A recent technology demonstration at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton tested the new Mine Warfare Rapid Assessment Capability (MIW RAC) system, which is a portable, remote-controlled system that uses a UAS to detect buried and submerged mines.

MIW RAC, which is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) TechSolutions program, includes a tablet device, and a one-pound quadcopter UAS, which is equipped with “an ultra-sensitive magnetometer sensor system,” that allows the UAS to detect mines, and provide real-time search data to a handheld Android device.

MIW RAC also includes its “proprietary magnetometer sensor suite,” which not only has an extensive detection range, but it can also differentiate between several types of objects thanks to using complex algorithms.

According to ONR Command Master Chief Matt Matteson, this system could be a huge help to military personnel in the field.

“This technology will help Sailors and Marines who are approaching a beachfront to rapidly clear, or at least determine the location of, mines or other hazards that are in their way,”  Matteson says. “It could potentially save a lot of lives.”

The demonstration was conducted by Dr. Rosemarie Oelrich, a scientist at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock’s Combatant Craft Division, and Dr. Cory Stephanson, president and chief executive officer of Broadband Discovery Systems (BDS).

Oelrich is overseeing the development of MIW RAC.

Back in 2015, the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) sent a request to ONR’s TechSolutions program for a portable system that could “detect potential hazards in surf zones, be easy for warfighters to use and fit diverse platforms.” That’s how MIW RAC originated.

The NECC, with guidance from TechSolutions, partnered with NSWC Carderock, Combat Direction Systems Activity Dam Neck, BDS and Physical Sciences, Inc. to develop the components of MIW RAC.

According to Oelrich, a stationary scanning system developed by BDS provided inspiration for MIW RAC. That system was sensitive enough to detect weapons, as well as identify the hidden location “of the object on a person and the angle in which it was oriented,” such as a knife in a front pocket or gun turned sideways, Oelrich says.

But Oelrich points out that the MIW RAC is actually the opposite of the system developed by BDS, as she adds, “we flipped that concept on its head. Instead of a stationary system detecting moving objects, we have a moving system detecting relatively stationary objects.”

Prototype MIW RACs will be delivered to NECC’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group later this year by TechSolutions, for further testing and evaluation. Oelrich and her team are hopeful that next year, the system is issued throughout the fleet.