Reduction of mine suspected areas by multisensor airborne measurements - First results

Humanitarian demining is a very dangerous, cost and time intensive work, where a lot of effort is usually wasted in inspecting suspected areas that turn out to be mine-free. The main goal of the project SMART* (Space and airborne Mined Area Reduction Tools) is to apply a multisensor approach towards corresponding signature data collection, developing adapted data understanding and data processing tools for improving the efficiency and reliability of level 1 minefield surveys by reducing suspected mined areas. As a result, the time for releasing mine-free areas for civilian use should be shortened. In this paper, multisensor signature data collected at four mine suspected areas in different parts of Croatia are presented, their information content is discussed, and first results are described. The multisensor system consists of a multifrequency multipolarisation SAR system (DLR Experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar E-SAR), an optical scanner (Daedalus) and a camera (RMK) for colour infrared aerial views. E-SAR data were acquired in X-, C-, L- and P- bands, the latter two being fully polarimetric interferometric. This provides pieces of independent information, ranging from high spatial resolution (X-band) to very good penetration abilities (P-band), together with possibilities for polarimetric and interferometric analysis. The Daedalus scanner, with 12 channels between visible and thermal infrared, has a very high spatial resolution. For each of the sensors, the applied processing, geocoding and registration is described. The information content is analysed in sense of the capability and reliability in describing conditions inside suspected mined areas, as a first step towards identifying their mine-free parts, with special emphasis set on polarimetric and interferometric information.