Estimation of magnetic signatures of sea-mines in an operational context

Mine hunting is vital to secure sea routes in both civilian and military contexts especially in the North Sea because of its economic importance to Belgium. Acoustic and optical sensors are used but have limited performance when sea-mines are buried. Magnetic sensors are then a valuable alternative.
The signature of a mine is an intrinsic characteristic feature that can be used to predict the magnetic response once the mine position and orientation with respect to the sensor and the Earth’s magnetic field are known.
A database of known signatures can be used to improve the classification of an object detected as mine or non-mine, and possibly to determine which class of sea-mines it belongs to. The signature can also be used to improve the definition of a safe zone, since such a zone will depend not only on the sensitivity and trajectory of the sensor but also on the signatures of the sea-mines to detect.
The aim of this study to design a method to measure in operational conditions the magnetic signatures of objects in order to be able to learn their signatures in situ, classify magnetic contacts and determine a safe zone.

The project DAP/20-06 is financed under the DFR call.