Device deactivates landmines from a distance

LONDON - Scientists in Switzerland have developed a device that remote-triggers explosion of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by latching on to their electromagnetic impulses.

IEDs are very difficult to detect because they are made up mostly of plastic.

They are often used by terror groups and are present in many regions of the world, such as Kashmir in India, Colombia, Iraq and Afghanistan. They kill or mutilate hundreds of thousands of people every year, mainly civilians.

Being themselves Colombian, and hence sensitive to this problem, Flix Vega and Nicolas Mora, doctoral students at Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, decided to base their thesis on this project, according to a statement.

The two researchers had to confront two main technical difficulties.

Firstly, they had to find a way of inducting a current that would be strong enough to set off, at a distance, the detonators of the mines, sometimes buried deep in the ground.

Secondly, they had to be sure of attaining the resonance frequencies of the various types of mines, which are all constructed in different ways.

“We then realised that in spite of the wide diversity of these mines, they are however all in similar frequency ranges,” Nicolas Mora added.

“So we developed a system that concentrates on those, and thus loses less energy.”

The Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab tested this system in Colombia last November, using actual improvised mines provided by a team of professional bomb disposal experts, which they were able to set off at an average distance of 20 metres.

“Now we have to develop a smaller prototype that is weather-resistant and especially easier to transport in the field,” Flix Vega noted.