Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sna

Design of an electromagnetic imaging system for weapon detection based on

GMR sensor arrays
Gui Yun Tian, Abdalrahman Al-Qubaa ∗ , John Wilson
School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Concealed weapon detection is one of the most challenging issues facing the security community. It has
Received 10 May 2011 been shown that each weapon can have a unique fingerprint, which is a set of electromagnetic (EM)
Received in revised form signals determined by its size, shape, and physical composition. Extracting the signature of each weapon
21 November 2011
is one of the major tasks in any detection system. This paper addresses the design of a detection system
Accepted 24 November 2011
for the identification of conductive objects based on their response to EM fields. The system consists of
Available online 4 December 2011
commercial Walk-Through Metal Detector (WTMD) and a Giant Magneto-Resistive (GMR) sensor array
has been designed and built. Also, this paper describes how to construct a two-dimensional image from
Keywords:
Electromagnetic devices
the measured signals to be used for image processing purposes. The system validity is then checked based
Magnetic sensors on two concepts: data validation and multiple object separation. Finally, initial experimental work on the
GMR sensor automatic detection and classification of different metallic objects has been carried out. The promising
Electromagnetic imaging results indicate the feasibility of using this EM imaging method to identify objects.
Weapon detection and classification Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction to imaging and weapon detection of these measurements can be then taken and used to recover the
technologies material, position, size and shape of the objects.
EM imaging has potential applications in medicine [6] and
In light of the abuse of guns and knives, automatic detection industry [7] using the Magnetic Induction Tomography (MIT) tech-
and characterisation of weapons has attracted much attention in nique. MIT is an imaging system based on the same principle as the
recent years. Many approaches and systems have been proposed WTMD. It is based on an image’s spatial distribution of the electrical
and realised for security in airports, stations, law courts, etc. The conductivity and magnetic permeability of objects [8]. MIT applies
fact that most weapons are made of metallic materials makes a magnetic field from an excitation coil to induce eddy currents in
electromagnetic (EM) detection methods it the most prominent the material to be studied; the magnetic field from these is then
methodology and systems built on the principle of EM induction detected by sensing coils. MIT is sensitive to all three passive EM
have been prevalent for many years for the detection of suspicious properties: conductivity, permittivity and permeability.
metallic items carried covertly. Fig. 2 shows how a ferrite and copper bar can be distinguished
The Walk-Through Metal Detector (WTMD) is a commonly used using MIT [4]. The image is reconstructed using an inverse algo-
device for detecting metallic weapons and contraband items using rithm [9], however this solution is frequently poor because of
EM fields. Most WTMD units use active EM techniques to detect the nonlinear relationship between scattered field and object. A
and classify metal objects, see Fig. 1 [1–5]. An active EM field, poor solution means poor image quality and consequently reduced
in this instance, means that the detector sets up a field using a detectability [10].
source coil, this field is then used to probe the environment. The This magnetic imaging technique has been used to detect and
applied, or primary, field induces eddy currents in the metal under discriminate between objects using several receivers and a sin-
inspection, which then generates a secondary magnetic field that gle transmitter as detailed in [11]. The spatial resolution of this
can be sensed by a detector coil. The rate of decay and the spa- prototype system is presently 5 cm. Consequently, the image of
tial behaviour of the secondary field are determined by the target’s a handgun would not be precise but it would be discernible. The
electrical conductivity, magnetic permeability, shape, and size. Sets inverse problem in this system is solved by a complex mathematical
process, which adds more complexity.
Microwave imagers have been developed based on the EM
Reflectometer (EMR) principal, EMR measures the EM waves
∗ Corresponding author. reflected from an item in the wave-illumination region. Images
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Al-Qubaa). can be built up by scanning the device over the object under

0924-4247/$ – see front matter. Crown Copyright © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.sna.2011.11.034
76 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84

Fig. 1. (a) PMD2 WTMD metal detector [2]. (b) Diagram of a metal detector with an object inside the detection space [3].

