Pacific 2012: So what has the CTD program ever done for us? | ADM Dec 2011 / Jan 2012

1 December 2011

Gregor Ferguson | Sydney

Defence, and DSTO in particular, is looking to enhance the value that the Capability & Technology Demonstrator (CTD) program delivers to the ADF. In fact, the program has delivered some significant achievements and one of the challenges is communicating these, according to the Director of the CTD Program Office, Dr Alan Hinge.

The CTD program is funded by the Capability Development Group (CDG) but managed by DSTO. It’s designed to fund the development of promising technologies – endorsed by sponsors in CDG – to the point where they can demonstrate potential to become a relevant and worthwhile operational capability.

2011 has been a ‘bumper year’ for CTD demonstrations, says Hinge with 12 of 13 being successfully demonstrated:

CTD 2007-7 Ceramic Membrane Oxygen Generator
CTD 2007-4 Flexible Integrated Energy Device
CTD 2007-2 Carbon Nanotubes for Ballistic Protection (not demonstrated)
CTD 2008-4 Haptically Enabled CIED Robotic system
CTD 2008-4 Elongated Solar Cells
CTD 2008-3 Incise
CTD 2008-4 Elongated Solar Cells
CTD 2008-11 BITES Battlefield Integrated Tactical Exploitation of Sensors
CTD 2009-6 Monitoring Divers Vital Signs
CTD 2009-2 Network Centric GIIS
CTD 2009-4 Infrasonic Advanced Acoustic Generator
CTD 2009-1 ADF C4I Connector
CTDEP 2009-5 IR Thermal Threat Warner

All up, this represents the culmination of over $40m investment in Australian industry – with half going to SMEs.

The CTD program has seen some 80 successful CTD demonstrations over the years; 12 are in service, 2 failed CTDs saved over $100m by showing that certain technologies could not deliver capability, and today 15 CTDs have strong prospects for transition. However, the CTD program isn’t funded to develop these technologies beyond the demonstration phase, except for a few supported under the CTD Extension Program (CTD EP). So without strong, ongoing support, many promising projects and technologies could wither on the vine.

The problem lies in the levels of risk associated with new and unproven technology: on the nine-point NASA scale a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 9 equates to a technology or product that’s in service – essentially a MOTS product. At the completion of the acquisition cycle it will be at TRL 8 (that is, T&E completed); thus when a product or technology is offered in response to a defence RFT it is, or should be, around TRL 7 – a prototype in operational environment.

But the new technology in most CTD projects generally lies between TRLs 2 and 4 – concept formulation, proof of concept or, at best, a component validated in a laboratory. At completion the technology may have climbed to between TRLs 3 and, possibly, 6 with a prototype demonstration in an operational environment.

That still leaves a big development (and funding) gap – the traditional ‘valley of death’, where CTDs either stall or fall over the edge. DSTO’s Alan Hinge told ADM the CTD Extension Program (EP) aims to reach part-way across that gap by bringing a few selected CTDs up to or close to TRL 7, where an Endorsed Requirement exists within CDG.

The Sentient case study below describes how this can produce spectacular results. But as previously noted in ADM, the CTD EP ends in June 2012 with no new funding allocated beyond this time.

A systematic, funded program would appear to be required to bridge the transition gap and ensure that the ADF derives the full benefit of the R&D conducted under the CTD program.

This might take selected, successful CTDs through an Intermediate step to a TRL of around 5-6, followed if they are still successful by a Transition step to TRL 7-8. The Intermediate and Transition steps, between them, would probably require additional funding over and above the $13 million currently spent on the CTD program.

Such a ‘Preparation for Transition’ path could provide a development, project management and governance environment which enables a promising technology to be developed to the point where it is a genuine TRL 7/8 contender in a Defence RFT.

There are concrete examples to support this argument: along with Sentient Vision Systems’ moving target detection system (see below) three transition projects, all based on recent CTDs, are in the pipeline for DCP projects: SATCOM On The Move (SOTM) being developed by Brisbane firm EM Solutions; Broadband Sonar Advanced Processing System (BSAPS) with Thales Australia (UW Systems); and Autonomous Underwater Surveillance Network (AUSSNET) with L3 Nautronix.

After many years of racking up successful CTD demonstrations, Dr Hinge has a list of 15 other candidate projects – all of them successful CTDs – which, if developed successfully, could make a direct and worthwhile contribution to ADF operational capability.

However, Hinge, a former naval officer and Director of Joint Systems in Defence’s Investment Analysis Branch (responsible for DCP management), was careful to emphasise to ADM that while Government is and has been a very strong supporter of the CTD program for many years, not all good ideas or good programs can be ideally funded, adding that CTDs are essentially ‘venture capital’ projects and, as such, are at the lower end of the DCP priority list, and rightly so.

The CTD program has delivered other benefits, says Hinge: the collaborative environment it fosters has provided a catalyst for innovation amongst defence SMEs and has increased their exposure within the defence industry, both locally and overseas. Furthermore, alignment through the program to the multi-national prime contractors and their Global Supply Chains helps strengthen their commitment to Australia and to local investment and jobs, which in turn supports the intent of the Defence Industry Policy.

Additionally, the availability of CTD-developed leading edge technology supports Defence’s contribution to collaborative technology sharing programs with the US and other coalition partners. With credible, even world-leading technology, to hand Australian program managers can demonstrate to the US that Australia has something unique to offer.

Overall, says Hinge, the CTD program has proven an effective vehicle for fostering development of priority defence capabilities through local industry, and in particular SMEs. The collaborative environment, support and access to expertise provided by the CTD Program Office has been vital in enabling companies like Sentient to bring their technology and products to market and helped position Sentient (as one example) to achieve success both locally and in export markets with its world-leading automated target detection technology.