AN_MX_EN

Application Note: UXO detection in Saudi Arabia with the
MAGNETO® MX 8-Channel System
“… the practical use of
the MX system in the field
very much exceeded our
expectations.”
- Dr. Tomás Pokorny, Destrux -
The Project
The Czech trading company
E-W Trade Ltd got contracted
in 2011 to clean a former air
weapon shooting range of the
Saudi Arabian Army in the
Dammam area. The contract
included area preparation for
object identification as well as
the removal of remaining
ammunition from the property.
Facing a total size of around
31,000,000 m² to clean, E-W
trade cooperated with the well
experienced EOD company
Destrux s.r.o.
The System
Having excellent experiences
with SENSYS equipment, E-W
Trade decided to use a
SENSYS MAGNETO® MX
system for precise scanning
and recording of the entire site.
The system included a four (4)
meter wide vehicle towed
trailer with eight (8)
FGM650/10 differential
magnetometers.
“… the findings were
localized with an accuracy
of ± 1 cm.” (ibid.)
For a measurement accuracy
of ± 1 cm, a GPS configuration
was used that included a rover
RTK DGPS at the MX system
and a second RTK DGPS as
reference station to be placed
aside the survey area.
To handle all data, SENSYS
provided its software package
MonMX for data and GPS
recordings, DLMGPS for data
transfer and post-processing
preparation as well as the
®
software MAGNETO for the
object calculation.
“… the MX system has
proved to work practically
in continuous mode, even
in the most challenging
desert conditions.
Through six days a week,
the system has driven
more than 100 km per
day.” (ibid.)
The Conditions
The Workflow
The Results
The survey conditions on site
where severe with over 50° C
in the sun, fine sand and dust
as well as heavy sand storms.
The terrain itself was a mix of
perfectly flat spots, but sharp
and bumpy areas, too. Survey
speed differed from walking
speed up to 15 km/h.
The MAGNETO® MX system
was used as part of an
economic process flow using
several teams to cover the job.
All teams were working for
round about one (1) year in
order to clean more than
3,000 ha, dumping more than
155 t of ammunition. More
than 7,500 pieces from 30 mm
projectiles up to 2,000 lbs
bombs were removed. Most
impressive detection using the
SENSYS survey system was a
250 lbs bomb at six (6) meters
depth.
Operating a high sensitive
magnetometer survey system,
the trailer had to be entirely of
non-magnetic parts. Therefore
plastic parts such as axles,
bearings and screws were
facing a very hard time especially since E-W Trade
Ltd and Destrux s.r.o. applied
a heavy duty usage to the
SENSYS equipment with
survey peaks of 40 ha in one
(1) day.
Facing local constraints to
repair all damages and
wearing parts, SENSYS did an
intensive offsite support using
Email, phone and Skype as
well as dispatching spare
material within shortest time.
Excavating a 250 lbs bomb in
6 meters depth
Copyright © 2013 SENSYS GmbH
Subjected to alterations
Version v01.01
While a first team was preparing the area and remove
target objects like old trucks
and walls, a second team was
clearing parts of the area just
using excavators.
A third team was using the MX
system to do a complete area
scan to locate objects in a
depth between two (2) and six
(6) meters. A fourth team was
doing the data analysis and
object calculation using the
MAGNETO® software and preparing a list of suspicious
objects.
The next team was using a
SENSYS DGPS back pack to
re-locate the objects and to
set markers for the excavation
team.
155 tons of dumped ammunition
“… the MX system is for
us and for the future the
only right choice!” (ibid.)
Bringing in the system to
SENSYS for maintenance and
check-up, the SENSYS staff
was pleased to see the
excellent condition of the
equipment despite of the
rough conditions the system
was facing for such a long
period. Obviously the MX
system was the right choice to
support an economic UXO
clearance in big areas under
extremely difficult conditions!