The SA Government will assist a local SME to bring new silent radar technology to market with $200K in funding.

South Australian start-up Silentium Defence’s passive radar technology uses a silent sensor to locate active and silent objects, eliminating the chances of large radio signals being detected by enemy troops.

Using radio frequency energy to map out an environment, its passive radar system also could be used to manage commercial transportation traffic at airfields and seaports.

Our users can operate without needlessly advertising their presence

The SA Early Commercialisation Fund grant will help expedite bringing Silentium Defence’s product to the market by enabling the company to start producing prototypes and perform testing with customers.

The $10 million, four-year fund provides staged grants of up to $500,000 and is administered by TechInSA, which is funded by the State Government to work with the high-tech industry to bring innovative South Australian products and technologies to global markets.

The innovative system was developed in South Australia at DST Group, under the guidance of Silentium Defence CEO James Palmer, a former research scientist, together with CTO Simon Palumbo, also formerly with the DST Group. They founded Silentium Defence in order to commercialise the technology and further develop it for defence and civilian customers.

The Silentium Defence passive radar antenna. Credit: Silentium Defence

Palmer said there is significant export potential for the technology and Silentium aims to have its defence products on the global market within the next two years, potentially through a global partner.

“What makes our technology unique is its agility and scalability,” he said. Palmer also explained how existing active radars send out a large blast of radio energy and then listen for echoes from objects in the surrounding area.

“This is a problem in the defence context, as these large blasts of radio energy become a beacon that potential adversaries are able to use," he said.

“What we have done with our passive radar is leverage the presence of background sources of broadcast radio and television instead, which means our users can operate without needlessly advertising their presence.”