Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
————————————————————————
18 Aug 21. Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) is developing a new technology suite for light drones that allows them to fly three times longer and with less human intervention. Compared with traditional drones using batteries and line-of-sight radio links, drones equipped with Honeywell’s Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) technologies can fly farther, carry more weight, avoid hazards up to three kilometres away and stream video of their progress anywhere in the world.
“These are technologies that businesses have been waiting for,” said Stéphane Fymat, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s Unmanned Aerial Systems and Urban Air Mobility business unit. “They will help make drones profitable for a world of new applications.”
Honeywell’s BVLOS (pronounced bev-loss) systems are ideal for missions where distance or terrain interfere with radio links or visual guidance. Applications include last-mile package delivery, military intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, pipeline and power line inspection, search and rescue, or use by first responders.
The technologies draw upon Honeywell’s decades of experience building and certifying avionics, engines, and APUs for airplanes, helicopters and military drones.
The BVLOS suite comprises:
- Honeywell’s 600-watt and 1200-watt hydrogen fuel cells
- Honeywell’s RDR-84K multipurpose radar
- Honeywell’s inertial measurement units (IMUs)
- Honeywell’s UAV Satcom – the world’s smallest and lightest satellite transceiver
The fuel cells in the BVLOS suite operate three times longer than batteries with equivalent output. They work silently, unlike gasoline engines, and emit no greenhouse gases. Operators can refuel or swap hydrogen tanks in minutes, enabling more time in the air.
Honeywell’s RDR-84K is a phased-array radar that steers beams electronically, meaning it has no moving parts and requires minimal maintenance. It also requires no heavy cooling systems.
In addition to avoiding other aircraft, the radar can detect obstacles, map terrain and identify landing zones. It can act as a radar altimeter and provide mapping for alternate navigation if GPS guidance fails.
The BVLOS suite will allow drone designers to combine data in clever new ways to save weight and power. Its radar computes an avoidance path using built-in circuitry, rather than requiring a separate processor. Its satellite uplink can be used to download real-time weather and traffic reports from other drones.
Honeywell’s UAV Satcom and IMUs are available now, with some IMU models priced as low as $1,800. The RDR-84K and fuel cells are in late-stage development, and prototype fuel cells are available for purchase and evaluation now.
“These innovations give drone builders and operators a whole new range of options,” said Sapan Shah, product manager for Honeywell’s Unmanned Aerial Systems and Urban Air Mobility business unit. “More time in the air, more awareness of surroundings and traffic, better connectivity: These are the building blocks of safe, profitable drone operations of all kinds, and that’s what we’re delivering.”
18 Aug 21. New avionics data recorder, storage and transfer systems accelerate communications, situational awareness and surveillance
Proven, high-performance data solutions manage and protect critical aircraft data. Mercury Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY, www.mrcy.com), a leader in trusted, secure mission-critical technologies for aerospace and defense, today launched its new avionics data recorder, storage, and transfer systems. The innovative systems are purpose-built to provide air and operations crews with intuitive high-speed secure and reliable data exchange. By recording, storing and transferring data to and from both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, these systems enable critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications.
“Traditional avionics data recorder, storage and transfer systems are expensive and customized for specific platforms, making them difficult and costly to maintain and refresh,” said Jay Abendroth, vice president and general manager, Mercury Mission. “They also do not deliver the same high performance per footprint that Mercury’s solutions provide and typically do not offer advanced encryption capabilities. Our airborne systems rapidly integrate, with low risk, into any aircraft or system architecture. Data feeds are safely processed on Mercury’s BuiltSAFE™ mission computing solutions with three decades of proven performance on multiple safety-critical platforms. It’s another example of our leadership in safety-critical avionics solutions and reinforces our commitment to make commercial technology profoundly more accessible to aerospace and defense.”
The family of systems includes the following products:
- The High Definition Video Recorder (HDVR) family are highly scalable convection-cooled recorders designed for platforms needing high-fidelity data capacity, video and audio compression, and faster read/write speeds. High capacity removable memory allows for large data loads and encryption options keep data secure.
