WO2001011307A1

WO2001011307A1 - Method and arrangement for training soldiers and civilians to handle, use and understand the danger in anti-personnel and anti tank mines

Info

Publication number: WO2001011307A1
Application number: PCT/SE2000/001538
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leif Nyfelt
Original assignee: Bengtsson, Jan
Priority date: 1999-08-05
Filing date: 2000-08-03
Publication date: 2001-02-15
Also published as: SE514783C2; SE9902841L; AU6486200A; SE9902841D0

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and to an arrangement for training/exercising soldiers and civilians in the handling and use of anti-personnel/anti-tank mines and also in realising the danger that such mines represent. The mine is equipped with a transmitter for sending at least one signal upon triggering of the mine. The signal is received by a receiver carried by a person or a vehicle that triggers the mine or is located in the proximity of the mine, said receiver being adapted to forward said signal to a monitoring unit together with receiver-related data.

Description

METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR TRAINING SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS TO HANDLE, USE AND UNDERSTAND THE DANGER IN ANTI PERSONAL AND ANTI TANK MINES

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement for training soldiers and civilians in the handling and the use of anti-personnel/anti-tank mines and in understanding the danger presented by such mines.

Mines of different kinds have long been used in war. Prior to a state of war soldiers that use mines, as well as military and civilian mine clearance personnel, have often had no possibility of training realistically in the face of the danger that mines represent during and after a war. Training in a classroom, i.e. listening to an instructor who describes the function, construction and design of a mine is one matter, while instilling in an individual a full understanding of the real danger of mines is a totally different matter. Neither do soldiers learn to understand fully the dangers presented by mines, by exercising with dummy mines in the field.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an arrangement which will give soldiers and mine clearance personnel greater practical knowledge of mines and greater mine experience, particularly to enable soldiers to practice with results in real time and to carry out exercises in the field under realistic conditions. Exercises adapted to the training of paramedics can be carried out with the aid of the invention, under simulated realistic conditions which include the presence of mines and in which people injured by mines need to be taken care of. One of the aforesaid objects of the invention is achieved with a method for training/exercising soldiers and civilians in the handling of mines, where the mine is caused to send a signal when triggered, this signal being received by a monitoring unit on the one hand and by a receiver carried by a person or a vehicle on the other hand, said receiver functioning to send the signal to the monitoring unit together with receiver-related data.

Another of the aforesaid objects of the invention is achieved with an inventive arrangement for training/exercising soldiers and civilians in the handling of mines, where a mine is equipped with a transmitter which, when the mine is trig- gered, functions to send at least one signal that is received by a monitoring unit on the one hand and by a person-carried or vehicle-carried receiver on the other hand, wherein the receiver is adapted to forward the signal to the monitoring unit together with receiver-related data.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the mine- carried transmitter is adapted to transmit signals of mutually different ranges, so as to simulate different types of infliction/injury within the various ranges of the signals.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the mine is equipped with means for emitting a flash of light in conjunction with triggering of the mine.

In accordance with the inventive method and the inventive arrangement, in addition to including a transmitter the mine is also equipped with a receiver, a global positioning system, and an identification device (RFID) . The purpose of this device is to identify and register the person laying the mine, the person triggering the mine, and the type of injury that would be sustained if the mine were to be live. The compass direction is registered by the global positioning system (GPS) . The mine-carried transmitter and signalling means function to transmit codes which indicate the extent of injury and damage caused when the mine is triggered. This can be achieved, for instance, by transmitting signals of mutually different powers. The data required for evaluation by the exercise command is captured by the person-carried or vehicle-carried receivers, which, in turn, function as slaves in a radio system and forward the data to the monitoring unit, said unit being controlled by the exercise command or battle command. Vehicles and persons may, conveniently, also carry GPS-equipment, position determining equipment, so that their respective positions in the field can be observed by the monitoring unit.

An inventive method for application with an inventive ar- rangement enables the function of a genuine mine to be imitated/simulated and to follow a mine exercise in real time from a remote location. Such use also enables the movements of a person in a mine field to be followed.

The invention will now be described with reference to two non-limiting embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 illustrates schematically a mine for use in conjunction with the inventive method and the inventive arrangement, and shows the most essential parts of the invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an exercise or training event and shows a number of mine-seeking soldiers; Fig. 3 illustrates a mine corresponding to the mine shown in Fig. 1, but with a set directional effect; Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of the damage caused in different areas as a result of triggering the mine in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 illustrates schematically an exercise event in conjunction with an anti-tank mine.

The mine illustrated schematically in Fig. 1 includes a body 1 that carries a firing or triggering mechanism 2. The mine body and the firing mechanism may have the appearances of a genuine mine, and the firing mechanism 2 may be caused to function in a manner corresponding to the firing mechanism of a genuine/live mine in response to an external force, for instance by pressure exerted vertically on the firing mechanism. The mine-body 1 also includes a reading device 3 that functions to register which part of a soldier's body trig- gered the mine. In the case of the embodiment of Fig. 1, there is shown a soldier' s boot 4 and a transponder tag 5 fastened to the bootlace.

