Development and field testing of a mobile backscatter X-ray lateral migration radiography land mine detection system

Lateral migration radiography (LMR), a new form of Compton backscatter x-ray imaging, is applied to the detection and identification of buried land mines. A mobile LMR land mine detection system was developed and field tested. Weight for this initial system was about 175 kg; weight for a prototype should be about 100 kg. X-ray generator power level was 750 watts; the power level requirement for a prototype should be about 300 watts. An innovative rotating collimator for the x-ray source beam was developed to provide rapid side-to-side scanning of the beam without having to move the x-ray generator in this direction. Acquisition of images of a 40 cm by 40 cm area takes from 30 to 60 seconds, depending on the desired resolution. The imaging capabilities of LMR make it well suited for use as a land mine detection confirmation sensor. This system was employed on the vehicular test lanes at Fort A.P. Hill in October, 2001. High quality images were obtained for a variety of buried land mines. The system was also used to scan 30 locations on one of the test lanes where GPR consistently yielded false alarms. In only two cases did the LMR image sets yield a signature that could be considered to possibly indicate a mine.