can increase the false alarm level, see Fig. 4 [14]. Furthermore the
human body itself affects the sensitivity of the detector, so when
dealing with a material with a low conductivity or small size, the
human body may mask the signal of the object causing the material
to pass undetected, resulting in a poor reliability of detection [15].
There are several other EM techniques used for gun detection such
as: millimetre waves (MMW) [16], terahertz (THz) imaging [17] and
infrared imaging [18]. Each of these techniques has advantages and
disadvantages.
Fig. 2. Discrimination between a ferrite bar and two copper bars using the MIT It can be concluded that the current EM imaging systems have
system [4]. several drawbacks; low image resolution, the shape of the EM signal
may not correspond to the actual shape of objects, poor detection in
inspection, or using an array of antennae comprising of multiple a multiple object scenario, high cost, privacy invasion issue (when
pairs of transmitters and receivers [12], as shown in Fig. 3. An using MMW and THz), harmful (using X-ray) and the signal received
antenna array is moved around a person by a cylindrical shaped only corresponds to the metallic part of the material which may
mechanical scanner. The scan takes 4–7 s before 3D cylindrical hinder the detection and classification of concealed weapons. All
holographic images are produced. The holographic imager can these increase the false alarm rate of EM detection.
detect threats such as weapons constructed of metal, plastic and This paper details the design and operation of a new metallic
ceramic as well as explosive solids and liquids. Although these object detection system utilising an array of Giant Magneto-
systems can produce very impressive results, a constrained envi- Resistive (GMR) sensors in conjunction with pulsed excitation to
ronment is required. develop a new WTMD for deployment in unconstrained environ-
Currently available weapons detection systems primarily detect ments, i.e. without users divesting themselves of metallic items.
metal objects, they are either large in the case of WTMD, giv- This paper also describes how to construct a two-dimensional
ing the possibility of circumvention, or for the hand-held metal image from the measured signals to be used for image processing
detector require close proximity to the person being searched, purposes. The system validity is then checked based on two con-
putting the operator at risk [13]. Additionally, the WTMD works cepts: data validation and multiple object separation. Finally, initial
with an adjustable threshold to discriminate between threat items experimental work on the automatic detection and classification of
and personal items, depending on the mass of the object, which different metallic objects has been carried out.

Fig. 3. A microwave imager for body inspection: (a) the inspection system, and (b) microwave images of a person carrying two concealed guns [12].
 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84 77

Fig. 4. Cumulative signal effects in an active walkthrough weapon detector [14].

The rest of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 will the magnetisation of a material as being from an assembly of mag-
describe the basic theory for EM imaging systems. Section 3 will netic dipoles. If these dipoles are distributed evenly throughout the
consider the system’s design and principle of operation. EM field material, the material is consistently magnetised. For a nonmag-
imaging is explained in Section 4. System validation and an exam- netic material, such as copper, there is no magnetisation (M = 0) and
ple of possible feature extraction and classification techniques are thus, the magnetic flux density and the magnetic field are related
presented in Section 5. The paper is concluded in Section 6 with by:
potential future work.
B = r 0 H (3)
2. Theory for electromagnetic imaging systems
where r is the relative magnetic permeability of the target and 0
The EM response to a material can be obtained by solving: is the permeability of vacuum.
The functional relationship of the magnetisation with the mag-
∂B netic field, M(H), helps classify the three main classes of magnetic
∇ ×E = (1)
∂t materials: diamagnetic, paramagnetic, and ferromagnetic. The
where E is the electric field and B is the magnetic flux density. The magnetic field at any point around the magnetic source is governed
electric displacement and magnetic field are introduced solely as a by the following formula [19]:
matter of convenience when considering polarisable and magneti- 0 xz
sable materials. The magnetic field H is related to B through the Bx (x, y, z) = 3 (4)
4 (x + y + z 2 )
2 2 5/2
magnetisation M:
1 0 yz
H= B − M(H) (2) By (x, y, z) = 3 (5)
0 4 (x2 + y2 + z 2 )
5/2

In this equation, M is explicitly written as a function of H. In

0 z 2 − (1/(3(x2 + y2 + z 2 )))
the material, the magnetisation vector M is defined as the average Bz (x, y, z) = 3 (6)
4 (x2 + y2 + z 2 )
5/2
magnetic moment per unit volume. It is thus suitable to visualise

Fig. 5. Pulse induction metal detection.

