| Project Nr.: | 2.5.2.7 |
| Title: | Magnetic clutter reduction quantification. |
| Description: | The project consisted of two phases:The first project phase objectives was to select a suitable hand-held permanent magnet for removal of metallic clutter on the minefield surface, to develop an adapted training procedure for the use of the magnet by indigenous deminers and to assess the clutter reduction factor when using a handheld magnet. The second phase, which started in 2009, is a pilot implementation of the TNO adapted magnet tool in manual demining operations in a mine affected country. |
| Aim: | Quantification of the metallic clutter reduction by the use of a hand-held magnet in humanitarian demining operations. |
| Request: | GICHD, UNMAS |
| Category: | Detection - Others |
| Type: | Test and Evaluation |
| Equipment: | Hand-held permanent magnet-tools: Ring magnet, Rigid Magnet Rake, Flexible Magnet Rake, Hand-Held Sweep Magnet (HSM), TNO Adapted Magnet Tool |
| Development: | Prototype/Demonstrator, COTS |
| Time Frame: | 2006-08-01 to 2010-12-31 |
| Place: | TNO, The Hague, The Netherlands; Cambodia; Angola, Sudan |
| Lead Nation: | The Netherlands |
| Partners: | Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), Norwegian People Aid (NPA) |
| Status: | Ongoing at the end of the ITEP Program. For more information on the project, please contact the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). |
| Comments: | Results of the first trial in Cambodia, which took place during the last quarter of 2006, are available in an article published in the Mine Action Technology Newsletter (Issue 5). Results of the Angola trials are summarised in another Mine Action Technology Newsletter article (Issue 8). During May - June 2007 a second data acquisition phase in an area clearance operation was carried out in the Kwanza Sul province in Angola, with the assistance of Norwegian People Aid (NPA). The third and final two-month data acquisition phase in a road clearance operation, also with NPA in the Angolan Malanje province took place in October - November 2007.Presentations on the magnetic clutter reduction quantification project were given at the 2007 UXO Countermine Forum 2007 (presentation 1), the 2008 Mine Action Technology Workshop (presentation 2) and the March 2009 ASEM Seminar on New Technologies for Demining and Human Security (presentation 3).Funding for the pilot implementation of the TNO adapted magnet tool was approved in July 2009, and the TNO magnet tool is now, after some further design modifications, being produced for implementation in all NPA manual demining operations in Angola. The magnet-tool is also available for other demining organizations. If interested, please contact Arnold Schoolderman at TNO. |
| Results/Conclusions: | The final report of the first project phase was published in February 2008. The report conclusion states that the Ring Magnet proved to be the most popular magnet-tool among the deminers due to its strength. The deminers also believed that the use of the ring magnet increased the efficiency of their demining task and made their work easier. However, the data collected during the trial did not show the perceived efficiency increase. Annex B of the final report concerns the issue raised in open source (e.g. the IGEOD forum) that the Type72b anti-personnel mine could be triggered by a magnet (-tool), even when the mine battery is completely depleted. The general conclusion of this assessment is that triggering a Type72b anti-personnel mine of which the battery is completely depleted by means of a manually moved magnet is impossible, neither by charging the detonation capacitor nor by direct induced power. However, a warning is placed that when the battery is not completely depleted then there is a risk that the tilt-switch is set off.Norwegian People Aid (NPA) has included the use of the TNO Adapted Magnet Tool during excavation in a revised SOP, and is also considering the magnet tool for use during scanning. TNO is assisting NPA with the delivery and implementation of the selected magnet tool in all the NPA manual demining operations in Angola. |