According to the United Nations, approximately how many children were killed, seriously injured or suffered loss of limbs because of landmines in the past decade? — 8,000,000
Grade 11 inventor Kyle Doerksen from Calgary, Alberta has come up with computer software that may have international ramifications. Kyle has successfully incorporated
three-dimensional imaging into ground penetrating radar. This invention could have a notable affect on countries that wage an on-going battle with the scourge of hidden landmines.
Ground penetrating radar (GPR) uses electromagnetic waves to probe beneath the surface to detect metallic and non-metallic irregularities. However, current GPR does not include the capacity for three-dimensional imaging. To test his invention, Kyle decided to use data collected from Cambodia’s killing fields, where landmines take a horrendous toll on human life and limb. His test results were nothing short of astounding. While the current form of GPR was able to detect fewer than 60 percent of the landmines in the test sample, Kyle’s innovative 3D-GPR was able to detect more than 90 percent of the mines!
This 17 year old sees his invention also being used in forensics, mineral prospecting, geology, civil engineering and paleontology. “You could literally map out an ancient buried city without ever digging a hole,” he says.
Kyle’s invention has garnered him many awards including the Manning Award for Innovation, a Canadian Science Fair Gold Medal and the Canadian Society of Geologists and Geophysicists Award. He was also a finalist in the MacLean’s Magazine Top 100 Up and Coming Young Canadians.
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Quick Facts: Land mines claim one victim every twenty minutes and an estimated 110 million land mines exist in 65 countries.
Detonating land mines in Africa
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