Airborne Multi-Spectral Minefield Survey

The availability of sufficient high quality information on the minefield scenery is an important prerequisite for the safety and the efficiency of all demining actions. Within the EU project ARC (Airborne Minefield Area Reduction) a system has been developed for airborne minefield survey for use in General Mine Action Assessment, Technical Survey (area reduction and as far a possible mine field delineation), and Post Clearance Quality Control. An important methodological aspect of the selected approach is the pyramidal information structure, which is reflected in the use of satellite data, a helicopter UAV (Camcopter®) and in the developed GIS data base structure, allowing for a hierarchical approach to the information starting from an overview of the situation down to the level of detail required for field work. The full AGM (Automated Geo-reference Mosaic) makes use of the pyramidal flight pattern. Image correlation techniques are used to geo-reference lower altitude imagery towards higher altitude images. Only the single image on top of the pyramidal flight requires manual geo-rectification. The top image contains sufficient contextual information for the image interpreter to manually assign ground control points. After AGM processing for each individual image the results are stored in GEOTIFF file format, thus preserving the original pixel values and full position accuracy through geo-transformation matrix information. The ARC Minefield Test trials have been conducted in Croatia during the period of May 12 2003 till May 23 2003. THE ARC PROJECT The area affected with antipersonnel land mines in 56 infested countries is estimated to be 1 Mio km2, with 60 to 200 million landmines in the ground (Source: Landmine Monitor Report 1999, edited by The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Human Rights Watch 1999). This represents a serious threat to the human lives and a major obstacle for the development of the polluted region. Humanitarian mine action is of global concern. A major problem connected with all demining actions is the severe lack of baseline information. To respond to this in a rapid way, cost-efficient data acquisition methods are a key issue. de Lange, D.-J.; den Breejen, E. (2005) Airborne Multi-Spectral Minefield Survey. In Advanced Sensory Payloads for UAV (pp. 18-1 – 18-8). Meeting Proceedings RTO-MP-SET-092, Paper 18. Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: RTO. Available from: http://www.rto.nato.int/abstracts.asp. Report Documentation Page Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE 01 MAY 2005 2. REPORT TYPE N/A 3. DATES COVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Airborne Multi-Spectral Minefield Survey 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) TNO Defence, Security and Safety Oude Waalsdorperweg 63 PO BOX 96864 2509 JG The Hague THE NETHERLANDS 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release, distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES See also ADM202032., The original document contains color images.