Carnegie Mellon University

Sweep Monitoring

NREC has developed for US Army Research Office and CECOM (US Army Night Vision Lab) the Sweep Monitoring System (SMS) for training soldiers and demining personnel to use hand-held land mine detectors. 

The use of landmine detectors requires hours of training for human operators to gain the accurate motion required. Several parameters such as sweep speed, height, angle, coverage, affect the detection success rate.

The SMS provides feedback for training in physical or virtual minefields and on any type of hand-held mine detector wand, although it was specifically designed for use with the AN/PSS-14 Mine Detection Set, AN/PSS-12 and Minelab F1A4 detectors.

The SMS consists of a pair of stereo cameras that track a target on the head of a demining sensor, which records the position of the target thirty times per second and measures a trainee’s performance in areas critical to successful mine detection: sensor head traverse speed, sensor height above ground, coverage area, and gaps in the swept area. This information is shown on a computer display that is monitored by the training supervisor, giving immediate feedback through color, coverage, and speed vs. height plots.

The SMS also gives real time audio feedback to the trainee, beeping when mines are detected and giving verbal messages (such as "too fast” or "too slow”) about overall performance. Data recorded during training sessions can be saved and reviewed later.

Photos

NREC's sweep monitoring system