- The Advanced Data Transfer Systems (ADTS) feature fast data transfer with 1000MB/s data transfer speeds, 100MB/s+ SATA read/write speeds, crash survivable memory options, and encryption to speed information exchange and protect data during mission critical operations.
- The Data Storage Systems are network attached storage (NAS) units engineered to deliver high-performance multi-level security in remote, inhospitable environments. Platform agnostic, the systems are well-suited for data-intensive critical missions. With up to 32 TB of memory, the NAS units can quickly route and classify data.
All systems are built with modular, open architectures, and seamlessly integrate into aircraft computing ecosystems to reduce program risk, cost, and downtime. Fast transfer and read speeds enable aircrews to quickly transfer pre- and post-flight data. Secure storage and crash-survivable memory safeguard the data to optimize missions and simplify aircraft and platform maintenance.
19 Aug 21. Aitech’s U-C8770 SBC, aligned with The Open Group SOSA™️ Technical Standard and offering AiSecure™️ Cybersecurity Architecture and Large Memory Resources, is Now in Full Production.
New SBC ready for design-in across many new and existing rugged military applications
U-C8770 Highlights
- Fast, cost-effective integration into SOSA systems: available for sampling, production
- Intel Xeon D processor with 16 cores for high-performance signal processing applications
- Up to 64 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD to handle advanced, demanding software algorithms
- Advanced cybersecurity via proprietary AiSecure™ infrastructure
- Large onboard FPGA with integrated ARM CPU (Xilinx MP SoC) greatly enhances board capabilities and helps optimize SWaP-C
Aitech Systems, a leading provider of rugged boards and system level solutions for military, aerospace and space applications, announces the immediate availability of its U-C8770 3U VPX SBC, aligned with The Open Group Sensor Open Systems Architecture™ (SOSA) Technical Standard, enabling users to integrate the new SBC into a wide variety of current and future programs.
The U-C8770 is the first SBC that is both fully aligned with the SOSA Technical Standard and offers advanced data breach and threat protection through Aitech’s proprietary AiSecure cybersecurity infrastructure. It’s also the first SBC in its class to offer extremely large RAM and storage capacities combined with a large onboard FPGA, which helps further optimize SWaP-C and design efficiency.
Judy Cerenzia, VP of Forum Operations at The Open Group, noted, “The achievement of this successful milestone helps build momentum for the upcoming release of the SOSA Technical Standard, scheduled for later this year. The continued efforts of SOSA Consortium member companies, like Aitech, to participate in and celebrate these accomplishments strengthens the foundation on which our open standards ecosystem relies.”
The new 3U VPX SBC supports both PCIe 4x and 40GE data plane options for fast transport of large amounts of uncompressed video and sensor data. It is an adaptation of Aitech’s high performance, rugged C877 SBC, and retains the same key technical features and benefits, making it ideal for I/O-intensive data processing applications in the military and aerospace markets, such as RADAR, signal intelligence (SIGINT), electronic warfare (EW) and sensor signal processing.
Pratish M. Shah, General Manager US for Aitech noted, “As a member of the SOSA Consortium, we’re excited to contribute innovations to this open standards community. In addition to this significant milestone, we’re developing additional boards and systems that align to the SOSA Technical Standard so we can continue to bring more powerful processing and AI supercomputing to military and defense applications.”
For more information please call 888-Aitech-8 (888-248-3248), visit https://bit.ly/SOSA-U-C8770 or e-mail
18 Aug 21. LDRA, the leading provider of automated software verification, source code analysis, unit testing tools, and consultancy services, today announced an updated integration with DDC-I, Inc. for aerospace and defense applications. The LDRA tool suite now supports DDC-I’s latest Deos™ safety-critical real-time operating system (RTOS) featuring SafeMC™ multicore technology, and the latest OpenArbor® Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE). The powerful, efficient solution enables avionic system manufacturers to quickly and cost-effectively develop, debug, test, and deploy software that can be readily certified to the most demanding requirements such as RTC DO-178C/ED-12C.
This integration provides:
- source code static analysis
- software dynamic analysis, including MC/DC coverage on the host and target
- software unit testing on the host and target
- improved code quality, safety, and security
- reduced testing time and cost
LDRA integration ensures safety and security of multicore applications
This integration helps developers manage and achieve compliance for applications in increasingly complex safety-critical cockpit environments that leverage emerging technologies for building safer, more economical, and more capable aircraft. These new technologies include integrated modular avionics architectures and multicore processors, both now de facto standards in the avionics industry.
