New Mexico a proving ground for border security technology

Sep 19, 2006 3:06 PM

New Mexico State University's college ranch, long known for its research on livestock, range science and ecology, has taken on a new research role -- as an outdoor laboratory for testing border security technologies.
"Essentially we have set up a field laboratory that is 64,000 acres big," says Bob Silver, director of the Emerging Technologies Lab at NMSU's Physical Science Laboratory (PSL). "Right now we are conducting field tests of video and radar ground surveillance systems with Raytheon Co."
Encompassing almost 100 square miles north of Las Cruces, the college ranch provides ideal terrain -- which ranges from the Rio Grande flood plain on the west side to the rugged Dona Ana Mountains on the east -- for evaluating technologies.
The ability to simulate these environments is a core component of Raytheon's test, evaluation and integration plan for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Secure Border Initiative (SBInet), Silver says.
The college ranch test range is part of a testbed complex that NMSU began developing in southern New Mexico more than a year ago. Other capabilities include a technology testbed at an international port of entry, the only civil flight test area for unmanned aerial systems authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration, and extensive computer simulation expertise.
"Field testing provides the Raytheon team the capability to validate computer models and to study how technology will perform under the field conditions of the Southwest," Silver says. "Having the modeling and simulation capability backed up by field validation under real conditions is a tremendous advantage that help lower the cost of deployment and rapidly deploy proven, low-risk solutions."

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