BRUSSELS — It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: a handheld system that can show its user 3D images of landmines, even ones made entirely of plastic, buried at depths of up to half a meter, in any type of soil.
But it could soon be a reality, thanks to a team of Ukrainian and Norwegian scientists working on a NATO-backed project.
The new device, currently being readied for trials, is especially important in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine in the Donbas, which has seen untold thousands of mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance being spread over eastern Ukraine, taking a deadly toll of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides of the front line.
To make matter worse, Russian-led forces in the Donbas have been illegally laying plastic anti-personnel mines, which are undetectable using the conventional tool of the mine-sweeping trade – the metal detector.
This project to build the revolutionary new device was approved by the alliance under the Science for Peace and Security Program during the NATO Warsaw Summit in July 2016, as part of the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, and was launched a month later.
The device should make demining safer, quicker and cheaper, according to Iurii Voitenko, a Ukrainian PhD student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the the project coordinator and software developer.
“A lot of people said this was highly unlikely, but we were able to prove that our ideas can work,” Voitenko told the Kyiv Post by phone on Aug. 9. “Using digital signal processing algorithms, we are able to determine with a high degree of probability what kind of object it is – metal, plastic or wood… The detector enables mine-sweeping experts to not only find mines but also reconstruct their shape – no matter what material it is made of.”
The first phase of the project involved the development of the required hardware.
“First of all, the printed circuit boards: one – with an integrated transceiver, was designed to work with ultra-short pulses, while another one deals with the digital processing of the signals received,” Voitenko said.
The second phase involved writing the software and the respective recognition algorithms, he said.
“Now we’re ready for field tests.”
According to Voitenko, one of the challenges in the project’s first phase was the need to develop a special type of antenna.
“We’re working with ultra-short pulses, so it had to be compact and programmed. You can’t just buy things like that in a hardware store: it can only be custom made to solve a specific problem. The highly acclaimed Norwegian scientist, Professor Tor Sverre Lande, successfully managed the task. It was him who developed for us at the University of Oslo an extremely compact antenna array, which can focus the energy of ultra-short pulses.”
Director for Technology at the Ukrainian Advanced Research Project Agency (UARPA) Danylo Sytnykov said that the science of electronics in Ukraine, unfortunately, is not at as high a level as in Norway. Because of that, Norway is the key supplier of hardware for the new device, while the Ukrainian side provides the software.
“Our country can take part in something in which we are experts – recognition and positioning technologies, imaging technology, information technology, and database verification,” Sytnykov said.
“It’s an honor for Ukraine to work with such experts. Unfortunately, there is less and less space for science in Ukraine. Our universities are struggling to survive, instead of creating something new. It’s a shame. We’re grateful to NATO for the opportunity given to the Ukrainian companies and research institutions to take part in the Science for Peace and Security project. Today it is the only way to support Ukrainian science and bring our scientists and students to Norway’s level of science.”
In contrast to cash-starved Ukrainian universities, the Norwegian university where Voitenko works has a budget of some 1 billion euros per year.
“They have the most modern equipment, and we have combined Norway’s capacities with the capabilities of our people,” Voitenko said.
“Because we use a microchip designed by our Norwegian colleagues, we’ve managed to implement highly effective, advanced digital signal-processing algorithms with high accuracy.
“This, in turn, opened up a new class of methods for pattern recognition in mine detection. You can make a completely new class of devices in this market. This could mean that such a device will be in the kit of any infantryman. Sappers currently have to study for five years in an academy; with this device, any infantryman after a six-month course will be able to conduct mine detection tasks.”
According to Voitenko and Sytnykov, field tests of the new mine detector will take place by the end of September.
Danylo Sytnykov (left) and Iurii Voitenko (right) test the 3D mine detector prototype in Oslo, Norway, on June 17, 2017. (Iryna Somer)
