Provisional Roadmap

Note on Objectives:

In designing metal detectors suitable for demining, there are many objectives such as being able to detect smaller objects or being able to detect at a greater depth but from the research that I have done, the most important, or at least the characteristic that those performing demining seem to be crying out for most, is better characterisation of targets.

Current metal detectors are used in many places and except for the very high number of false targets to real targets are already considered satisfactory.  This is what is creating the high cost that is stopping many mine fields from being removed.

Most of the roadmap is based on designs that are more likely to help in characterising the targets.

Roadmap:

1. Create website and facilities such as forum.
2. Advertise the existence of the project.
3. Create Documentation of the technology sufficient to allow people to take part in the design who don't have engineering, electronics, DSP or other metal detector design skills.
4. Research available standards and specify the standards that this project will use. This needs to include framework specifications such as how modules will interface to each other.
5. Create complete specifications of modules needed in order to create an initial working VLF version.
6. Create complete specifications for additional modules needed in order to extend the initial working version into a research tool and development environment for further research into characterising buried anomalies.
7. Create initial working VLF version of a metal detector.
8. Extend the initial working version into a research tool and development environment for further research
9. Investigate other magnetic principles such as use of the Fluxgate Effect and the Barkhausen Effect in order to better characterise the targets.
10. Create advanced VLF Version.
11. Add Global Position System (GPS) module.
12. Create versions with more coils.
13. Add a Pulse Induction (PI) module to provide a better separation of ground to anomaly and to give indications of objects that are deeper than the VLF can handle.
14. Create imaging system with an array of coils.
    Note: this may include processing being performed by an array of processors in an extra video card!!!.
15. Add a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Module.