The mine also includes a transmitter 6 which is conveniently constructed to transmit at different powers or different frequencies. With the aid of these different powers or different frequencies, the mine can be caused to simulate the extent of the injury that would be sustained by the soldier triggering the mine, and also the extent of the injury to any soldier or soldiers that may be in the proximity of the "detonation". For instance, the death of a soldier close to or standing on the mine can be simulated, while simulating shrapnel injuries to soldiers in a relatively close vicinity. The mine has its own software 7 in which the identity, ID, of the mine and the identification number of the military unit concerned are stored. The electronics of the mine are powered by an internal battery 8. The mine is also conveniently provided with a passive transponder 9 that is activated with the aid of a separate mine finder, so that the mine can be localised reliably at the end of an exercise.

Fig. 2 illustrates a training exercise in which soldiers are in the process of finding a detected mine 10, for instance of the kind described with reference to Fig. 1. All soldiers taking part in the exercise are provided with transponders prior to the search. Each soldier may suitably be equipped with four transponders, one attached to each boot, as shown in Fig. 1, and one in each arm of his/her tunic. Each transponder has an own identity and each transponder carried by each soldier is registered, together with the position in which it is worn. This enables the mine-reading device 3 to register whether the mine has been triggered by a soldier's foot or hand, and also whether it is the right or left arm or foot that triggered the mine, and also the number and name of the soldier concerned. Although not shown, each soldier is also equipped with a transmitter that forwards information transmitted by the mine-carried transmitter 6. This informa- tion is received by the monitoring unit, receiver with computer, that the command of the training exercise or the battle command has in its possession, this information including data relating to the identity of the transponders carried by respective soldiers and the location of the transponder, therewith enabling the mine to send information relating to the soldier triggering the mine and with which part of his/her body, this information being forwarded by the soldier-carried transmitter and immediately evaluated.

The soldier 11 that in the exercise illustrated in Fig. 2 has triggered the mine 10 with his/her right hand carries a transponder in the right arm of his/her tunic, and information from this transponder is read by the reading device 3 in the mine 10. The mine delivers a code X = serious injury/damage signal within a radius of the circle 12, first at low power and small range, together with transponder identification data. This data and injury/damage code is sent by the transmitter carried by the soldier 11 to the monitoring unit, where it can be read immediately that the soldier 11 has triggered the mine with his/her right arm and therewith been mortally injured, "killed". Some milliseconds after the mine has sent this first injury code, the mine 10 sends a second injury code Y = shrapnel injuries with a higher power and a longer range, illustrated by circle 13. The soldiers 14, 15 and 16 are located within the circle 13 but outside the circle 12. These soldiers will therewith not be reached by the first signal code, the fatal or serious injury signal, but, on the other hand, by the second injury code, and their respective transmitters will send this information to the monitoring unit together with data relating to the identity of the soldiers, it being registered in the monitoring unit that the soldiers 14, 15 and 16 have sustained shrapnel inju- ries. Two more soldiers 17 and 18 are located outside the circle 13. These soldiers are not reached by an injury code and would not have been injured if the mine had been a genuine/live mine, although the transmitter of the mine 10 may be adapted to send a third signal of still greater power and longer range for identifying all persons present on the site, so that respective transmitters of the soldiers send data relating to their presence to the monitoring unit of the battle command or exercise command.

An inventive method and an inventive arrangement enable mine training to be carried out in a highly realistic fashion. The various powers of the mine transmitter are adapted so that respective signals will have the range corresponding to the injury causing effect that would be possessed by a genuine/live mine of the same type.

With the knowledge that can be obtained on site in this way with respect to the number of soldiers injured, the type of the injuries sustained, etc., it is possible to set a troop of paramedics into action in the training exercise, to deal with the "injured" soldiers and their various injuries. Such an exercise with all its elements and with real time evalua- tion has not earlier been possible.

Fig. 3 shows a type of mine different to that shown in Fig. 1, namely a training mine/troop mine with a directional explosive effect. Similar to the mine shown in Fig. 1, the mine shown in Fig. 3 includes a mine body 1, a triggering/firing mechanism 2 and also a read device 3 which functions to register the part of the body with which the soldier triggered the mine. The mine also includes a transmitter 6 and its own software in which the own identity of the mine is stored together with the number of the unit or company concerned. The mine electronics are powered by an internal battery 8, similar to the electronics of the mine shown in Fig. 1. In addition to the triggering mechanism 2 commonly used, the mine may also be triggered by a trip wire 19. The mine body 1 is also equipped with a pair of outwardly extendable legs 20 by means of which the mine can be placed perpendicularly in a direction in which the "enemy" can be expected to approach.

