Nine sensors were deployed in waters off Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi, and the information they collected was transmitted to a computer on shore. The sensors are intended to assist Pacific Rim allies and partners in strengthening coastal defense.
This was one of more than 20 cutting-edge tech demonstrations that were showcased at POST FX, which is an annual event designed to provide a stage for demonstrations of novel and emerging technologies that engage defense innovators from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. allies and partners from around the Indo-Pacific region. It drew approximately 800 attendees from government, industry and academia spanning 10 countries. Along with participating, ARL at UH also planned, organized and executed the event.
“This is the fourth year that we’ve done this. Every year it gets bigger and it gets better,” ARL at UH Director Margo Edwards said. “This year we have 22 technologies. All of them are actually active, so it’s not just a tabletop display. There’s something that’s going on.”
Defense, surveillance, providing aid
Demonstrations aligned with innovation priorities established by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, including defense against electronic attacks, improved awareness of land, sea, and air domains, and the provision of humanitarian aid in the wake of natural disasters.
“It’s really critical that the Applied Research Laboratory continues to be a center of excellence for federating the research community around defense innovation,” said Joshua Baghdady, POST FX coordinator and ARL at UH uncrewed systems communications engineer. “It’s good for Hawaiʻi and it’s good for the Pacific Rim as we maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific with our like-minded allies and partners.”
The theme for the 2025 Pacific Operational Science and Technology Conference was “Together We Prevail.” The university’s participation emphasized its role in technology development and cooperation around the Pacific region.
“It’s really cool that we’ve been able to participate in this event,” said Matthew Nakamura, a UH Mānoa PhD candidate in mechanical engineering and graduate research assistant at ARL at UH. “I’ve been here every year, and being able to interact with folks around the world is really good to showcase UH’s capabilities.”
Throughout the year, Spectrum News Hawai‘i has been covering environmental news. While this roundup is not exhaustive, it shines a light on some reasons to be hopeful about the future of Hawai‘i’s environment. From monk seal births to land conservation, here’s a look back at some of the biggest stories.
UH Tests New Technologies to Find Bombs and Bullets Left in the Ocean After WWII
The University of Hawai‘i’s Applied Research Laboratory is developing new technologies to detect bombs and bullets left by the U.S. military in oceans around Hawai‘i after World War II.
Improved Prey Feeding Sparks Rise in Coral Resilience, Study Finds
Scientists have developed a novel tool designed to protect and conserve coral reefs by providing them with an abundance of feeding opportunities.
The device, dubbed the Underwater Zooplankton Enhancement Light Array (UZELA), is an autonomous, programmable underwater light that works to draw in nearby zooplankton, microscopic organisms that coral feed on.
After testing the submersible on two species of coral native to Hawai’i over six months, researchers found that UZELA could greatly enhance local zooplankton density and increase the feeding rates of both healthy and bleached coral. Importantly, providing coral with greater amounts of food makes them stronger and more likely to be resilient against certain environmental threats, like heat stress or ocean acidification.
Scientist Ben Jones plans to grow dozens of species of coral in a project designed to build an engineered coral reef ecosystem in Kailua Bay on O’ahu, and his work might have practical applications for reefs on Maui.
“We want to make sure we have biodiversity,” said Jones, director of Ocean Science and Technology at the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawai’i.
The US defense research agency is funding three universities to engineer reef structures that will be colonized by corals and bivalves and absorb the power of future storms.
On October 10, 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base on the Gulf of Mexico—a pillar of American air superiority—found itself under aerial attack. Hurricane Michael, first spotted as a Category 2 storm off the Florida coast, unexpectedly hulked up to a Category 5. Sustained winds of 155 miles per hour whipped into the base, flinging power poles, flipping F-22s, and totaling more than 200 buildings. The sole saving grace: Despite sitting on a peninsula, Tyndall avoided flood damage. Michael’s 9-to-14-foot storm surge swamped other parts of Florida. Tyndall’s main defense was luck.
Diver at Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology installs coral on the coral settlement modules prototypes.
Ben Jones from ARL at UH was featured on The Conversation on Hawai‘i Public Radio discussing our Rapid Resilient Reefs for Coastal Defense (R3D) project.
