An Anti Personal Landmine Detection Scheme Based on Microwave Imaging A. Swydan, M. Elghafri, M. Al Wadeya, M. El-Tarhuni, and N. Qaddoumi Department of Electrical Engineering American University of Sharjah P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE Abstract — In this paper, an intelligent anti-personnel landmine detection system is proposed. The system generates continues electromagnetic waves in the (2-8GHz) range through a wave guide and analyzes the reflected signal to decide on the presence of a landmine under the ground. A multi-layer model to represent the interaction of the signal with the soil and landmine is developed. Simulation results are presented to find the optimum operating frequency for improved detection of the landmine. Furthermore, an experimental set up is built to validate the operation of the system. The results indicate that accurate detection of the presence of landmine is feasible. Index Terms — Landmine detection, imaging system, microwaves. I. INTRODUCTION Landmines became a serious problem for humanity, and have received considerable public exposure in the past few years, especially anti-personnel (AP) landmines. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, they have estimated that 15,000 - 20,000 people are injured or killed by landmines each year [1]- [2]. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has estimated that around 30-40 percent of mine victims are children under 15 years old. Several landmines ban programs have been launched, several countries refuse to stop the production of antipersonnel land mines including the United States [3]-[7]. AP Landmines cost only $3 for production, while the cost of extracting it is about $1000 per mine [8]. Worldwide, in most humanitarian de-mining operations, man used only hand-held metal detectors. The metal detector is extremely reliable, but it only detects metal mines, extremely slow and produces several false alarms [9]. In addition, most of the new AP landmines are non-metallic and can not being detected. Numerous research studies have been done to detect AP landmines, metallic or non-metallic, and without any direct contact to the ground surface. One of the solutions is the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system that is used for detection. However, a the system is costly, has high power utilization and hard to generate due to the fact that it uses wideband antennas to generate a short pulse or a pure sine wave covering large and continuously varying frequencies at the high range [10]. Another solution for AP landmine detection is based on using infrared sensors. The problem is that infrared sensors are highly dependant on environmental conditions (heat variations) and the time needed to detect these environmental variations is usually difficult to control by the observer. Thus, the use of infrared sensors is limited. In this paper, an AP landmine detection system using wireless technology will be designed, simulated, and implemented. The system will have the capability to detect non-metallic landmines buried within sand layer using the 2 – 8 GHz frequency range. The system will be based on the concept of reflection coefficient change due to the unique permittivity of each material, and the detection will operate on the optimum frequency that has the best detection of the landmine. This frequency will be chosen by simulation and some experimental results. II. SYSTEM DESIGN AND MODEL The proposed system is mainly targeted towards detecting a nonmetallic landmine buried under the surface of the ground without direct contact with the ground surface. As it was said earlier, the system is designed to do so using electromagnetic waves. In this section, the system will be briefly explained along with the mathematical model behind it. A. Mathematical Model of a Multilayer System Microwave techniques are applied in either far-field approach or in the near-field approach. The proposed microwave nondestructive non-invasive testing technique utilizes an open-ended waveguide operating in the near-field region. This system can be effectively utilized for AP landmine detection. Some of the advantages of the near-field technique are: • The spatial resolution, when operating in this region, is significantly influenced by the scanning probe dimensions rather than the operating wavelength. Therefore, much finer spatial resolutions may be obtained [11][14]. • Contact as well as non-contact modes of measurements are possible. There are many open-ended probes that may be used; such are open-ended rectangular waveguides, open- ended circular waveguides, open-ended waveguides of