The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 15, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 03, 1998
John E McFee, Medicine Hat, CA;
Victor C Aitken, Medicine Hat, CA;
Yogadhish Das, Medicine Hat, CA;
Kevin L Russell, Medicine Hat, CA;
Chris A Brosinsky, Medicine Hat, CA;
Robert H Chesney, Medicine Hat, CA;
Philip Church, Kanata, CA;
George Gundesen, Calgary, CA;
Edward T Clifford, Deep River, CA;
E Barclay Selkirk, Greenspond, CA;
Harry Ing, Deep River, CA;
Robert O Ellingson, Redcliff, CA;
Steven G Penzes, Medicine Hat, CA;
Mick Saruwatari, Calgary, CA;
Kevin Saruwatari, Calgary, CA;
Craig Poulsom, Calgary, CA;
Abstract
A multisensor vehicle-mounted mine detector having one or more sensors leading the vehicle for detecting objects in the ground while moving. A navigational system tracks the coordinates of the detected objects, performs data fusion, declares whether the object is a target worthy of interest and if so, stops the vehicle with a trailing thermal neutron activator sensor (TNA) over the coordinates of the object and interrogating the object with slow neutrons to confirm whether it contains sufficient nitrogen to indeed be a mine. The TNA confirmation is kept brief due to the use of a strong source coupled with means for analysing the resultant pulses and rejecting piled-up pulses. The difference between an integration of the entire pulse and a portion of the pulse is compared against a predetermined difference for a normal pulse wherein variations therebetween are indicative of a piled-up pulse which is then rejected. If a mine is confirmed it is then temporarily physically marked with a mixture of a dry granular, free-flowing superabsorbent polymer and dyed liquid to form a voluminous semi-solid gel.