78 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84

The magnetic field produced from the objects will be using same
equation but with Eqs. (4)–(6) multiplied by the relative permeabil-
ity r.
The type of magnetic field generated by its excitation coil is that
of a pulse induction field. Pulse induction detectors typically pro-
duce a transmitter current, which is turned on for a time and then
turned off. The decaying field generates pulsed eddy currents in
the target, which are then detected by analysing the decay of the
pulse induced in the receiver coil. Conductive objects show a unique
time-decay response. The pulse induction technique detects metal
objects by calculating the time-decay response of the pulse induced
Fig. 6. Sensor spacing for array.
in the receiver coil [20].
Fig. 5 illustrates the concept of magnetic inductive metal detec-
tion methods using the received signals for each position. The figure
shows a change in decay rate of the signal received by pulse induc- The spacing or separation of the array (Fig. 6) has a large impact
tion detector with respect to the reference signal when passing on the overall design of the system; the smaller the spacing, the
over a metal object at position 10. The magnetic field produced by greater the number of sensors are needed and the greater the
a source interacts with a nearby conductive object. The type and complexity and cost of the system. Four different sensor spacings
strength of this interaction depends on several parameters such were trialled during the tests: 7.5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm and 42 mm.
as: the type of material that the object is made of, the size and After analysis of the results, the 15 mm spacing was found to be
shape of the object, the orientation of the object in the magnetic a good compromise between spatial resolution and system com-
field, the speed of the object through the magnetic field, the dis- plexity. The exaggeration of field distribution for smaller objects
tance between the sensors and the object. All these should be taken works to compensate for the sensor separation. Although the cho-
into account when designing a system to detect and discriminate sen sensor separation means that the vertical accuracy can only be
between threat items [10]. guaranteed to be within 15 mm, tests have shown that measure-
ment of the actual position of the distribution is not particularly
useful in object characterisation and analysis of other aspects of
3. System design and principles of operation
the EM signature are more reliable for object discrimination.

The system used for the experimental tests is based around an

array of NVE AAL002-02 GMR sensors [21–23], used in conjunction 3.2. System configuration
with the excitation coil in an ex-service CEIA WTMD. Table 1 shows
a list of the equipment used. A block and connection diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 7.
The upper part of the diagram is duplicated five times to make 80
3.1. Magnetic sensor array specifications channels (16 channels on each of the five cards). Two 8-channel
sensor boards are connected to each of the 16-channel ampli-
NVE GMR sensors were chosen for the array. NVE offer a number fier boards via a 20-core ribbon cable. The INA instrumentation
of sensors with a varying magnetic field ranges. After initial tests amplifiers provide differential termination and amplification for
with Hall sensors (wide magnetic field range but low sensitivity), the sensor outputs. The amplifier circuits are powered by a ±15 V
the AAL002-02 low hysteresis GMR sensor was chosen for the array. power supply. The outputs from the amplifier boards are connected
The sensors have a linear magnetic field range of 1.5–10.5 mT and to the data acquisition boards in the PC via the breakout boxes. An
a sensitivity of 4.5–63 ␮V/T at a supply voltage of 15 V. additional connection is established to the data acquisition board
The “L” in the sensor model name indicates that low hysteresis from the function generator. This allows the data acquisition to be
(maximum 2%) GMR material has been used fabricate the sen- synchronised to excitation waveform.
sor, this was chosen because it was initially intended to utilise an A function generator supplies the excitation waveform. The
applied magnetic field varying from 0 to a maximum value where Bipolar power amplifier is set to produce an output current that
the lower hysteresis value would minimise the error at low field is proportional to the input voltage supplied by the function gen-
strengths. However, after initial testing, it was found that a more erator. The output from the function generator must be connected
stable signal could be achieved by biasing the sensor response into to the current programming input on the amplifier to achieve this.
its linear region using a DC offset superimposed on the excitation The output from the power amplifier is connected to the coil in the
signal. detector board via the arch control box. None of the electronics in

