Powersoft donates amps to landmine detection project
Published: MEA
WORLD: Powersoft has donated its DigiMod 1000 amplifier to help the Rascan landmine detection project.
As part of an international group of scientists from five countries, the University of Florence is helping to develop a new system for the detection of landmines. The system named ‘Rascan’ is based on using sub-surface radar, and is able to create a holographic image of an area. Affordable, and easy to read even for non-experts, it can detect, identify and distinguish between unexploded mines, even plastic landmines, and the shrapnel and clutter of a typical war zone.
Professor Lorenzo Capineri, leading member of the team of Florentine scientists, describes the benefits of the Rascan system: ‘Our new holographic radar dramatically lowers the risk for the persons involved in mine clearance (on average one death occurs for every 1,000 mines recovered), to reduce error factors such as tiredness, as well as time and cost of clearing large areas from mines. Additionally, Rascan can also be used for non-destructive diagnostics of structural elements of masonry or wood, such as for investigating cultural heritage objects.’
Professor Capineri and Powersoft's managing director of R&D, Claudio Lastrucci, have know each other for a long time. Himself a former student at the University of Florence, Mr Lastrucci gained an interest in the Rascan project: ‘When the Rascan team required amplifiers, it was a no-brainer for us to help. In addition to us providing some other components, our DigiMod 1000 proved to be right for driving the Rascan transducer. It’s got plenty of continuous power for the purpose, and as a result of efficiency it’s compact and light-weight. So, we gave them some. One may call it sponsorship, but the price is nothing compared to the lives it can help saving.’
‘In addition to our team member institutions, we wish to acknowledge the invaluable support, advice, and assistance of Powersoft for having supplied high-efficiency power amplifiers and sound sources to the group of scientists of the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications University of Florence for testing new methods of research based on acoustic waves,’ added Professor Capineri.
Professor Capineri and his team are open for cooperation: anyone interested in investing in, sponsoring, or otherwise supporting the project may email directly to lorenzo.capineri@unifi.it.