“Proving the avionics system is properly partitioned to avoid interference from competing cores is critical, yet it’s a nearly impossible challenge without the proper development and testing tools,” said Ian Hennell, Operations Director, LDRA. “Using the LDRA/DDC-I integration, developers can ensure the software is safe and meets the most demanding avionics standards such as DO-178C and the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard.”
Solution supports conformance to the FACETM Technical Standard and many other benefits
To enable the development and testing of software that conforms with safety-critical standards such as DO-178C/ED-12C, and portability and interoperability standards such as the FACE Technical Standard, the integration provides:
- full source-code coverage analysis (under Deos SafeMC)
- an efficient unit testing harness for performing fully automated unit and regression testing (also under Deos with SafeMC)
- the ability to analyze and visualize coding standards compliance within the OpenArbor IDE
- support for x86, PowerPC, and ARM single and multicore processors
- compliance with industry- and user-defined coding standards such as MISRA and CERT
- automated test case, harness and stub generation for robustness testing with the LDRA tool suite
- automatic production of software certification and approval evidence underpinned by LDRA’s ISO 9001:2015 certified Quality Management System, and the LDRA tool suite’s TÜV SÜD and SGS-TÜV Saar certification
16 Aug 21. Sarcos Defense and BAE Systems Partner on Contract for Air Force Research Laboratory.
- Industrial robotics and defense leaders to develop system to advance artificial intelligence and machine learning through enhanced perception and sensing capabilities for autonomous platforms
Sarcos Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sarcos Robotics (“Sarcos”), a leader in the development of robots that augment humans to enhance productivity and safety, and global defense, aerospace, and security leader, BAE Systems plc, today announced that the companies are partnering to develop advanced perception and sensing capabilities for autonomous platforms for Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), to benefit Department of Defense (DoD) operations.
Sarcos and BAE Systems FAST Labs™ were awarded a $1.699M contract by AFRL (Rome, NY) to work on a Collaborative Sensing platform (BAA FA8750-20-S-7014). The work is expected to continue through 2023, culminating with the demonstration of the new solution.
This platform will aim to address the complex issues that involve the coordination of both individual and multiple cooperating heterogeneous autonomous platforms, including unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) equipped with standard multi-modal sensors, such as cameras, radar, and LiDAR. The expected result will coalesce multiple environmental inputs and combine with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to enable unmanned systems to work together in greater harmony, both alone and coordinating with each other in “swarm” scenarios. The platform will enable better situational awareness and safety, including accurate detection, tracking, and classification of time-critical objects, particularly in unstructured environments.
Sarcos expects to apply this research in its commercial robotics products, particularly in its forthcoming Cybernetic Training for Autonomous Robots (CYTAR™) AI platform, which Sarcos is also working with AFRL to develop. Learnings will be leveraged to further improve situational awareness and safety for Sarcos’ robotic technologies, including its Guardian® XT™ highly dexterous teleoperated robot and Guardian® XO® full-body, battery-powered industrial exoskeleton.
“This collaboration represents an exciting opportunity to bring together a team of world-renowned experts from both academia and DoD contractor organizations to develop a solution that will enable the military and other entities to operate autonomous platforms with greater speed and efficacy,” said Dr. Denis Garagic, chief scientist, advanced systems and AI, Sarcos. “This project has wide-reaching implications, enabling safer and much more accurate deployments of autonomous platforms while improving data quality and overall operational efficiency. At Sarcos, we believe this technology will also assist us with the operation of our own technologies, including our CYTAR AI platform for autonomous robots.”
“We look forward to seeing the results of this research project and the potential impact it may have on our U.S. defense operations,” said Dr. Peter Zulch, Air Force Research Labs. “Better perception and improving sensing lags are critical challenges, particularly as autonomous systems become more widely used. Sarcos and BAE Systems are best positioned to develop a solution that will enable these platforms to better communicate and share information to enhance safety and help us make critical operational decisions faster.”