Table 1
Equipment list.

Equipment name Description

Agilent 33250A function generator Provides excitation waveform to power amplifier.

Kepco BOP 36-12ML bipolar power amplifier Provides excitation to the coil where the excitation current is proportional to the excitation voltage
from the function generator.
National instruments data acquisition system PC equipped with a PXI bus to accommodate multiple data acquisition cards.
5 × NI PXI-6251, 16 input data acquisition cards. Allows acquisition of 80 channels of data at a sample
rate of 125 kHz.
5× breakout boxes and cables to allow us to establish a connection to the data acquisition cards.
Sensor boards Each board contains 8 × NVE AAL002-02 GMR sensors.
Amplifier boards Each board contains 16 circuits based on the INA111 instrumentation amplifier, to allow connections
from two 8-channel sensor boards.
CEIA Walk-Through Metal Detector and control box We provide our own pulsed excitation to the coils in the metal detector panel through a connection in
the control box.
 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84 79

Fig. 9. System setup in the lab.

Fig. 7. System block and connection diagram. with rich frequency components in a single waveform. In the tests
detailed in this paper, a pulse repetition frequency of 500 Hz is used
with a pulse width of 1 ms and an applied current of 0.5–1.5 A.
Fig. 10 shows the pulse response for a steel object and an alu-
the control box are used in the test; it is just there to establish a minium object measured using a single GMR sensor. It can be seen
connection to the detector panel. from the plots that the change in pulse response for the presence
Fig. 8a shows the positioning of the sensor array. The array is of an object (steel or aluminium) is actually very small. Comput-
aligned with the coil to pick up any distortions in the applied field ing the difference between the signal with and without an object
due to the presence of metallic materials. Fig. 8b shows the inter- present, as shown in Fig. 10b and d (amplification ×200), allows
action between the applied field and any sensor in the array and us to accentuate the difference between the two signals. It can be
Fig. 8c shows the pulse response from a group of sensors. If no seen that a peak in the difference signal can be observed during the
object is present in the WTMD, the field measured by the sensor is rising/transient part of the signal; the time and amplitude charac-
unchanged; the presence of a metallic object causes a distortion of teristics of this signal can be used to extract information about the
the field, which can then be measured by the sensor. Fig. 9 shows object under inspection.
the overall system set up in the Laboratory.
4. Electromagnetic field imaging
3.3. Excitation field response
Different metallic objects were used for the conduction the
In the system, pulsed excitation is applied to the coil. Pulsed experiment and observation of the system’s reaction to threat items
excitation provides the opportunity to apply an interrogating field (i.e. guns and knives) and non-threat items (i.e. mobile phone, keys,

Fig. 8. (a) Sensor array positioning with respect to coil, (b) interaction of applied field and GMR sensor, and (c) uniform pulse response from a group of sensors.
80 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84

Fig. 10. (a) Pulse response for presence of aluminium object, (b) rising edge of pulse response for aluminium object with difference calculated, (c) pulse response for presence
of a steel object, and (d) rising edge of pulse response for steel object with difference calculated.

etc.). The resultant EM signals measured by GMR sensors during the sections, or time slots, as shown in Fig. 13a. The values of the sam-
presence of object in the system are organised as a two-dimensional ples in each time slot are averaged, and using the data from all
array to be used for image processing purposes. In this section two sensors for the whole test, finally an image is built up for each
types of images construction are described: Max-value images and time slot.
Transient response images. Fig. 13b shows a sequence of these transient images for the hunt-
ing knife. Analysis of the transient image sequence can be used to
4.1. Max-value image extract more information about the object under examination.

