Site Description

Fort Rucker is located primarily within Dale County, in the southeastern corner of Alabama near the city of Enterprise. The installation currently occupies approximately 58,000 acres.

From 1942 to 1951, the U.S. Army used the munitions response site (MRS) property as an anti-tank rocket/grenade range. The MRS is located northeast of the cantonment and occupies approximately 52 acres. Much of the approximately 38-acre former range area has been converted to a golf course for use by installation personnel and the general public. Most of this portion of the former range area consists of well-maintained grassy areas with few trees. The remaining approximately 14 acres of the range area is wooded. The wooded areas generally lack significant undergrowth and are easily accessible. Most of the ground surface in the wooded areas is covered with leaf litter and fallen limbs/trees.

Suspected Munitions Present at the Demonstration Site

2.36-inch rocket, rifle, and fragmentation grenades

3.5-inch practice rockets

Demonstration Summary

Two advanced electromagnetic induction (EMI) systems were used to collect data onsite. The man-portable Time-domain Electromagnetic Multi-sensor Towed Array Detection System (TEMTADS) 2x2 array collected dynamic survey data followed by cued interrogation of approximately 500-750 anomalies.

The commercial MetalMapper (MM) collected cued mode data of the anomalies detected in the EM61 survey that was conducted as part of the upcoming Time Critical Removal Action (TCRA).

There were two facets to the data analysis for this demonstration. The demonstrator preprocessed detection survey data and, in conjunction with the Program Office, identified anomalies. The demonstrator then collected cued data and processed it through background subtraction and geolocation. The data analysis demonstrators employed physics-based models to extract target parameters and then classification algorithms to produce a ranked anomaly list.

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 of the data analysis from this demonstration will be posted as they become available.

Demonstration Projects

Support for Live Site DemonstrationsLead Organization: Naval Research Laboratory

Cost and Performance Report: Demonstration of Advanced Geophysics and Classification Technologies on Munitions Response SitesLead Organization: URS Group, Inc.

Demonstration of Advanced EMI Classification Technologies – Man-Portable TEM and MetalMapperLead Organization: CH2M HILL

Dipole Discrimination Techniques Applied to Live SitesLead Organization: Black Tusk Geophysics, Inc.

Continued Discrimination Demonstration Using Advanced EMI Models at Live UXO Sites: Data Quality Assessment and Residual Risk Mitigation in Real TimeLead Organization: Dartmouth College/White River Technologies