News: PIC Innovation Program recipients | ADM June 2012

Nine Australian companies have been offered $12 million in matched funding to commercialise new defence technologies under the first round of the DMO’s Priority Industry Capability (PIC) Innovation Program.

Last year Defence Materiel Minister Jason Clare announced the establishment of the $45 million program aimed at building Defence PICs. Under the program companies can apply for up to $4 million in matched funding for innovative projects that will improve or enhance a PIC.

Following are the companies offered matched funding and their technology proposals:

Cirrus Real Time Processing Systems Pty Ltd, $469,602, for Sensor Association and Fusion Engine (SAFE). SAFE is a technology that addresses a core problem with sensor and/or combat systems that track contacts; how to determine which sensor measurements associate to which (if any) tracks, and which sensor measurements associate to background clutter.

Sonartech Atlas Pty Ltd., $726,956, Sonix Sonobuoy Architecture and Acoustic Processing Modernisation. The project’s aim is to modernise and extend the capabilities of the Sonix System which has applications for Maritime Ranging and Surface Ship ASW and Torpedo Defence.

Secure Systems Ltd, $423,116, Secure Portable Anti-Tamper Data Storage Solutions. The project seeks to develop the next generation of portable Silicon Data Vaults that will be able to store and protect Top Secret data yet allow handling as a ‘For Official Use Only’ device.

Micreo Limited, $152,706, Fast-turning Wideband Synthesiser. The project’s aim is to commercialise a new high performance frequency synthesiser with sub-microsecond switching speed and excellent spurious suppression across an output frequency range of 2-20 GHz.

C4i Pty Ltd, $2,187,477, SwitchplusNG – integrated network centric Command and Control Communications. The project aims to develop and enhance a number of subsystems under the SwitchplusNG program.

CEA Technologies Pty Ltd, $2,564,940, CEAFAR Phased Array Radar Land Environment Transition Project. The objective of this project is to transition CEAFAR Active Phased Array technology from the Maritime to the Land environment and establish a Multi Mission Radar hardware platform.

Australian Defence Apparel Pty Ltd, $4,000,000, Armour Technologies Commercialisation and Expansion Project. The project’s aim is to commercialise a new suite of armour technologies to expand ADA’s capacity to manufacture high quality armoured products at a cost that is competitive in the global market.

Sentient Vision Systems Ltd, $529,378, Automated Target Detection and Cueing System for Remote Weapons Stations. The project will develop automated target detection capability for Remote Weapons Stations (RWS).

Quintessence Labs Pty Ltd, $1,055,309, Visual Zeroisation Storage and Management System for Military Information Platforms. The project’s aim is to significantly improve the anti-tamper capability of stored data through the implementation of a system which is always active and does not rely on reactive or physical countermeasures.