Use of metal detectors for electromagnetic induction local 3D imaging

A recently launched BMBF-funded German R&D on mine sensor technologies for humanitarian demining is focussed, in its first phase, on sounding of the potential of mathematical methodology of end-of-pipe data analysis of conventional metal detectors, with the aim of significant reduction of false alarm rates. Two R&D lines, each of them complemented by forward modelling of the metal detection process, will be followed in parallel: (1) advanced signal analysis, employing modern tools (e.g. neural networks, wavelets) for features extraction and classification, and (2) local EMI imaging of 3D subsurface patterns, employing tomographic methods, with numerical solution of ill-posed inverse problems and their regularization by exhaustion of a-priori knowlege (e.g. signatures of mines and/or soils). The co-ordinated, interdisciplinary approach is sketched, with a focus on the 3D imaging line.