In this type of image construction the maximum value of each

5. System validation
signal measured by GMR sensors during the presence of object in
the system is captured and recorded as follows:
In this section the proposed system is validated by consider
three characters: data validation using repeatability, efficiency of
1. The object under inspection is moved through the detector with
system measurement for multiple object separation, and suitability
data being acquired at a pulse repetition rate of 500 Hz (Fig. 11a).
for classification techniques.
2. Sets of 10 pulses are averaged to produce a single pulse response
(Fig. 11b).
5.1. Data validation
3. A single value is computed from each pulse response (Fig. 11b).
In this case, the maximum value of the difference signal has been
Simple repeatability tests for the samples were carried out
used.
where each sample is tested several times to check data validity and
4. Each of these single values corresponds to a single pixel in the
the results are then plotted for all objects. Fig. 14 shows the ampli-
final image (Fig. 11c).
tude change of GMR signals for five repetitions (Rep1 to Rep5) of the
test for six samples representing different real handguns borrowed
Thus, over time the EM field distribution, as the object moves
from the Metropolitan Police Force. It can be seen from the plot
through the array, can be determined. Fig. 12 shows some samples
that, as would be expected, the test has the greatest repeatability.
used in the test and their constructed max-value images.

4.2. Transient response images 5.2. Multiple object separation

In order to extract more information about the objects in the To assess the capabilities of the system to detect multiple objects
WTMD from the test results, a form of transient analysis has been and determine the optimal object separation for object discrimina-
employed. In this transient EM signature imaging technique, the tion, the test shown in Fig. 15a was performed, with a replica gun
pulse response from each sensor is analysed and chopped into and a phone. In this test, the sample holder is employed to move the
 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84 81

Fig. 11. EM image constructed from data acquired from line array over time.

objects through the WTMD in a controlled manner. The replica gun classification of metallic objects in conjunction with previous
is clamped in the sample holder and a mobile phone is hung next study using cross correlation of transient features [24].
to it at various separation distances. Fig. 15b shows the Max-Value Utilising the pulse response from the material under inspection,
Image for the gun and phone at 120 mm separation. the objects can be detected and the material can be classified into;
It can be seen from the top row in Table 2 that at a separation dis- ferrous, non-ferrous or a combination of the two. Consequently,
tance of 40 mm between two objects are virtually indistinguishable through analysis of the image sequence generated by the transient
from one larger object. Only at a separation distances greater than analysis, any object detected by the system can be classified. An
60 mm start to be able to distinguish the two objects. This discrim- example of this is shown in our previous work on cross correlation
ination of object signatures can be further enhanced by employing of transient features [24], where a cross correlation technique has
a thresholding technique as shown in row 2 of Table 2, where clear been applied to the transient image sequence where the maximum
object discrimination can be achieved. cross correlation values are plotted after being sorted by ascending
amplitude and processed to classify the objects into param-
5.3. Object classifications agnetic (aluminium), ferromagnetic (steel) and combinations
of both.
Classification techniques of grouping Principal Component To investigate the system ability to discriminate between dif-
Analysis (PCA) features have been used to the system for the ferent objects of the same type and evaluate features, six real

Fig. 12. (a) Samples in the holder. (b) The equivalent EM images.
82 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84

Fig. 13. (a) Pulse response with time slots marked, and (b) result of imaging the transient response from the hunting knife sample.

handguns were tested and different features have been investi-

gated in our study in [25]. PCA has been used as one of the feature
extraction technique as described in [25], preserving the total
variance of the original images. The first two components, PCA1
and PCA2 have been plotted in 2D space in Fig. 16. The test
was repeated five times with the gun in the holder being moved
through the WTMD and the results are shown in Fig. 16a. Like-
wise, the results for five tests of a person walking through the
system with a handgun concealed inside his jacket pocket shown
in Fig. 16b. Results show the efficiency of system measurements for
classification.
In comparison with conventional induction based WTMDs, the
GMR array based system has shown great potential in material dis-
crimination, as samples are made from mixed materials are clearly
distinguished. Whereas with currently induction based WTMD,
only discrimination between metal and non-metal is possible, our
novel system has taken previous possibilities a step further.

