and 270 Hz were less affected than other base frequencies by noise produced by proximity to the helicopter and by vibration of the support structure. For small ordnance, a two‐lobed, antisymmetric transmitter loop geometry produced a modest signal‐to‐noise enhancement compared with a large single rectangular loop, presumably because the antisymmetric transmitter produces smaller eddy currents in the helicopter body, thereby reducing this source of noise. In most cases, differencing of vertically offset receivers did not substantially improve signal‐to‐noise ratios at very low sensor altitudes. Signal attenuation from transmitter to target and from target to receiver causes signals from smaller ordnance to quickly become indistinguishable from geological background variations, so that above a sensor height of about 3 m only large ordnance items (e.g., bombs and large caliber artillery rounds) were consistently detected.