Over the past 15 years the University of Hawai‘i’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL at UH) has worked to locate and map thousands of munitions (bombs, bullets, etc.) the U.S. military disposed off of the coast of Hawaiʻi after World War II. Since the mid 1940s, the munitions have been corroding on the ocean floor, often in shallow waters, where they potentially pose a risk to beachgoers, swimmers, surfers and divers.
“Around the end of World War II, there were a lot of excess, obsolete and damaged bombs here in Hawaiʻi,” said Margo Edwards, director of ARL at UH, who has been spearheading the effort. “And the way we disposed of them was dumping them in the ocean. So we’re trying to find the things that were dumped in the ocean decades ago.”
The ARL at UH team sending out sending out the uncrewed surface vessel.
Researchers estimate that Hawaiʻi’s sea floor is littered with more than 100,000 underwater munitions, with some being discovered near popular recreational areas such as Kāneʻohe Bay and Lanikai Beach. ARL at UH is developing new technologies designed to detect munitions using advanced ocean platforms and sensor payloads. They tested their approach over the summer from an uncrewed surface vessel at Sand Island.
“We have some ocean sensors that are connected with our Mini Sondes or MiSos that are collecting ocean temperature, ocean pressure, sound speed and supply voltage,” said Joshua Baghdady, a research engineer at ARL at UH. “They’re feeding back to our ground station in near real-time.”
The project brings together both UH and high school students, providing hands-on training in the latest underwater detection technologies. By emphasizing workforce development, the project aims to equip the next generation with skills in underwater mapping while fostering an interest in STEM career pathways.
“We want to create maps of the area around Oʻahu so we can tell people where there might be a hazard, so that’s one thing,” said Edwards. “But the second part that you’ll see looking at this team is we’re training the next generation of people to be able to do this work.”
Common Practice Globally
The issue of sea-disposed munitions is not a problem unique to Hawaiʻi, as the practice was common across the global ocean, and the exact locations of many dump sites were poorly documented. At the time the munitions were disposed, navigation systems such as GPS, the Global Positioning System, were neither prevalent nor very accurate, creating an ongoing challenge for those attempting to find munitions and assess or remediate them.
“I was in Malta, right in the middle of the Mediterranean, talking to the folks there who are dealing with the same problem to tell them about the techniques that we’re trying to develop in Hawaiʻi,” said Edwards. “So that they can potentially put them to good use too.”
The Department of Defense approved a two-year partnership with UH to establish a Maritime Test Range Complex. This project will enable researchers from around the world to test new detection technologies in Hawaiʻi’s clear waters.
Recognize, Retreat, Report
A key component of the ARL at UH’s work is furthering public education and public awareness of safety procedures related to munitions. The Army’s 3Rs Program aims to inform the public about what they should do if they suspect they have encountered munitions:
Recognize: Be aware when you may have encountered munitions, and that munitions are dangerous.
Retreat: Do not approach, touch, move or disturb munitions, but carefully leave the area.
Report: Call 911 and advise the police of what you saw and where you saw it.
Researchers from the University of Hawai‘i, in partnership with University of California San Diego-Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Florida Atlantic University, Ohio State University and Makai Ocean Engineering, are developing a living breakwater system designed to protect Hawai‘i’s coastlines from erosion. Currently in the planning and permitting stage, these structures will be prototyped near Ulupaʻu crater off of Marine Corps Base Hawai’i. These structures are developed to reduce wave impact as well as encourage coral growth and provide habitat for marine life. The project, funded by the Department of Defense, reflects UH’s dedication to addressing climate challenges and preserving our vital ecosystems. Read the full story and watch the video here!
The University of Hawaiʻi (UH) has reached a milestone in the U.S. Department of Defense funded project that aims to create a living breakwater system to protect coastlines from erosion and create ecosystems where resilient corals and other ocean life can grow and thrive.
The project, spearheaded by the Applied Research Laboratory at UH (ARL at UH) in partnership with UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), has completed the first concrete reef structure, and full production is now underway for 60 units. The project is on track for its first deployment of a 50-meter array of structures near the Ulupaʻu crater, off the Kailua Bay side of Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi in late 2024, early 2025.
