Hyperspectral mine detection phenomenology program

Abstract

The objective of the US Army Hyperspectral Mine Detection Phenomenology program was to determine if spectral disciminants exist that are useful for the detection of land mines. A primary goal wa to determine the presence and persistence of spectral features produced by buried anti- tank mines as associated with soil properties and vegetation changes over time. Details of the collections are documented in the ERIM International Technical Report 10012200-15-T, 'Mine Spectral Signature Collections and Data Archive', March 1999. This paper describes the HMDP project and focuses on the initial phase of controlled experimental measurements of spectral mine signatures in ground-based US collections. The foreign data collections are not addressed in this paper. Some of the HMDP project's mine spectral signature result are highlighted here. Detailed analyses of these data were performed and is described in a companion paper in this conference titled 'Detection of Land Mines with Hyperspectral Data'.