Suitability of simulated land mines for detection measurements using x-ray lateral migration radiography

A commercially available simulated land mine and several custom-made plastic simulants were examined at the University of Florida for their suitability in Lateral Migration Radiography (LMR) land mine detection. In 1997 x-ray Lateral Migration Radiography was used in the detection measurements of 12 actual antitank and antipersonnel mines. The resulting images indicated that not only were differences in composition between the explosive/casing and soil important, but that internal air volumes greatly increased not only the detectablility, but also the discernabliItiy of actual mines. This paper explores the use of simulant mines that have internal features, including voids, in lieu of solid simulant mines for use in LMR measurements in the laboratory. Typical commercially available simulated mines have been developed for other detection methods such as those based on E & M technologies. A comparison of LMR images fi om these simulants and the LMR images of real mines demonstrated that commercially available simulant mines would fail when used with the LMR x-ray detection method. In contrast, simulated mines that we have fabricated with a plastic that has approximately the same electron density of TNT yield LMR images that are consistent with LMR images of actual mines.