New tools for identifying landmines

Norwegian People's Aid is a humanitarian organisation that works internationally on mine clearance, disarmament and humanitarian relief. It has seen an increase in the use of improvised explosive devices in parts of the Middle East. These homemade mines are placed both inside and outside buildings and are triggered by a thin tripwire that is almost impossible to see and contains only small amounts of metal. As conventional metal detectors struggle to detect the tripwires, both mine clearance personnel and local communities face serious risks when the explosives are made safe.

With advisory and funding from Innovation Norway, Norwegian People’s Aid began by carefully assessing the challenge before inviting businesses to take part in a market dialogue. Together, they discussed which solutions already existed and what could be developed.

'Have you considered lighting?' asked a representative from the Norwegian group Bertel O. Steen, who attended the market dialogue meeting.

Light is often used at crime scenes to find things such as tiny hairs. Perhaps a special type of light could also be used to detect the tripwires that trigger the mines.

With support from the Humanitarian Innovation Programme, Norwegian People's Aid entered into innovation partnerships with Bertel O. Steen to develop a light-based solution that makes tripwires easier to detect, and with Italian company CEIA to develop a new type of metal detector that is more sensitive than existing detectors.

The solutions funded by Innovation Norway have now been successfully tested in real-world environments. The findings show that they significantly outperform existing equipment, both indoors and outdoors.

'The tests showed that the deminers felt safer while carrying out their work, and that the lighting solution is essential for safely clearing improvised explosive devices inside buildings. This will increase our capacity and efficiency,' says Kyaw Lin Htut, Mine Action and Disarmament Advisor at Norwegian People's Aid.

The equipment will now be purchased and put into use in Iraq, and they are also considering using the tools in Syria and Ukraine.

Emilie Skogvang, Advisor for the Humanitarian Innovation Programme, points out that Norwegian People's Aid's innovation process shows the value of laying solid groundwork to understand the problem you want to solve before developing a new solution.

'We see that the tools developed have the potential to scale up precisely because they meet a need in the market. It is exciting to see that both the armed forces and the police have shown interest in the new solutions,' says Skogvang.

Read more about the Humanitarian Innovation Programme here.