Metal Detectors for Humanitarian Demining: a Patent Search and Analysis

Cédric Gaudin, CH-1315 La Sarraz, Switzerland
Tel. +41 76 57 76139, cedric.gaudin@a3.epfl.ch

Christian Sigrist, CH-7260 Davos Dorf, Switzerland
Tel. +41 81 41 70175, sigrist@slf.ch

Claudio Bruschini, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
EPFL-I&C-LAP, Bâtiment IN-F, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Tel. +41 21 69 33911, Fax 35263, Claudio.Bruschini@epfl.ch




November 2003

Version 2

This work has been supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science within the framework of the EC IST EUDEM2 project.

Introduction

Detection and clearance are still being very often carried out in Humanitarian Demining using manual methods as the primary procedure. When operating in this way the detection phase still relies heavily on metal detectors, whereby each alarm needs to be carefully checked until it has been fully understood and/or its source removed. This is normally done visually, and by prodding and/or excavating the ground. Metal detectors are still to the best of our knowledge, apart from dogs, the only detectors really being used in the field, and are probably going to remain in use for some time.

Metal detectors cannot unfortunately differentiate a mine or UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) from metallic debris. In most battlefields, but not only there, the soil is contaminated by large quantities of shrapnel, metal scraps, cartridge cases, etc., leading to between 100 and 1,000 false alarms for each real mine. Each alarm means a waste of time and induces a loss of concentration. Note that when manual methods follow other procedures, such as mechanical clearance, constraints on the need to check each alarm are often somewhat relaxed.

When looking at the actors dealing with metal detectors we are confronted on the one hand with a relatively small market in which mostly SMEs operate, on the other with a scientific community which is not always aware of the practical problems linked to the actual production of equipment and its operation under field conditions (e.g. the importance of ground signals). Manufacturers do not tend to participate to scientific conferences and workshops, and rely mostly on patents, of which the scientific community is not always aware, to protect their intellectual property. This work, carried out within the framework of the European IST EUDEM2 survey activity (http://www.eudem.vub.ac.be/), does therefore aim at bridging the previously mentioned gap. It focuses on the metal detector technology and details a corresponding patent search and analysis. To increase cross-fertilization opportunities interesting patents in fields other than humanitarian demining (e.g. security applications or Non-Destructive Testing) have also been integrated whenever possible and appropriate.

Classification of the Collected Patents

In order to offer the best possible overview of the existing patents and to help the reader in locating the most relevant ones we decided to classify them in several different classes according to their main topic, and to afterwards categorise them in order of importance. (More about the Classification)