Abstract: To detect and forecast the geological anomaly ahead of the tunnel face continuously and real-timely in coalmine heading stage ,the SWM( seismic while mini ng) advance detection technique which takes the coal mine heading machine for a seismic source was put forward based on the analysis and study of the characteristic of coalmine heading machine signal and how to take it as a substitute for explosive source. An experiment was carried out in a coalmine with known roadway system and a fa ult inferred by roadway outcrops. The result showed that using coalmine heading machine as a seismic source,the reflected wave from roadway could be reliably distinguis hed,and the distance error was less than 2%. The reflected wave from a speculated fault also could be seen,and the biggest distance error was less than20%. This result s hows that SWM technology has great potential to realize the technical idea of survey while mining and survey ensures mining.