In cooperation with two Colombian universities, scientists at the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at the Swiss university Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausannehave developed a new tool to eliminate Improvised Explosive Devices by using electromagnetic energy. The researchers had to confront two main technical difficulties. First, they had to find a way of inducting a current that would be strong enough to set off, at a distance, the detonators of the mines, sometimes buried deep in the ground. Second, they had to be sure of attaining the resonance frequencies of the various types of mines, which are all constructed in different ways. This achievement is the result of two years of research work and a smaller, weather-resistant prototype is now being developed.

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