Objective: The Defense Science Board has estimated that there are 1,400 sites suspected of containing unexploded ordnance (UXO) that comprise approximately 10 million acres. Typical sites encompass thousands of acres, with many exceeding 10,000 acres. A comprehensive wide area assessment program can have an immediate impact on the UXO remediation problem. By some estimates, up to 80% of the 10 million acres are, in fact, free of UXO. A technology that can accurately delineate the areas on each site that are and, more importantly, are not contaminated would lead to an immediate reduction by 80% of the area that must be carefully examined and cleaned. The ESTCP Wide Area Assessment (WAA) Program is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of various technologies, either alone or in combination, as tools for WAA at Department of Defense sites. The objective of this project is to use the Vehicular Simultaneous Electromagnetic Induction (EMI) and Magnetometer System (VSEMS), formerly known as the simultaneous multisensor Surface Towed Ordnance Location System (STOLS), to collect magnetometer and EM61 digital geophysical mapping (DGM) data on pre-planned traverses to refine bombing target locations, extents, and edges in support of WAA. Technology Description: VSEMS possesses the unique capability of concurrently acquiring data with EM61 pulsed induction sensors and total field magnetometers. Normally, the active pulse-driven nature of pulsed induction sensors creates noise that renders nearby magnetometers useless. However, custom electronics that were developed under ESTCP project UX-0208 synchronize acquisition of the EM61 and magnetometer data streams and sample the magnetometers in the short period after the EM61 pulse has decayed and the induced secondary fields have diminished. This enables EM61 coils and magnetometers to be co-located on the same low-noise sensor platform. Expected Benefits: Magnetometers excel at detecting deep ferrous objects, but they do not detect non-ferrous objects and are susceptible to interference from certain geologies. EM61 pulsed induction sensors are more immune to geology than magnetometers and perform well at detecting objects of any metal at shallow depths, but they do not detect deep ferrous objects as well as magnetometers. By pairing both sensors on a common towed platform, detection probability is maximized and cost is reduced by simultaneously collecting both magnetometer and EM61 data in a single survey pass. Acquiring magnetometer and EM61 data simultaneously should result in a 50% cost reduction in geophysical data collection efforts as compared to towed array technologies that use magnetometers and EM61 systems sequentially. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2007) Principal Investigator:
Mr. Robert Siegel
SAIC, Inc.
7 Wells Avenue
Newton, MA 02459
Telephone: (617) 618-4662
Fax: (617) 527-7592
E-mail: robert.m.siegel@saic.com
DoD Liaison:
Mr. Robert Selfridge
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ATTN: CEHNC-ED-CS-G/Selfridge
4820 University Square
Huntsville, AL 35816-1822
Telephone: (256) 895-1887
Fax: (256) 895-1602
E-mail: Bob.J.Selfridge@hnd01.usace.army.mil |