Concrete reef prototypes
The Rapid Resilient Reefs for Coastal Defense (R3D) is a $27 million, five-year project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is in partnership with University of California San Diego/Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Florida Atlantic University, Ohio State University and industry partner Makai Ocean Engineering located in Hawaiʻi.
“This project aims to redesign how we do coastal protection,” said Ben Jones, R3D principal investigator and ARL at UH Director of Ocean Science and Technology. “We’re looking at how to engineer a living breakwater system to protect coastlines and that will incorporate living coral. So we’ve engineered a coral reef that is inspired by natural fringing reefs.”
Concrete reef prototypes
The two concrete reef prototypes, cast at Campbell Industrial Park, feature large holes to dissipate wave energy and are specifically designed to promote coral growth:
Concrete reef prototypes with coral settlement module
The Reef Crest structure (20 ft long x 8 ft wide x 7.7 ft high, 11.7 U.S. tons) will bear the brunt of the larger waves and will be anchored to the seabed to prevent it from moving during larger-wave events.
The Back Reef Structures (13.6 ft diameter x 5.2 ft tall x 4.4 US tons) will rest in calmer environments.
The structures will sit just below the water’s surface and leverage the natural shape of the seafloor to preserve the areas’ natural aesthetics.
“This is a really great project, a truly interdisciplinary project,” said Zhenhua Huang, SOEST Ocean and Resources Engineering professor. “I am a coastal engineer and through this project I am working with marine biologists, which is a totally different field. So, we work together to achieve this common goal, which is to come up with a solution that is nature based.”
Adaptive biology, nature-based solutions
Setting up coral settlement modules
One Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) team has been breeding more resilient corals that are better at adjusting to warming oceans caused by climate change.
“The adaptive biology part of it is focused on how we get corals onto the structure that are going to survive marine heat waves and future climate change,” said Robert Toonen, HIMB research professor. “This project builds on over a decade of research at HIMB.”
A second HIMB team worked on the design and fabrication of coral settlement modules, complex habitat shapes, that will be placed on the concrete reef base structures. These structures will naturally recruit coral larvae. Additionally, thermally tolerant corals will be attached to some of the modules, which are designed to mimic natural coral reefs.
“We put out these structures with special crevices, cracks and crannies that we’ve noticed through multiple generations of design that coral babies love,” said Joshua Madin, HIMB research professor. “We kind of reverse engineered the reef to find out what they love about the reef and then we reproduced those using 3D printing and concrete casting methods and tested them.”
Project’s next phase
Design and fabrication of coral settlement modules
After the team deploys the structures off of Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi, the site will be monitored. Researchers say they will be able to measure the reduction in wave energy immediately, but it will take a few years to measure the success of the growth of the resilient corals and ecosystem.
“One of the most valuable aspects of this project is that we are taking all of the lessons that we are learning and developing a robust template for how to implement this work elsewhere,” said Joshua Levy, the project’s technical program manager. “This includes customizing surveying techniques and technology designs that best mimic the area’s physical environment and natural genetic diversity.”
The R3D team is also exploring potential applications at other vulnerable coastlines on Oʻahu such as Puʻuloa Range Training Facility in ʻEwa, and the Kaʻaʻawa coast.
Research that matters
R3D is one of many research projects at UH, which set a record in extramural funding awarded, with $615.7 million in fiscal year 2024. Extramural funding is investments from external agencies such as the federal government that support research conducted by university faculty and staff.
“This groundbreaking project is a prime example of how our world-class research is making a real impact in our communities,” said UH Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis L. Syrmos. “Addressing coastal erosion and creating more resilient coral reefs is research that matters to all of us here in Hawaʻi and to many around the world.”
A remote-controlled robot will play a key role in a new project aimed at locating bombs and chemical weapons the military dumped off the coast of O’ahu nearly a century ago. Watch video at Hawai’i News Now
Figure 1 – USVs built and/or operated by UH College of Engineering robotics team “Kanaloa” preparing to detect munitions on the seabed in Kāneʻohe Bay.
An estimated 100,000 military bombs were sunk off Hawai’i in the 1940s alone, according to a University of Hawai’i researcher.
Now there’s a new effort to find some of those aging munitions before they deteriorate further.
HNN Investigates learned that tests will begin soon on new kinds of technologies aimed at locating the explosives in places where people are most likely to come in contact with them.
