Selecting land mine detection strategies by means of outranking multicriteria decision methods techniques

In a NATO study of the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) about land mine detection from an airborne platform, a selection process for the best sensor combination was requested, and the use of an MCDM method was proposed. Two major types of sensors were considered: electro-optical sensors (visible spectrum and infrared (IR) cameras) and radars (synthetic aperture radars (SAR), ground penetrating radars, radiometers, etc.). It was decided to characterise these sensors by the way their operationality was altered when unfavourable environmental conditions occur. This gave rise to the establishment of selection criteria for land mine detection strategies. These criteria were based on the environmental conditions of the scenario defined by the NATO industrial advisory group NIAG-D(96)8. The ORESTE multicriteria analysis method was chosen, to avoid requiring quantitative assessments from the experts. The results are compared with a simple additive aggregation and with results obtained from the PROMETHEE method. Suggestions for further research with sensor combinations are formulated, pending the ongoing NATO/AGARD study activities.