For more information about Sarcos Defense, please visit www.sarcos.com/defense. For more information about BAE Systems, please visit www.baesystems.com. (Source: ASD Network)
16 Aug 21. US Army seeks blockchain technology to manage combat data. US Army engineers at the service’s Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center are leveraging blockchain technology for a new tactical-level data management capability.
Development of the new data management capability is part of the centre’s Information Trust programme and was one of several prototype technologies tested during the ground service’s Network Modernization Experiment (NetModX), held at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey in May.
The crux of the programme is to provide soldiers “a mathematical, verifiable way of vetting their data, from sensor to shooter and producer to consumer,” C5ISR computer engineer Humza Shahid said. “The idea is to give the commanding officer the ability to make critical decisions, with the added trust in their information” by eliminating so-called “man in the middle” attacks to manipulate data transmissions before it gets to the end-users, he added.
During NetModX, programme officials working on the information trust technology focused on enhancing authentication applications, “in order to validate who a user is expected to be, without looking at just their login”, Shahid said. Army leaders also explored improving data integrity as it traverses the network, via machine learning applications to detect anomalies in transmitted data.
However, much of the experimentation on data and information assurance focused on data provenance, employing that capability “in a tactical environment over radio waveforms with limited connectivity”, Shahid said. “Our data provenance piece is actually looking at blockchain technology to provide that immutability or traceability,” he added. (Source: Jane’s)
16 Aug 21. USAF accepts Novetta’s PICARD platform under Pathfinder programme. PICARD platform provides actionable information to operators from any place of operation.
The US Air Force (USAF) has accepted advanced analytics company Novetta’s Platform for Integrated C3 and Responsive Defense (PICARD) platform.
The platform has been accepted at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base (AFB) under a Pathfinder programme. The latest contract creates a path for planned deployment of the platform to 11 bases next year and across the whole airforce within the next five years.
Novetta’s PICARD platform has been developed to integrate forces with intelligent systems to allow rapid decision-making across all kinds of defence operations.
The PICARD platform uses an internet of things (IoT) approach and sensor fusion.
The company created this open-architecture edge and Cloud system, which brings DevSecOps methodologies to non-traditional operational technologies, including electronic security, control, as well as weapons systems.
Novetta Information Exploitation senior vice-president Kevin Heald said: “It has been a pleasure seeing the partnership between our team and the airforce yield truly transformative results.
“PICARD is a key part of a grander vision to contribute to the Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) and the DoD Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiatives.”
PICARD is used to unlock data trapped by disconnected, proprietary, and legacy environments.
Furthermore, it provides actionable information to operators functioning from any place of operation.
Novetta Sensor Fusion and IoT portfolio senior director Steven Adelman said: “We are proud to partner with the airforce and the hard-working, innovative people at AF/A4S, LCMC/HBU, and SAF/CDM modernising security forces capabilities and operations.
“PICARD begins to deliver on the promise of Integrated Base Defense and all-domain data sharing.
“We look forward to continuing to evolve the platform and deliver for the career field and the airforce.”
Based in the US, Novetta is a provider of technologies in machine learning, data analytics, Cloud engineering, open-source analytics, as well as multi-INT fusion for defence, intelligence community, and federal law enforcement customers. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
13 Aug 21. USAF Adopts Novetta Developed PICARD for Base Defense. Novetta, an advanced analytics company, announced today that the U.S. Air Force has accepted Novetta’s PICARD, Platform for Integrated C3 and Responsive Defense, at Seymour Johnson AFB as part of a Pathfinder program. This paves the way for planned deployment to 11 bases in 2022 and across the Air Force as a whole over the next 5 years.
Novetta developed PICARD in response to the USAF’s need for a platform that would integrate forces with intelligent systems to enable rapid decision-making across the full spectrum of defense operations.Taking an IoT approach to sensor fusion, Novetta created an open-architecture edge and cloud system that brings DevSecOps principles to non-traditional operational technologies such as electronic security, control, and weapons systems. In this way, PICARD unlocks data otherwise trapped by disconnected, proprietary, and legacy environments and it delivers on the promise to provide actionable information to operators no matter where they are.
