Detection of anti-personnel mines of the “leg breakers” type by analyzing thermographic images captured from a drone at different heights

A method for the detection of plastic anti-personnel mines called “ leg breakers ” is presented from images of the ground acquired remotely by a drone at heights between 1 and 5 m. The proposal achieved an accuracy of 92.13 % and a sensitivity of 82.4 % when evaluating the performance on 260 test images, a number higher than that used in previous works, and with mines buried in real terrain with the presence of vegetation. The above on images acquired on different dates with different environmental conditions and soil moisture. In addition, it was found that the method was adapted to three different thermographic cameras, being necessary only to adjust the gamma parameter associated with the thermal contrast enhancement technique used. It was corroborated that mines are easier to detect to the extent that they are buried more superficially, and when the flight height of the drone is between 1 and 2 m. Finally, it is highlighted that the proposal has the potential to be executed in processing systems onboard the drone, thanks to its algorithmic simplicity.