Objective:

The detection, characterization, and mapping of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on military installations, weapons test and practice ranges, and training ranges are complex technical challenges. These processes require application of the appropriate technologies with attention to the environmental constraints of the affected areas. These constraints include: 1) underlying geology, soil properties, terrain variations, coverage and types of vegetation; 2) hydrologic characteristics of the areas of concern; and 3) presence of historic and cultural artifacts associated with human activity. Advances in magnetic data acquisition systems and data processing will improve performance at difficult sites or at sites with less-than-optimal targets of interest. This program will develop and demonstrate new airborne magnetic UXO detection systems to combine the detection capabilities of surface-based magnetic systems with the time and cost benefits of airborne survey systems.

Technology Description:

This project intends to leverage the results of both the 1999 and 2000 Badlands Bombing Range (BBR) surveys and to improve the performance of the current Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) airborne magnetic system. Once improvements to the system are complete, new airborne surveys will be conducted at BBR and sites in New Mexico in an effort to better detect, characterize, and map the extent of UXO-related contamination. The results of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 data acquisitions will be extensively processed, analyzed, and documented in order to fully determine the benefit of the improvements and/or limitations in the new systems as applied to UXO-contaminated sites. A key focus of this project will be the determination and validation of system capabilities and limitations over diverse geographic regions with a variety of ordnance types, configurations, geometries, and topographies. Potential issues and analysis techniques will center on the detection limits of the systems to be employed based on underlying geology, vegetation, soil properties, and target size/geometry/orientation. Comparisons will be made between earlier versions of this technology and the improved systems. The airborne system transitioned from ORNL to Battelle in 2005 and will provide wide area characterization services.

Expected Benefits:

Large Department of Defense (DoD) ranges, such as those located in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Western United States, will likely benefit most from the application of airborne magnetic systems. At these ranges, airborne sensors can be flown closer to the ground enabling increased target detection and resolution. Also, mobilization costs can be allocated across larger acreage, reducing the cost per acre for data acquisition. This project provides a definitive test to validate cost and application across diverse areas. It leverages previous efforts to determine the extent of the current airborne magnetic systems as well as the definitive limits of this technology (in its present state). At project completion, DoD will have available an airborne magnetic system that represents the state-of-the-art in low-altitude UXO detection and mapping. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2007)

Principal Investigator:
Dr. William Doll
Battelle Memorial Institute
105 Mitchell Road, Suite 103
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Telephone: (865) 576-9930
Fax: (865) 483-2540
E-mail: dollw@battelle.org

DoD Liaison:
Mr. Hollis Bennett
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ATTN: CEWES-EE-C
3909 Halls Ferry Road
Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199
Telephone: 601-634-3924
Fax: 601-634-2854
E-mail: jay.bennett@erdc.usace.army.mil