UniSA wins two DIP defence innovation grants
The University of South Australia has secured two out of four Defence Innovation Partnership (DIP) grants awarded late in 2019. The DIP’s Cooperative Research Grants are designed to boost SA’s defence industry capability by applying new research knowledge and innovation and working partnerships with industry, to help solve defence challenges.
The two successful projects – Narrative Visualisation of Simulations for Force Design and Optimal Target Detection for Marine Radars Using Waveform Diversity – are each worth $150,000.
According to UniSA Director Defence and Space Matt Opie, the results are a strong endorsement of UniSA’s defence research expertise.
“Not only are we leading two of the projects, but we are also a key partner in the other two defence industry projects,” he says. “We undertake world-class research in virtual reality systems led by some of the leading experts in that field and our signals processing research expertise dates back 40 years – so we have the capacity to deliver the Australian Defence Force critical advanced capability.
“We are also highly experienced at working with industry and bringing together research teams that are outcomes focussed.”
A relatively new field – narrative visualisation – brings data to life both qualitatively and by presenting a visual story about meaningful trends that can be rapidly understood and acted upon. The process reveals trends, casual relationships and decisive events and has the potential to be applied in real-time combat situations to ensure better and more informed decision-making.
“UniSA’s world-leading research in narrative visualisation will allow defence analysts to explore and analyse information and quickly make sense of what can otherwise be overwhelming amounts of data,” says Prof. Bruce Thomas, Director of the Australian research Centre for Interactive and Visual Environments.
In the second project, the optimal target detection for marine radars, researchers will address the challenge of sea clutter and its effect on surface or low-altitude targets.
“This important research will advance high performance navigation radar systems for future marine platforms for both the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air force,” according to UniSA’s associate head of engineering research and innovation, Professor Kutluyil Dogancay.
UniSA researchers will also contribute to a project to devise conducting carbon coatings for naval vessels to deter marine creature growth on vessels and the development of the a large-scale virtual submarine model to enable simulator-based training for next generation submariners. Industry partners for all of the projects will provide the commercialisation pathway for the research outcomes and the transfer of technology.
UniSA is a foundation member of the DIP and boasts one of the longest running formal relationships with DST of any Australian university.