71 Protecting and Securing Our Nation Xavier Depreytere, innovation project manager at Humanity & Inclusion, a nonprofit organization working in situations of conflict and disaster. “GIS is used to study the environment, capturing what you can see on the ground and from above.” Partnering on Mine Detection and Mapping Humanity & Inclusion’s Odyssey 2025 demining project aims to make efficiency gains in the work of detecting mines and mapping minefields. The organization has partnered with Mobility Robotics to apply the latest tools and devise new workflows. In support of the Odyssey 2025 project, John Fardoulis, director of Mobility Robotics, takes a science-based approach using drones and GIS. He has been to almost 300 minefields since 2018, testing high-tech and low-cost solutions that can be customized based on local minefield conditions. Humanity & Inclusion’s small team of demining experts amplify the benefits by sharing these capabilities and training local people and other organizations. The modern methods are now helping demining teams run by partners, such as The HALO Trust, Norwegian People’s Aid, and the Mines Advisory Group. Learning Lessons in a Crucible of Extreme Heat In Chad, the Odyssey 2025 demining team learned many lessons, including how to deal with Saharan heat. The team combed the desert from 2018 to 2021 to help undo the ongoing harms of landmines placed during Chad’s civil war 30 years ago. The aim was to return the land to the people, eliminating the horror of children and livestock wandering into minefields to be maimed or killed. Desert landscapes pose a particular challenge to deminers. Shifting sands erase telltale tracks. The featureless surroundings and lack of landmarks are dangerously disorienting. Mines could be anywhere. One morning, as the team neared a known minefield, the road disappeared into a sand dune. Short forays ahead failed to find the path. Then, Fardoulis sent up a drone. From above, stones at the road’s edge popped out and he mapped them. “We joined the dots. It saved months of work on the ground trying to find the starting point.” — John Fardoulis, director, Mobility Robotics In Chad, Fardoulis prototyped thermal/long wave infrared imaging, also known as thermography, to find the location of landmines. First, the team established a test site to monitor the thermal properties of buried mines at different times of day. They found the best time to fly was from 4:00 a.m. to sunrise in Demining teams in Chad learn how to operate off-the-shelf drones. (Photo courtesy of John Fardoulis and Humanity & Inclusion)
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