Fig. 14. Amplitude difference for five repetitions of the test for the real gun samples.

Fig. 15. (a) Multiple object test set-up, and (b) Max-Value Image for gun and phone for a separation distance of 120 mm.
 G.Y. Tian et al. / Sensors and Actuators A 174 (2012) 75–84 83

Table 2
Thresholding technique applied to discriminate between the two objects.

40 mm separation 60 mm separation 80 mm separation 120 mm separation

Fig. 16. Discrimination using PCA for six guns repeated five times: (a) gun in the holder and (b) gun inside a jacket pocket.

6. Conclusions and future work variety of threat and non-threat objects and programming the
response accordingly. New feature extraction and classification
An EM weapon detection system based on the application of methods, such as neural networks will also be investigated.
pulsed excitation in conjunction with accurate, high spatial reso-
lution magnetic field sensing using GMR sensor arrays is designed. Acknowledgments
Circuit design, data acquisition and real-time imaging of EM fields
have also been investigated. Furthermore, feature extraction and This project is funded under the Innovative Research Call in
image processing were conducted to check the systems’ capability Explosives and Weapons Detection (2007), a cross-government
to discriminate between different objects. Real handguns and com- programme sponsored by a number of government departments
monly used objects have been used as samples to test the system and agencies under the CONTEST strategy. The authors would like
and as a proof of concept. In conclusion; this novel GMR array based to thank cross-government departments for the joint experimental
system has a greater scope for object detection and classification tests.
than other current WTMD technologies.
A stand-alone walk-through system with superior object
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Office Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, 2003.
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concealed-object detection with passive millimetre wave imaging, Optics of Mosul. Iraq, in 1994 and 2002, respectively, he work in ministry of Trade, min-
Express 19 (2011) 2530–2536. istry of Oil and ministry of Financial as a head of computer unite then he work as
[17] K.B. Cooper, R.J. Dengler, N. Llombart, B. Thomas, G. Chattopadhyay, P.H. Siegel, a lecturer in the Mosul University tells 2008 and now he is a Ph.D. student in the
THz imaging radar for standoff personnel screening, IEEE Transactions on Ter- department of electrical, electronic and computer engineering in Newcastle Uni-
ahertz Science and Technology 1 (2011) 169–182. versity/UK. His main research interests are in electromagnetic signal and image
[18] S.-Y. Cho, N.-P. Tin, Using infrared imaging technology for concealed weapons processing, electromagnetic in Non-destructive testing and weapon detection and
detection and visualization, in: TENCON 2010 – 2010 IEEE Region 10 Confer- classification.
ence, November 21–24, 2010, pp. 228–233.
[19] G. Lehner, Electromagnetic Field Theory for Engineers and Physicists, Springer- John Wilson received his Ph.D. from department of electrical, electronic and com-
Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg, 2010. puter engineering, Newcastle University in 2009 after completing a BEng (Hons)
[20] C.V. Nelson, Metal detection and classification technologies, Johns Hopkins APL in electronics and communication systems at Leeds Metropolitan University in
Technical Digest 24 (2004) 62–66. 2004. Current research interests include Barkhausen acoustic emission and pas-
[21] NVE Corporation, GMR sensor catalogue 2011. http://www.nve.com/ sive magnetic field sensing techniques for non-destructive testing and evaluation
Downloads/catalog.pdf. of ferromagnetic materials.