“It has been a pleasure seeing the partnership between our team and the Air Force yield truly transformative results,” said Kevin Heald, Novetta Senior Vice President, Information Exploitation. “PICARD is a key part of a grander vision to contribute to the Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) and the DoD Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiatives.”
“We are proud to partner with the Air Force and the hard-working, innovative people at AF/A4S, LCMC/HBU, and SAF/CDM modernizing Security Forces capabilities and operations,” said Steven Adelman, Novetta Senior Director, Sensor Fusion & IoT portfolio. “PICARD begins to deliver on the promise of Integrated Base Defense and all-domain data sharing. We look forward to continuing to evolve the platform and deliver for the career field and the Air Force.”
About Novetta
Novetta delivers scalable advanced analytic and technical solutions to address challenges of national and global significance. Focused on mission success, Novetta pioneers disruptive technologies in machine learning, data analytics, full-spectrum cyber, cloud engineering, open source analytics, and multi-INT fusion for Defense, Intelligence Community, and Federal Law Enforcement customers. Novetta is headquartered in McLean, VA with over 1300 employees across the U.S. (Source: PR Newswire)
14 Aug 21. JetPack Aviation Selected for AFWERX High Speed VTOL Concept Challenge. California-based JetPack Aviation has announced the successful selection of its Speeder VTOL, by the highly competitive AFWERX High Speed VTOL (HSVTOL) Concept Challenge, launched in partnership with the US Air Force (USAF) and US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
JetPack Aviation is one of just three OEMs included in the 35 successful challengers, which were selected from a total of 218 submissions. Initial presentations are being made to the AFWERX representatives this week to highlight the capabilities of the Speeder, and its potential applications for military operations.
Looking to satisfy mission profiles including the infiltration and exfiltration of Special Operations Forces (SOF), personnel recovery, aeromedical evacuation, and tactical mobility, at jet-type speeds, the HSVTOL Concept is ideally suited to the JetPack Aviation Speeder VTOL. Powered by small, gimballed turbojet engines, the Speeder promises to reach speeds approaching 300mph, with unprecedented payload capability currently available only from considerably larger helicopter airframes. The Speeder’s footprint is also considerably reduced since it has no rotors, ducted fans, or propellers which reduces/negates the need for specific ground infrastructure.
Launching the HSVTOL Concept Challenge on May 5, Reid Melville, Chief Innovation Officer, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Transformational Capabilities Office, said:
“The USAF and USSOCOM are seeking ground-breaking ideas that will further strengthen operational effectiveness and efficiency in contested, resource-constrained, and runway-independent settings.”
Those who progress through the challenge rounds may become eligible for funding associated with research, development, and testing, and subsequently procurement contracts to produce and field aircraft to the USAF.
“We are extremely proud to have been invited to participate in the AFWERX Challenge. It demonstrates that developing the Speeder concept to deliver immediate, multi-purpose applications is relevant to today’s military forces. Selection for AFWERX is notoriously difficult and we can’t wait to showcase the versatile, scalable, capabilities of the Speeder, and the huge benefits it can bring to military operations and engagement, fire-fighting support, emergency extraction and theatre of combat environments,” said David Mayman, CEO of JetPack Aviation.
Easily transportable in a car or motorcycle trailer, and immediately ready to fly, with no charging or other aviation infrastructure requirements, the Speeder offers high-speed forward flight with control and lift effected by aerodynamic surfaces as required, building on the aircraft’s ability to fly on engine thrust vectoring. The Speeder is modular, offering a variety of missionized payloads, optionally piloted and simple enough to operate and maintain under austere field conditions. The aircraft burns regular Jet A-1, kerosene, or diesel, but in a recent cooperative supply agreement with Prometheus Fuels Inc., JetPack Aviation has committed to using 100% zero net carbon fuel in all its own future operations.
JetPack Aviation has completed flight trials with the first full scale Speeder – P1 prototype. Flight test of P1.5, the second full scale prototype, is expected to begin later in Q3-Q4 2021. Aircraft P2, featuring a fully formed body, small, field-removable wings, and forward canards, should fly from Q1/2 2022. Thanks to its unique combination of heavy payload, speed, VTOL operation, simplicity and autonomous flight options, the Speeder offers unprecedented special missions capability, with longer term application to the urban air mobility market.
