Ongoing Projects

Evaluation of State Uncertainty for Resident Space Objects

Evaluation of State Uncertainty for Resident Space Objects Project Summary Traditional methods for informing situational awareness of space objects struggle to account for complex factors like perturbations from external forces, non-spherical Earth effects, and uncertainties in initial state estimates. This new approach incorporates these factors into its estimation process, resulting in a more realistic and adaptable representation of uncertainty. By relaxing some of the unrealistic assumptions and leveraging more sophisticated statistical tools and advanced sensor fusion, it achieves a higher level of accuracy in characterizing the true uncertainty of an object's orbital trajectory. The team [...]

2024-02-26T08:47:09+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

Cyber Terrain Mapping and Analysis of Operational Technology Networks

Cyber Terrain Mapping and Analysis of Operational Technology Networks Project Summary Modern warfare relies on complex and ever-changing networks of cyber devices. These networks include large networks at national headquarters, smaller ones in front-line command posts, and specialised Operational Technology Networks (OTN) on military vehicles, ships, and aircraft. Australia uses Defensive Cyber Operations Teams (DCOTs) to protect these networks from cyber threats. For these DCOTs to succeed, they must clearly understand what's happening on the OTNs to focus on protecting the most essential systems during an attack. When DCOTs work with military technology networks, they [...]

2024-02-23T15:52:32+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

First-in-class pharmaceutical radiation protectant and mitigant

First-in-class pharmaceutical radiation protectant and mitigant Project Summary This project will develop a broad-acting radiation protectant and mitigant that limits damage to multiple organs, reducing lethality and lessening both acute and delayed effects of radiation exposure from contaminated environments or events. Bringing together SA expertise in biological pathways, clinical therapeutics, radiation biology (University of Adelaide), animal radiation (Flinders University), pharmaco/toxicokinetics (UniSA), compound extraction from biomass (Plantworx), and Defence project guidance (DSTG), this project will enable production of a world-first pharmaceutical radiation protectant, addressing a significant unmet need and enhancing current PPE and mitigant approaches. The [...]

2024-02-23T15:48:28+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

Warm Starts and Goal-based Heuristics to Improve MARL Performance in Advanced Distributed Defence

Warm Starts and Goal-based Heuristics to Improve MARL Performance in Advanced Distributed Defence Project Summary Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is appealing for advanced distributed defence because it is able to learn quickly and adapt to unforeseen situations, which is a frequent occurrence in contested and dynamic defence environments. However, MARL is expensive to train and MARL approaches do not do well in environments with sparse rewards, which are often encountered in Defence. Traditional search-based multi-agent planning approaches do not suffer from this, however they are less adaptable to rapid changes. This project bridges the gap [...]

2024-02-23T15:20:44+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

Sovereign manufacturing reliable defence structures by 3D metal printing and structural health monitoring

Sovereign manufacturing reliable defence structures by 3D metal printing and structural health monitoring Project Summary 3D-printed metals that can reliably withstand extreme environments are an ongoing need for Defence and industry. Printing-induced internal defects and stresses in the metals deteriorate their strength, resulting in weakened structural integrity. This project will enable the development of advanced manufacturing processes. The team will carry out laser printing, heat treatment and wire arc additive manufacturing to gain a deeper understanding of fatigue behaviour and surface quality of metals. A variety of tests will be undertaken including micro- and macro-scale [...]

2024-02-23T15:23:33+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

Mathematical modelling of a complex and contested conflict environment: influence of logistics and resource transfer

Mathematical modelling of a complex and contested conflict environment: influence of logistics and resource transfer Project Summary This project builds upon a networked model of decision-making agents in a complex conflict environment. The team proposes to advance these modelling efforts to combine the command and control (C2) function with additional logistic and resource transfer components. Using complex systems modelling, this project will integrate the warfighting functions of: C2, Movement and Manoeuvre, Influence Activity and Sustainment/Logistics. A primary objective is to develop a better understanding of the behaviour of networks of decision-making agents using dynamically changing [...]

2024-02-23T15:21:37+10:30February 23rd, 2024|

Rapid Environmental Monitoring Using Autonomous System

This project will deliver an interim capability for obtaining in-situ, real-time ocean data from rapidly deployable autonomous systems using data fusion techniques to DSTG; and an opportunity to explore a new product offering that complements current products and services provided to defence by Acacia Systems.

2023-12-05T15:43:59+10:30July 17th, 2023|

Sensing semiconductor devices with terahertz waves

This project is founded upon The University of Adelaide’s (UoA) unique synergy between side-channel attacks and terahertz technology. It presents opportunities in dual use of security and non-contact circuit evaluation, highly attractive to our defence partner, DSTG, and UoA’s commercial partner, Keysight.

2024-02-29T11:09:00+10:30July 17th, 2023|

A framework for addressing design challenges in wargames

A framework for addressing design challenges in wargames Project Summary A framework for addressing design challenges in wargames: Improving the design of wargames: We want to provide a capability maturity assessment tool that designers could use for designing the next generation of wargames. Enhanced learning: Providing a baseline would help validate insights from disparate wargames. Effectual decision-making: Help decision-makers to have higher confidence in their decisions while deriving insights from wargames for making policy-level decisions. Project Value DIP Contribution Status Project Lead [...]

2023-12-05T15:45:22+10:30June 21st, 2022|

Advancing SOCRETIS (“SOCial REasoning Tool & Interactive System”): An AI- enabled collaborative reasoning aid for the information environment

Advancing SOCRETIS (“SOCial REasoning Tool & Interactive System”): An AI- enabled collaborative reasoning aid for the information environment Project Summary This project will develop SOCRETIS – an AI-enabled, interactive reasoning aid that can help people assess the nature and quality of consensus views gleaned via a shared information environment. With the ability to index and cross-reference large volumes of information in real-time, AI tools are well suited to guiding human reasoners in this way. SOCRETIS has the potential to enable Defence Information Warfare capability by bolstering national resilience to malign influence in the grey-zone. The [...]

2023-12-05T15:46:18+10:30June 21st, 2022|

Nanofluid Satellite Thrusters

Space is becoming crowded and hostile, demanding satellite systems that can respond to adverse events. Most satellites cannot autonomously avoid space junk or hostile objects due to a lack of onboard propulsion. Nanofluidic thrusters offer a solution, based on nanoscale actuation of ionic liquids in chip-based (non-invasive) thrusters.

2023-12-05T15:48:44+10:30November 19th, 2020|
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