Wide-band Electromagnetic Induction Sensors (WEMI) have been used for a number of years in subsurface detection of explosive hazards. While WEMI sensors have proven effective at localizing objects exhibiting large magnetic responses, detecting objects lacking or containing very low amounts of conductive materials can be challenging. In this paper, we compare a number of target detection algorithms in the literature in terms of detection performance. In the comparison, methods are tested on two real-world data sets: one containing relatively low amounts of ground noise pollution, and the other demonstrating highly-magnetic soil interference. Results are quantitatively evaluated through receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves and are used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the compared approaches in hand-held explosive hazard detection.

© (2019) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Connor H. McCurley, James Bocinsky, and Alina Zare, "Comparison of hand-held WEMI target detection algorithms," Proc. SPIE 11012, Detection and Sensing of Mines, Explosive Objects, and Obscured Targets XXIV, 110120U (Presented at SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing: April 16, 2019; Published: 10 May 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2519454.