In conjunction with positioning the mine and prim- ing/triggering of said mine, the company identity of the soldier who positions the mine is also registered, possibly through the medium of the own RFID-reader 3 of said mine, which reads one of the transponder types carried by the sol- dier on his/her uniform. The read/registered data enables the mine to then decide when it shall send a "killing" or "injuring" code that can be recognised solely by the "enemy's" receiver. This makes it possible for the group/company positioning the mine and themselves triggering the mine to protected themselves in the vicinity of the mine, without being registered as being "hit" by said mine.

The direction of the explosion/elimination field of the mine can be decided by incorporating in the mine a GPS-compass 21 which indicates the direction in which the mine is directed. The soldier who then moves in the field towards the mine is equipped with a GPS-position indicator where a counter-course in such case confirms that he/she is moving in front of and in a direction towards the position of the mine.

The simulation effect of the mine can be amplified by providing the mine with a photoflash 22 which can produce a shock effect, at least when triggered in the dark, that renders the soldier incapable of reacting by virtue of his/her night vision being impaired over a period of time. This photoflash will also disclose the position of the soldier by its illumination, in a manner corresponding to the flash generated if the mine had been a genuine/live mine.

An additional simulating effect can be obtained by providing the mine with a loudspeaker and a sound amplifier 23 which emits a loud bang when the mine is triggered. This will also disclose the position of the soldier to the enemy, in the same way as the bang caused in reality.

When the mine has a directional explosive effect, signals can be transmitted in a manner corresponding to that described above with reference to the description of the exercise shown in Fig. 2, but with the difference that the effect of the mine is not spread in a circle around the position of the mine in this case, but in sectors of specific directions, as shown in Fig. 4. The mine sends a "killing" code that is recognised by the soldiers located in the sector 24, and thereafter an "injuring" code that is recognised by soldiers in the sector 25, whereas the soldiers located further away receive neither a "killing" code nor an "injuring" code, but remain "unhurt". As with the earlier described example, the soldier-carried transmitters forward codes transmitted by the mine to the monitoring unit of the battle command or exercise command concerned.

Fig. 5 is a schematic illustration of an exercise that includes a battle tank 26, an anti-tank mine 27 and a number of soldiers 28 located outside the tank but in the proximity thereof. The anti-tank mine 27 has, in principle, the same functions as the aforedescribed mines and thus sends differ- ent codes of different significances and ranges, these codes being received by transponders in the tank 26 and on the soldiers 28 in a manner corresponding to that described above with reference to the earlier examples.

It will be understood that both the mine first described and the anti-tank mine may be equipped with light-emitting and sound-emitting devices 22, 23 described with reference to Fig. 3, so as to amplify the simulation effect.

Mine, persons, and vehicles may be equipped with a GPS- positioning system that enables the position of mines in the field to be monitored and also movement of persons and vehi- cles in the field, and their relationship with respect to the mines laid in the field.

Claims

1. A method of training/exercising soldiers and civilians in the handling and the use of anti-personnel/anti-tank mines and in understanding the danger that such mines represent, characterised in that when the mine is triggered, the mine (10, 27) is caused to transmit at least one signal which is received by a receiver carried by a person or a vehicle triggering the mine or in the vicinity of said mine, wherewith said signal is forwarded by the receiver to a monitoring unit together with receiver-related data.

2. A method according to Claim 1, characterised by providing the mine (10, 27) with a reading device (3) that functions to register data sent by a transponder (5) carried by the person triggering the mine, such as to register that part of the body with which the person triggered the mine.

3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised by caus- ing the mine (10, 27) to transmit several signals upon being triggered, said signals having mutually different ranges (12; 13; 24, 25) and mutually different significances such as to indicate different types of injury at different distances from the mine.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised by causing the mine (10, 27) to emit a light signal upon being triggered.

5. A method according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised by causing the mine (10, 27) to emit an acoustic signal upon being triggered.

6. An arrangement for training/exercising soldiers and civil^¬ ians in handling and using anti-personnel/anti-tank mines, and in realising the danger that such mines represent, characterised in that the arrangement includes a mine (10, 27) that includes a transmitter (6) which, when the mine is triggered, sends a signal that is received by a receiver carried by a person (11, 14-16, 28) or a vehicle (26) and that is adapted to send the signal received from the mine (10, 27) to a monitoring unit together with receiver-transmitted identi- fication data.

7. An arrangement according to Claim 6, characterised in that the mine (10) also includes a reader (3) which reads data from a transponder (5) carried by the person (11) responsible for triggering the mine, for registration of the part of the body with which said person triggered the mine (10) .

8. An arrangement according to Claim 6 or 7, characterised in that the transmitter (6) of the mine functions to transmit signals of mutually different ranges (12, 13; 24, 25) and significances upon triggering the mine.

9. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the mine (10) also includes means (22) for emitting an acoustic signal upon triggering of the mine .

10. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the mine also includes means (23) for emitting a light signal upon triggering of the mine.