Atomic Magnetometers vs IEDs

As noted in my PowerPoint web presentation, Networking Brains and Bullets in the Canadian Forces (Slide 31) micro-sized computers serving as networked sensors may provide the breakthrough needed in counter-IED efforts. An article in the online version of MIT's "Technology Review" discusses how the emergent technology of Atomic Magnetometers may be a major step forward in reaching this goal.

An extract from the article summarizes this view:

... the low-power sensors could be set into portable, battery-power­ed imaging arrays. Such arrays could easily map out the strength and extent of magnetic fields; the more sensors in an array, the more information it can provide about an object's location and shape. Soldiers, for example, could use such arrays to find unexploded bombs and improvised explosive devices more quickly and cheaply.