The University of Mississippi has created a new laser-based technology to make detecting and removing landmines quicker and safer. This technology, called “LAMBDIS,” was presented at the Optica Laser Congress and Exhibition in Osaka, Japan. “LAMBDIS” uses laser beams for precise and rapid landmine detection, improving operational safety.
Vyacheslav Aranchuk, a lead scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics, explained that this technology can find landmines from a safe distance. He mentioned, “There are military uses for this technology in ongoing conflicts and humanitarian uses after conflicts end.”
There are over 110 million active landmines around the world, resulting in thousands of injuries and fatalities each year. In 2022 alone, more than 4,700 people were killed or injured by landmines, with 85% of those victims being civilians, including many children. While producing landmines is cheap, costing about $3 each, removing one can cost up to $1,000 and often relies on traditional metal detectors that have trouble detecting plastic landmines.
In 2019, Aranchuk’s team created the first laser vibration sensor capable of spotting buried items from a moving vehicle. The updated version of this technology uses a 34 x 23 laser matrix array, enabling it to create a vibration map of the ground in under a second.
Boyang Zhang, a co-researcher on the project, noted that traditional detection methods often produce false positives by detecting any metallic object. In contrast, “LAMBDIS” uses a combination of laser and acoustic sensing, which greatly reduces false alarms and enhances safety by keeping operators farther away from dangerous areas.
The detection method in “LAMBDIS” creates vibrations in the ground and projects a two-dimensional laser grid onto the surface. Changes in the reflected laser light frequency create a vibration image, showing buried landmines as bright red spots.
In addition to finding landmines, this technology could also be useful for inspecting bridges and infrastructure, performing non-destructive testing of materials in the automotive and aerospace industries, and even in biomedical applications.
The university is planning to test “LAMBDIS” in various environments to confirm its effectiveness in detecting different types of buried objects.