Demand is expected to be high, and JetPack Aviation has already begun readying letters of intent for customers and taking pre-orders for the aircraft. (Source: UAS VISION)
10 Aug 21. DEADLINE ALERT: DMTC issues RFI on Human Integrated Sensor Systems. Melbourne based DMTC Limited, in partnership with Defence’s DST Group, has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to companies and researchers who can share knowledge, experience and ideas at an upcoming Human Integrated Sensor System (HISS) workshop. Closing date for the RFI is Wednesday 25 August.
Operating in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Environments (OCE) is arguably one of the hardest assignments Australian warfighters face. Not only do they have to perform strenuous tasks such as fighting an adversary or supporting civilians in the aftermath of a disaster, they have to do these tasks in the presence of extremely dangerous and most-often invisible threats that can spread rapidly and widely if uncontained.
How is it possible to leverage subtle signals from the human body to rapidly detect and react to infection (or chemical exposure)?
This is the type of challenge that this HISS initiative seeks to tackle, both in the context of defence and national security and also with a view to extend to civilian application (e.g. in Public Health and National Security).
In partnership with DSTG, DMTC is looking for developers and providers of sensing systems, advanced biotechnology and data analytics, to respond to the RFI and participate at the upcoming HISS collaborative workshop.
This workshop will be run as part of Defence’s Operating in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Environments (OCE) STaR Shot. It is one of the core future focused problems Defence and DSTG are prioritising as part of the More, Together Defence Science and Technology strategy – the sort of problem that can’t be solved alone or without significant advances in science, technology and research.
DMTC and DSTG want to collaborate with industry and academia to solve this challenge.
The HISS initiative aims to bring together leading edge and commercially available wearable sensors and pair them with advanced data analytics approaches to assimilate subtle cues of exposure/infection and give warning before obvious symptoms manifest. This will allow countermeasures to be enacted with greatest effect. Systems are likely to involve heterogeneous networks of sensors and may involve on-skin and/or sub-cutaneous/bio fluid measurement.
Closing date for the RFI is Wednesday 25 August. For more information and RFI response documentation: https://dmtc.com.au/our-activities/human-integrated-sensor-systems/ (Source: Rumour Control)
16 Aug 21. Elbit workshops Human Machine Teaming with universities for L125 Ph.4. The Centre of Excellence, which ELSA launched in February this year in partnership with the Victorian Government, will kick off its educational collaboration series on Monday August 16.
ELSA Managing Director, Major General (ret’d) Paul McLachlan AO, CSC, said while it was the first workshop for the new Centre of Excellence in Melbourne, global parent company Elbit Systems placed great emphasis on working with universities to ensure its technology remained world leading.
“I am extremely proud that we now have the ability to partner with them right here in Australia using our sovereign research and development (R&D) centre that will grow both Victoria’s and the nation’s technology footprint,” Mr McLachlan said.
Mr McLachlan said that technology included command and control solutions based on the company’s E-CIX modular framework. This is an open architecture design providing a development environment that can accommodate third-party applications.
“The E-CIX framework also enables integration of multiple sensors, AI and data fusion capabilities that augments the user’s situational awareness and ability to respond quickly and effectively. These are characteristics that are really important to emergency services, homeland security and defence agencies,” Mr McLachlan said.
“Our collaboration and pursuit of excellence does not stop with the Victorian Government and Australian universities however, as we want to support and champion the development of a Human Machine Teaming ecosystem within Victoria by engaging with multiple SMEs and research institutions to enable the growth of Human Machine Teaming technologies and Australian jobs.”
ELSA’s Centre of Excellence Program Manager R&D Damian Fratric said the aim of collaborations was to enable universities to present research projects and technologies.
“The aim of the workshop series is to discuss emerging technologies and the possibility of developing research projects that could be utilised to improve decision making and situational awareness for Human Machine Teaming applications for emergency services, homeland security and defence,” Mr Fratric said.
“We look forward to working with the educational and research institutions and SMEs that have reached out since the opening of our new sovereign R&D hub.”
