A recent project of graduated students from the University of Carleton used metal detectors attached to drones to locate unleashed bombs in the Mer Bleue swamp, which was used as a range of practice bombardment in World War II.
The graduated students Pablo Arzate and Sareh Mirbagheri used magnetometers mounted in drones to survey part of the swamp, a conservation area of 3,500 hectares in the EAST END of Ottawa that is property and is operated by the National Capital Commission (NCC).
The site consists mainly in peat and was actively used as a bombing range between 1942 and 1945.
While the National Defense Department (DND) knows where the bombs were launched, it does not know how many there are.
But after surveying a small area with drones, the student’s team could count more than 17 unleashed (Uxo) articles in a specific area.
“It was really interesting for everyone to see that result [in] The little part we were exploring, “Mirbagheri said.
“Our technology does not specifically say: ‘Hello, this is a bomb, this is a plane,'” Arzate added. “But he tells us: ‘Hello, there is something down here’. And the story of this place and the history of geology tell us all the interpretation, which is [that] This place is full of bombs, exploited or without exploiting. “
A DND spokesman told CBC News that, although he was not involved in the project, he welcomes innovation in the field of elimination of unspecified pumps.
In 1960, a pump removal team had the task of cleaning the range.
But due to the nature of the terrain, that never happened, and the swamp was never declared free of explosives. The property of the Earth was transferred to the NCC in 1965.
DND said that the types of fallen ammunition included air pumps that weighed up to approximately 450 kilograms.
‘A quite honorable cause’
Arzate said that for the project, the team flew drones during the survey area five hours a day in the course of four days.
Due to the swamp features, any non -organic object in the field would stand out before the detectors they used, he said.
“The swamp itself is very different from everything else. It is made of pure organic matter,” he said. “That facilitates us when we are trying to detect abnormalities that are not composed of organic material.”
The use of drones was particularly valuable, said Arzate, because they could survey the land without disturbing the site, which shows that work can be done without heavy equipment.
“I think we are really proud of where we are and what we have achieved, especially because … there is no great company that gives us money,” he said.
Arzate said he intended to use the project’s aerial survey technology for mining and resources extraction, but wanted to demonstrate that it could be applied widely, even for the purposes of defense and remediation of the Earth.
“We have to use this technology to clear the mined field and the bombs that have been there or are being placed while we talk, and we think this is a fairly honorable cause to join,” he said.
According to DND spokesman Andrée-Anne Poulin, the risk of Uxo is low since there is little or no human contact with the parts of the swamp where the explosives are found.
Because of that, there are no plans to remove without exploiting bombs unless the earth is rebuilt.
“As long as the area is maintained as a park, the risk will remain low,” Poulin said in an email.
