Landmine Detection Technologies to Trace Explosive Vapour Detection Techniques

Abstract

Large quantity of explosive is manufactured worldwide for use in various types of ammunition, arms, and mines, and used in armed conflicts. During manufacturing and usage of the explosive equipment, some of the explosive residues are released into the environment in the form of contaminated effluents, unburnt explosives fumes and vapours. Limited but uncontrolled continuous release of trace vapours also takes place when explosive-laden landmines are deployed in the field. One of the major technological challenges in post-war scenario worldwide is the detection of landmines using these trace vapour signatures and neutralising them safely. Different types of explosives are utilised as the main charge in antipersonnel and antitank landmines. In this paper, an effort has been made to review the techniques so far available based on explosive vapour detection especially to detect the landmines. A comprehensive compilation of relevant information on the techniques is presented, and their maturity levels, shortcomings, and difficulties faced are highlighted.

Polyvinyl Alcohol/Polypyrrole/Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanocomposite as Highly Selective Chemiresistor Sensor for 2,4‐DNT Vapor Recognition

“…TNT permanently contains some DNT as impurity that is a product of the degradation of TNT. This impurity has a higher vapor pressure which exhibits a distinguished chemical signature in land mines . For example, the vapor pressure of DNT is nearly 40–1000 times bigger than of TNT explosive .…”

Evaluation of Non-Contact Sampling and Detection of Explosives using Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves

“…Great efforts have been made to generate consistent vapors of various compounds for landmine determination [215], environmental chemical monitoring [216], explosives detection [217][218][219][220] and sensor calibration [221] throughout the past decades. One technique such as Controlled Odor Mimic Permeation Systems (COMPS) uses a thin plastic film to release vapors generated from the solid compounds into the headspace at a fixed rate [11,222].…”

The Construction and Optimization on an Ion Mobility Spectrometer for the Analysis of Explosives and Drugs

“…By analogy with olfactory organs, which are comprised of multiple receptors and neural pattern recognition, sensor arrays for gas phase detection are sometimes dubbed electronic noses. [9] There has been rapid development of polymer based sensors for the detection of nitroaromatic explosives. These detection systems rely on a range of transduction schemes including electronic and molecular interactions between the sensor polymers and the analyte.…”

“…Different types of polymer substrates, both organic (cyclodextrins as embedded host cavities) [10] and inorganic (siloxane polymers), have been explored and shown to have sensitivity in the level of ppb to ppt. [9][10][11] Fluorescence quenching of conjugated polymers is another detection method for nitroaromatic compounds. [11] The presence of nitroaromatics, an electron deficient analyte, causes electron-transfer quenching with a fluorescent polymer.…”

“…HS of analytes in air were estimated using the ideal gas law, with pressure being the vapor pressure of the analytes (P vap ) as shown in Equation 8. For direct injection of headspace gas into the IMS, the amount of mass (m) delivered was calculated for a known volume injection (V injection ) using Equation 9. The vapor pressure of the different analytes is given in Table 14.…”