Radar drones for safe landmine detection

Radar System Radar Drones for Safe Landmine Detection

2025-10-22 Source: Ulm University of Applied Sciences | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

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How can dangerous mine clearance be made safer and more efficient? THU staff member Bernd Arendt has developed a radar system as part of his doctorate that detects landmines more precisely and significantly reduces false alarms.

Field tests with drones in Croatia(Image: TH Ulm) — Field tests with drones in Croatia
(Image: TH Ulm)

Bernd Arendt completed his doctorate with excellent results. In his dissertation, "Reduction of False Alarm Rate in Landmine Detection with Ground-Penetrating Radar," Bernd Arendt focused on improving the efficiency and safety of humanitarian demining. The aim was to enhance clearance performance using ground radar systems while simultaneously reducing the risk for demining teams.

Sensor platform with automated object detection

Bernd Arendt (right) with his supervisor, THU Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Walter(Image: TH Ulm) — Bernd Arendt (right) with his supervisor, THU Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Walter
(Image: TH Ulm)

To achieve this, Arendt developed an autonomous sensor platform with automated object detection at the Ulm University of Applied Sciences (THU, located in Germany), which reliably identifies buried or vegetation-covered mines using radar. By incorporating typical target signatures, he significantly reduced the false alarm rate while simultaneously improving the detection rate—an important step toward making the use of such systems in the field more practical.

Very versatile: In agriculture, drones, for example, support more efficient management of agricultural land. (Image:freely licensed)

Detect landmines from a safe distance

The results of the research are now being directly applied in the start-up FindMine gGmbH, which was established as part of a project of the THU, ETH Zurich, and the universities of Ulm and Stuttgart, supported by the Urs Endress Foundation. FindMine gGmbH develops drones with radar technology that detect landmines from a safe distance, aiming to make humanitarian demining safer, faster, and more cost-effective.

With the topic and the work, one has the opportunity to make a difference and make the world a little safer.

Bernd Arendt, TH Ulm

The doctorate was supervised by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Walter (THU). Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. habil. Robert Weigel (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany) served as an additional reviewer. The examination committee also included Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Herr and Prof. Dr. Claus Braxmaier (both from the University of Ulm).

For the future, FindMine and Bernd Arendt plan to deploy an initial system in the field to collect real data in a minefield and further optimize the process.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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