Site Description
The former Pole Mountain Target and Maneuver Area (PMTMA) is a 62,448-acre site located in Laramie, Wyoming. Before 1959, PMTMA was used extensively by the Army, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, the Citizens’ Military Training Corps, various National Guard units, and the Department of the Air Force. The demonstration was conducted on 50 acres of the Bisbee Hill Maneuver Area within PMTMA.
Suspected Munitions Present at the Demonstration Site
37-mm to 155-mm projectiles2.95-inch and 3-inch projectiles3-inch Stokes mortars60-mm mortars
Demonstration Summary
This site was the first demonstration of an iterative data processing approach that could be applied at real sites. For two analysis teams, the site was divided into two sections as though the demonstration was carried out over two years. After analyzing the geophysical data and submitting ranked anomaly lists for anomalies in the first section, the demonstrators were provided performance results and given the opportunity to refine their approach to classify the second section.
Other demonstrators, both developers and production contractors, analyzed all anomalies at one site as has been the practice in previous demonstrations.
In 2011, two EMI systems were demonstrated. The Geonics EM61-MK2 sensor, the most widely used EMI sensor for UXO surveys, was used in a single-sensor cart configuration. This survey was performed by a geophysical services firm using its existing commercial equipment. The newly commercialized Geometrics’ MetalMapper was used to perform cued interrogation on the anomalies detected.
The site was seeded with inert munitions, and all anomalies were dug to confirm technology performance. Demonstrators were scored based on their ability to eliminate nonhazardous items while retaining all detected munitions.
Results and Conclusions
Classification was used at PMTMA to successfully identify all of the targets of interest (TOI) and eliminate about 90% of the clutter. A production contractor field crew collected high-quality cued MetalMapper data. Both production contractor geophysicists and the developers of classification methods were successful in using these data to achieve substantial classification. Among the production geophysicists, there was some variation in performance. Additional training is needed to improve performance by further educating analysts to identify quality problems in the numerous steps involved in the classification process. Attempts at classification using the EM61-MK2 were not successful at this site, likely due to the requirement to classify small objects of a size comparable to much of the clutter. This is consistent with the results of the prior demonstrations at the former Camp Butner and former Camp Beale, where both the presence of small targets and higher anomaly density led to poor classification using the EM61 data.
Summary Report
Summary Report: Former Pole Mountain Target and Maneuver Area - ESTCP Classification Demonstration
Demonstration Projects
Live Site DoD EngagementLead Organization: U.S. Army ESCH
Demonstration Report: Dipole Models for UXO Discrimination at Live Sites – Former Pole Mountain Target and Maneuver AreaLead Organization: Sky Research, Inc.
Final Report: Demonstration and Validation of Statistical Analysis Techniques for TOI Discrimination Using Advanced EMI Sensor Systems Lead Organization: Signal Innovations Group
Final Report: Demonstration of MetalMapper Static Data Acquisition and Data Analysis at Pole Mountain Target and Maneuver Area Lead Organization: Parsons
Technical Report: Dipole Models for UXO Discrimination at Live Sites Lead Organization: Sky Research, Inc.
Final Report: Data Collection with Vehicular Based Systems Lead Organization: Sky Research, Inc.
Final Report: Demonstration of Advanced Geophysics and Classification Technologies on Munitions Response Sites Lead Organization: URS Group, Inc.
Cost and Performance Report: Demonstration of Advanced Geophysics and Classification Technologies on Munitions Response Sites Lead Organization: URS Group, Inc.
