Detection of buried land mines using a CASI hyperspectral imager

Experiments were conducted to estimate the probability of detection (Pd) and false alarm rate (FAR) for detection of buried mines using a casi hyperspectral imager scanned from a personnel lift.Surrogate mines and blocks of explosives were buried under various vegetative covers and bare soil using standard mine laying methods. Images were obtained at various times from 1 2/3 to 15 1/2 months after burial. Mines under short and medium length vegetation and bare soil were detectable by calculating the linear correlation coefficient or fractional composition, derived from orthogonal subspace projection, for each pixel of the image. Pd for surrogates decreased with increasing vegetation length and appeared to vary somewhat with environmental conditions. Short vegetation gave better detection results than bare soil which gave better results than medium length vegetation. Pd was typically in the range of 55 to 94 percent and FAR varied rom about 0.17 to 0.52 m-2. There were insufficient data to assess the relative importance of stress due to explosive vapor leaching into the soil compared to stress induced by soil disturbance.