International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 06 Issue: 04 | Apr 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Landmines detection using UAV

Aashish Raj1, Ibraze Rafiq2, Abhishek Gowda J3, Lakshmisha S Krishna4
1,2,3Student, Department of ECE, Alpha College of Engineering, Karnataka, India
4HOD, Department of ECE, Alpha College of Engineering, Karnataka, India
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Abstract - The purpose of this project is to apply the 2. LITERATURE SURVEY
concept of swarm robotics in defence field. Swarm robotics
is the technique where multiple robots are operating There are many countries affected by landmines which
parallel in a synchronous manner to attain a common present a major threat to lives and cause economic
objective. The idea here is to divide the overall operations problems. Landmines are harmful because of their
into landmine detection, mapping and defusing. In this unknown positions and often difficult to detect. Detection
project we are using pure concept of swarm robotics with of buried antipersonnel landmines (APL) is a demanding
help of autobots. Which are able to carry out the given task, task in which one tries to obtain information about
with the help of other bots. As per the concept of auto-bot characteristics of the soil and of objects buried in it. The
here we are using a UAV (drones), which is able to sense the development of new demining technologies is difficult
landmines in the warzones. Due to the concept of swarm because of the tremendous diversity of terrains and
robotics in the defence, it not only reduces the cost of the environmental conditions in which mines are laid and also
labor work, but also saves the lives of the militants by because of the wide variety of landmines. Currently,
eliminating the trial and error methods. detecting and clearing mines demand specific expertise
with special equipments. According to a survey report of
Key Words: Swarm Robotics, Landmine Detection, 2016 there were at least 1,554 child casualties recorded
Autobot, UAV, Defence. which was 42% of the total civilian casualties [5].
Therefore there is an urgent need for new and improved
1. INTRODUCTION methods to be developed, particularly in view of the threat
that abandoned landmines pose to civilian populations.
An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as
a drone, as an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and also
referred by several other names, is an aircraft without a
human pilot aboard. The flight of UAVs may be controlled
with various kinds of autonomy: either by a given degree
of remote control from an operator, located on the ground
or in another vehicle, or fully autonomously, by onboard
computers. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are
too dangerous for manned aircraft. They have been and
are mostly found in military and special operation
applications, though UAVs are increasingly finding uses in
civil and recreational applications, such as policing and
surveillance, aerial filming, and drone racing.

All these processes will be taken care by dedicated robots

which will work synchronously but sequentially towards
the common task of detecting and defusing. This idea finds
a very demanding application in the field of defence. The
robots can also be made to work independently for
various levels in defence field. The work here is divided
into three categories landmines detection, mapping and
defusing which will be implemented using the principle of
electromagnetic induction for the detection of landmines,
high resolution 360º camera for mapping out the positions
of the detected landmines. The idea of this project is to
reduce the cost, human interference, power requirement
but increases the efficiency and also provides safety of the
militants. Fig -1: Block Diagram of UAV

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Volume: 06 Issue: 04 | Apr 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Full-size electric vehicles also have systems to control the

speed of their drive motors. ESCs are an essential
component of modern quadcopters (and all multirotors)
that offers high power, high frequency, and high resolution
3-phase AC power to the motors in an extremely compact
miniature package. These craft depend entirely on the
variable speed of the motors driving the propellers. This
wide variation and fine RPM control in motor/prop speed
gives all of the control necessary for a quadcopter (and all
multirotors) to fly. Quadcopter ESCs usually can use a
faster update rate compared to the standard 50 Hz signal
Chart -1: Number of mines casualties per year. used in most other RC applications.

3. HARDWARE DETAILS

3.1 Flight Controller

A Flight Controller (FC) is a small circuit board of varying
complexity. Its function is to direct the RPM of each motor
in response to input. A command from the pilot for the
multi-rotor to move forward is fed into the flight
controller, which determines how to manipulate the
motors accordingly. The majority of flight controllers also
employ sensors to supplement their calculations. These
range from simple gyroscopes for orientation to
barometers for automatically holding altitudes. GPS can
also be used for auto-pilot or fail-safe purposes. With a Fig -3: 50A Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)
proper flight controller setup, a pilot’s control inputs
should correspond exactly to the behavior of the craft.
3.3 Metal Detector
Flight controllers are configurable and programmable,
allowing for adjustments based on varying multi-rotor
A metal detector is an electronic instrument which detects
configurations. Gains or PIDs are used to tune the
the presence of metal nearby. Metal detectors are useful
controller, yielding snappy, locked-in response. Here in
for finding metal inclusions hidden within objects, or
this project we are using APM 2.8 Flight Controller.
metal objects buried underground. They often consist of a
handheld unit with a sensor probe which can be swept
over the ground or other objects. If the sensor comes near
a piece of metal this is indicated by a changing tone in
earphones, or a needle moving on an indicator. Usually the
device gives some indication of distance; the closer the
metal is, the higher the tone in the earphone or the higher
the needle goes.

3.4 Visual Camera

A camera is an optical instrument for recording or

capturing images, which may be stored locally,
transmitted to another location, or both. The images may
Fig -2: APM 2.8 Flight Controller be individual still photographs or sequences of images
constituting videos or movies. The camera is a remote
sensing device as it senses subjects without any contact.
3.2 Electronic Speed Control
3.5 Six-Axis Gyroscope Sensor
An Electronic Speed Control (ESC) is an electronic
circuit that controls and regulates the speed of an electric
A gyro is an electronic device that senses angular velocity.
motor. It may also provide reversing of the motor
Vibration sensors are used to detect angular velocity from
and dynamic braking. Miniature electronic speed controls
the Coriolis force applied to a vibrating element. They are
are used in electrically powered radio controlled models.

