Sensor platform with automated object detection – system significantly reduces false alarms

Researcher Bernd Arendt from Ulm University of Technology (THU) has developed a radar system for more precise detection of landmines, which significantly reduces false alarms. This knowledge is now being directly incorporated into the start-up FindMine, which develops drones with radar technology for mine detection.

Detecting the invisible

The new system is based on an autonomous sensor platform with automated object detection that uses radar to reliably identify mines that are buried or hidden by vegetation.

By incorporating typical target signatures, the researcher has significantly reduced the false alarm rate while improving the detection rate – an important step in making the use of such systems more practical in the field, according to the report.

‘Making the world safer’

The results have culminated in FindMine, which was developed as part of the project of the same name by THU, ETH Zurich and the Universities of Ulm and Stuttgart in collaboration with the Urs Endress Foundation. ‘This topic and this work give us the opportunity to make a difference and make the world a little bit safer,’ says Arendt.