Much of this research is focussed on Defence’s project LAND 125 Ph.4, for which ELSA has been shortlisted.
This project aims to modernise the ADF’s Soldier Combat System (SCS). The Commonwealth is seeking an industry partner for the supply and support of an ISS capability that would enable continuous growth of the current and future SCS.
The shortlisting demonstrates ELSA’s commitment to continue working with defence on the provision of capability that would increase the effectiveness of Australian soldiers, according to Mr McLachlan said.
ELSA has the ability to deliver the project using an agile design and development approach aimed at supporting incremental evolution of the Soldier Combat System for the duration of the tranche, which would include in-house research and development, Mr McLachlan said.
Research on collaboration between people and autonomous systems conducted by ELSA under this project will produce applications that can not only be used across defence, but could also benefit homeland security and emergency services, he added.
“ELSA has a 250-strong workforce across three locations in Australia that includes more than 100 software and systems engineers.”
Australian industry is invited to contact Elbit Australia to explore collaboration opportunities via the dedicated Elbit ICN page or at: (Source: Rumour Control)
16 Aug 21. Tech Council of Australia to push high-technology industry. A group of executives from Australian high-technology firms has launched the Tech Council of Australia. The Council’s focus will be on boosting the growth of the Australian tech sector, supporting talent attraction and workforce development, and helping government develop effective regulatory settings for a technology enabled economy.
The goals of the council are to help grow the Australian tech workforce to 1 m by 2025 (currently some 861,000 are employed in this sector); increase the tech sector’s contribution to the national economy to $25bn a year by 2030 (it’s currently $167bn); and more aspirationally to ”make Australia the best country in the world to create and invest in tech companies.”
The Council points out that Australia’s tech sector is now the country’s third biggest industry sector by value, behind mining and banking, according to research conducted by Accenture on the Economic Impact of the Tech Sector in Australia.
The tech sector is also a major employer with 1 in 16 working Australians currently in tech-related employment. Since 2005, tech jobs have grown by 66%, compared to an average jobs growth rate of 27% across the economy, the Council says.
By 2030, tech sector activity has the potential to contribute more to GDP in Australia than primary industries or manufacturing. TCA members want to continue to grow the tech sector, creating new jobs and opportunity for Australia.
The Editorial Director of InnovationAus, James Riley, said, “The structure or the new Technology Council of Australia is a very deliberate construction, creating a powerful new group that is global in composition and outlook, but also very Australian. Everything about its 25 foundation members screams ‘global’. These are all companies that are at home in the world.”
The TCA’s members include local firms and startups such as Afterpay, Atlassian, Blackbird Ventures, Canva, Culture Amp, Main Sequence Ventures, Square Peg and Stripe. International partners include Google and Microsoft.
The Tech Council of Australia will be headed by CEO Kate Pounder and chaired by Tesla Chair and Blackbird Ventures partner Ms Robyn Denholm; Executive Directors and board members will include Kate Jones, former StartupAus CEO Alex McCauley and Wyatt Roy. (Source: Rumour Control)
13 Aug 21. US ARL eyes ‘nanoarchitectures’ for lighter, stronger materials. US Army-funded researchers have developed a new lightweight, resilient material with potential uses in armour, protective coatings, and space systems. The research focused on nano-architectured materials and ultralight structures that are formed using precisely patterned nanoscale trusses, which are engineered architectures that are imparted to a material. It was conducted at the US Army’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with researchers from Caltech and ETH Zürich. The researchers fabricated a repeating pattern called a tetrakaidecahedron, which is a lattice configuration composed of microscopic struts, through the use of two-photon lithography. This process uses a high-powered laser to solidify microscopic structures in photosensitive resin, which was then cured into a carbon structure.
The team then used an ISN-developed laser-induced particle impact array to launch microparticles at the material at supersonic speed. They found that the individual nano-architected struts impacted by the particle had crumpled and compacted, but that the surrounding struts remained intact.
The research, which was first published in Nature Materials, focused on two different densities of nanoarchitected material, with the denser variant proving more resilient. Overall, the same amount of mass of the material provides more protection than other materials, including steel, according to the researchers. (Source: Jane’s)
————————————————————————-
Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
———————————————————————-