Five Defence Innovation Hub innovation contracts totalling $5.9 million have been awarded to university research organisations and defence SMEs.
Queensland based SME Explosive Protective Equipment (EPE) was awarded a contract to explore the integration of a Cobham Amulet Ground Penetrating Radar into an existing unmanned ground vehicle for detection of IEDs.
Amulet is a scalable modular detection system which is capable of detecting buried Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Anti-Tank (AT) mines and other Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in a wide variety of soil conditions from a mounted vehicle platform. The AMULET detection system has been designed to be low size, weight and power, as well as to be easy to train and easy to use.
It is suitable for fitting to a wide variety of host platforms from small robotic systems through to the largest of Mine-Protected Ambush-Resistant (MRAP) vehicles. The vehicle-mounted variant can be rapidly deployed without leaving the safety of the cab, significantly improving the ease of operational deployment. It can also be automatically stowed when not in use, restoring the mobility of the host platform to close to that achieved without the system fitted.
Minister for defence Industry Christopher Pyne said the Defence Innovation Hub has received a strong interest since its launch in December 2016, and has invested around $20 million to industry and research organisations across the nation to mature and further develop defence technologies.
Industry, academic and research organisations can continue to submit proposals through the Defence Innovation Portal at www.business.gov.au/cdic.
A detailed list of the innovation contracts is below:
|
Organisation |
Contract Value |
Description of Innovation |
|
L3 Oceania (WA) |
$2.9m |
To explore the development an underwater acoustic sensor that could provide significant benefits within the ADF maritime domain. |
|
University of Newcastle (NSW) |
$2.2m |
To explore the development of enhanced resilience training for ADF personnel through a set of virtual reality based training sessions involving controlled exposure to adverse environments |
|
Agent Oriented Software (Vic) |
$378K |
To explore the concept of an autonomous teamed intelligent software agent capability resilient to cyber-attacks. |
|
Explosive Protective Equipment (QLD) |
$242K |
To explore the integration of a Cobham Amulet Ground Penetrating Radar into an existing unmanned ground vehicle for detection of improvised explosive devices. |
|
Griffith University (QLD) |
$183K |
To explore the development of a portable device that enables real-time detection of airborne biological threats, such as fungi spores, viruses and bacteria.
|