SRC Aus team members (from left) Sebastian Cocks, Dr Vichet Duk, Richard Button, Salvador Dreo and University of Adelaide Research Fellow Dr Raja Abdullah. Photo: SRC Aus.
Leading Australian electronic warfare (EW) services provider SRC Aus has partnered with Defence Trailblazer to accelerate the commercialisation of EW support capabilities.
Defence Trailblazer is a collaborative partnership between the University of Adelaide and UNSW, supported by the Department of Education and more than 95 industry partners.
It was established to strengthen Australia’s sovereign defence capabilities through the commercialisation of new technologies and solutions via innovative research and strategic partnerships. It also focuses on the development of specialised knowledge and skills for the current and future workforce to meet the needs of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
The strategic partnership through the Defence Trailblazer research and development project – dubbed Trailblazer Electronic Warfare Support System (TESS) – is designed to focus on the development of a future defence-ready workforce.
To this end, SRC Aus has engaged with multiple Defence Trailblazer programs to expand its capabilities across research and development, staff mobility and student workforce across the overarching TESS project.
Defence Trailblazer executive director Dr Sanjay Mazumdar said his mandate was to accelerate capability and drive the job-ready skills of the future through strong engagement with industry, leveraging local university innovation talent and new entrants to the defence sector.
“We are so pleased SRC Aus is seizing the opportunity to access our full suite of programs to accelerate sovereign defence capability and prepare a future-ready defence workforce. This is exactly what the Defence Trailblazer program is all about,” Dr Mazumdar said.
SRC Aus technical director Richard Button added: “The overarching goal of the TESS project is to address evolving real-world challenges in the spectrum warfare battle space.”
SRC Aus was established to solve complex EW challenges and provide expert EW services to the ADF, and has more than 60 years of experience delivering solutions to the Australian market. The company has engineers based in Adelaide and Canberra, supported by parent company SRC Inc in the US.
With funding from Defence Trailblazer’s Technology Development & Acceleration portfolio, SRC Aus has developed a working prototype of TESS for ADF operators.
The company itself has also invested in the project, applying research to develop a machine learning-enabled adaptive sensor and an advanced radar signal-processing system. In addition, it is building a compact, transportable version of the system for field test and military environment demonstrations.
“We aim to develop new methods for EW support, providing richer layers of sensor data and information for signal characterisation, identification and behaviour prediction,” Mr Button said.
“We are currently implementing working artificial intelligence and machine-learning solutions to the problem of operating in a complex contested and congested signal space.”
SRC Aus director of strategy and special projects Michael List said TESS represented a paradigm shift, with trusted, explainable AI designed with future targeting in mind.
“Unlike opaque black-box systems, TESS delivers transparency that aligns with ADF rules of engagement,” Mr List said.
“The more data it ingests, the smarter and more adaptive it becomes. Simply put, it neutralises all the advantages of modern radar systems.”
The partnership will also see SRC Aus sponsor a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) student for two years under the Defence Trailblazer Industry Research Program.
This scholarship will provide the graduate student at the University of Adelaide with an opportunity to work on real-world applied machine-learning defence challenges, developed in consultation with industry and leading academics.
SRC Aus is also participating in Defence Trailblazer’s Staff Mobility Program to provide senior-level expertise and support to the TESS project. This has enabled University of Adelaide Research Fellow Dr Raja Abdullah from the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to take part in a university secondment that has embedded him at SRC Aus for 22 months.
Defence Trailblazer project manager Richard Williamson said the partnership was a model of how Defence Trailblazer’s programs were designed to integrate with defence industry and academia.
“It exemplifies how the Trailblazer Program is supporting the Defence Industry Development Strategy,” Mr Williamson said.
“Currently, no single other institution provides the level of targeted programs and initiatives to grow, support and engage with Australian defence industry.”
