MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Kaneohe bay -- Researchers from Science and Technology International (STI) dug in deep at Ft. Hase Beach aboard MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, recently, for the advanced testing of a new mine-finding apparatus, which allows for airborne reconnaissance and recognition of mine fields and other hidden dangers that could await American troops in times of conflict.
The SWAMI (scalable wind arc multi-spectral imager) is an optical device that, when mounted to the bottom of an aircraft such as a helicopter, is designed to identify both colors, patterns and irregular shapes that could mean danger to U.S. forces - without troops getting close enough to be put in danger.
"We're in a stage of prototype development," said Ronald Ho, test director for STI on the SWAMI project. "We have a contract through the Office of Naval Research to work forward with this project, in hopes of completing it for use in the U.S. military forces."
To test the SWAMI at Ft. Hase, STI's team first set out numerous patterns of dummy mines around the beach, and then hundreds of yards into the crashing surf, to test the device's true capabilities, even in adverse conditions.
"We've done tests in other areas where the water is much calmer and everything's a little more subdued," said Ho, "and in those areas, the SWAMI has had a really good success rate.
"We came out to Ft. Hase because we know that it's probably pretty close to what the military would be looking for in terms of an amphibious landing. The water is rough, and the beach has lots of different kinds of growth and rock formations. It should be a good test to see what the SWAMI can do."
The fake mines, in some cases, were nothing more than spray-painted stepping stones, half-buried in sand, placed at strategic points along the beach to test the capabilities of the SWAMI device.
With the SWAMI mounted to the bottom, a small civilian helicopter buzzed the beach numerous times during three days, searching for the slight variances of color that would identify where the mines lay on, or near, the beach.
Researchers from STI will analyze all the hard-earned data from Ft. Hase before moving on to the next phase of testing.
"Generally, it takes our guys about 24 hours to turn around the data into something usable. Our hope is to have the SWAMI working in real time, so that it provides a valuable asset to the military when it comes to landing troops in a hostile area."