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also known as angular velocity sensors or rate

sensors. These sensors provide stability and direction by
sensing motion caused by vibrations. There are many
applications of gyro sensors. In navigation systems, it can
be used to sense angular velocity produced by the sensor’s
movements. These angles are detected through an
integration operation by a CPU. An example of 6-axis
gyroscope is GY 521 MPU 6050.

Fig -5: Echo Sounder

3.8 Color Sprayer

It uses a technique where a device sprays a coating (paint,

Fig -4: GY-521 MPU 6050 ink, varnish, etc.) through the air onto a surface. The most
common types employ compressed gas usually air to
3.6 Microcontroller atomize and direct the paint particles. Sprayers evolved
from airbrushes, and the two are usually distinguished by
A microcontroller is a compact integrated circuit designed their size and the size of the spray pattern they produce.
to govern a specific operation in an embedded system. A
typical microcontroller includes a processor, memory and 3.9 Transceiver
input/output (I/O) peripherals on a single chip.
Sometimes referred to as an embedded controller or A transceiver is a device comprising both
microcontroller unit (MCU), microcontrollers are found in a transmitter and a receiver that are combined and share
vehicles, robots, office machines, medical devices, mobile common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is
radio transceivers, vending machines and home common between transmit and receive functions, the
appliances among other devices. A microcontroller's device is a transmitter-receiver.
processor will vary by application. Options range from the
simple 4-bit, 8-bit or 16-bit processors to more complex 3.10 Motors
32-bit or 64-bit processors. In terms of memory,
microcontrollers can use random access memory A motor is any of a class of rotary electrical machines that
(RAM), flash memory, EPROM or EEPROM. Generally, converts direct current electrical energy into mechanical
microcontrollers are designed to be readily usable without energy. For the UAVs we use brushless DC motors. The
additional computing components because they are most common types rely on the forces produced by
designed with sufficient onboard memory as well as magnetic fields. Nearly all types of DC motors have some
offering pins for general I/O operations, so they can internal mechanism, either electromechanical or
directly interface with sensors and other components. electronic to periodically change the direction of current
flow in part of the motor. DC motors were the first type
3.7 Echo Sounder widely used, since they could be powered from existing
direct-current lighting power distribution systems. A DC
An Echo Sounder is a device that translates sound motor's speed can be controlled over a wide range, using
vibrations in the air into electronic signals or scribes them either a variable supply voltage or by changing the
to a recording medium. It uses a piezoelectric crystal that strength of current in its field windings.
generates small amounts of electricity under compression
of a diaphragm to provide the recording signal. The
operation of Echo sounder is similar to the microphone.
The main difference between microphone and Echo
Sounder it that the latter has high sensitivity and the
operating range.

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 04 | Apr 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

[2] R. K. Megalingam, D. Nagalla, P. R. Kiran, R. T. Geesala

and K. Nigam, "Swarm based autonomous landmine
detecting robots," 2017 International Conference on
Inventive Computing and Informatics (ICICI),
Coimbatore, 2017,pp.608-612.
doi: 10.1109/ICICI.2017.8365205
[3] V. Abilash and J. P. C. Kumar, "Ardunio controlled
landmine detection robot," 2017 Third International
Conference on Science Technology Engineering &
Management (ICONSTEM), Chennai, 2017, pp. 1077-
1082.
doi: 10.1109/ICONSTEM.2017.8261366
Fig -6: Brushless DC Motor
[4] Land mines (From Wikipedia)
4. MERITS AND DEMERITS [5] www.the-monitor.org – Landmine Monitor 2017
[6] DETECTION OF LAND MINES By Shri Prabhakar,
Merits of the system are: Automatic detection of Defence Science Organisation, Ministry of Defence,
landmines are possible, Mapping of landmines, It avoids New Delhi. Defence Science Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1,
manual operation, It is safe and less risky, It eliminates January 1954, pp.36-37 © 1954. DESIDOC.
trial and error method, Can also be used for defusing
landmines.

Demerits of the system are: Require specialize pilot for the

operation, Fly time is less (varies on the capacity of the
battery), comparatively costlier than present devices used
for detecting landmines/metals.

5. RESULT

The developed system eliminates the risk of life threats to

militants and reduces the traditional trial and error
method of detection of the landmines. It also provides
greater range and increases the efficiency of defusing
landmines. With the help of swarm robotics the task of
detection, mapping and diffusing becomes easier.

5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE ENHANCEMENT

It can be concluded that, by using this system the detection
and mapping of landmines can be implemented and
carried out efficiently and in a much safer way.

The range and the detection can be more specific and

accurate by using high performance/military grade
sensors. With the help of swarm robotics the diffusion of
landmines can be done. The operating range of this device
can further be improved.

6. REFERENCES
[1] R. K. Megalingam, V. Gontu, R. Chanda, P. K. Yadav and
A. P. Kumar, "Landmine detection and reporting using
light weight zumo bot," 2017 International Conference
on Inventive Computing and Informatics (ICICI),
Coimbatore, 2017,pp.618-622.
doi: 10.1109/ICICI.2017.8365207

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