Using LiDAR Detection To Detect Non-ferrous Landmines in Dense Foliage

Sokil Computer Science/Physics/Global, 2025–26

Liaison(s): Christopher Cotner ’13, Ivan Dudiak ’26, Xander Fries ’24
Advisor(s): Jason Gallicchio
Students(s): Carleton Imbens (TL-S), Ethan Lotan (TL-F), Trevor Carson, Edward Donson

There are over 80 million active landmines in post-conflict areas all over the world. Sokil is a humanitarian demining startup which aims to use low-cost sensor systems to autonomously detect landmines under light brush. The Sokil team has constructed a hand-portable LIDAR scanner, designed various light detection and ranging (LIDAR) algorithms, and performed field testing to compare the performance of their algorithms against modern sUAV imaging techniques.