The Safeguarding Australia Technology Challenges program commenced with three challenges in the area of Investigative Support and Forensic Science (detail below). Over 40 proposals were received from industry and academia with four selected for funding. New Border Security and Identity Management challenges will be released in FY22-23. This page will be updated with the new challenges shortly.
Safe Vehicle Interdiction
Single or multiple capabilities to allow law enforcement to render inoperable a moving vehicle, in a no-notice scenario whereby the vehicle must be stopped prior to reaching its intended destination (such as a civilian crowd). The capabilities must be applicable to motor vehicles and trucks of different sizes (light / medium / heavy rigid and heavy combination) and ages (with / without an Engine Control Unit), whilst minimising collateral damage to persons and infrastructure in close proximity of the targeted vehicle.
Enhanced Crime Scene DNA Collection
DNA collection device (such as a swab, tapelift or another device) which supports effective collection of biological material by on-site crime scene personnel, whilst enabling subsequent automated analysis in a laboratory environment without further handling or sample preparation.
Digital Forensic Tools
Detection, access, extraction and exploitation of electronic devices with a focus on personal devices and the ‘Internet of Things’ and their assistance to solving community crime.
Up to $200,000 (ex GST) per project is available to support a maximum of three projects of 18-24 months’ duration.
The expected outcome for all funded proposals will be the demonstration of a prototype solution in a simulated use case environment. Existing technologies that might be realigned to meet the needs of this call are also open for investigation.
This opportunity is now closed.
For further information and to submit your proposal, contact the ADSUN member in your state:
State
Australian Defence Science and Universities Network
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies show promise for autonomous cyber operations (ACO), offering the potential for distributed, adaptive defensive measures at machine speed and scale. The cyber domain is a particularly challenging domain for autonomous AI. We nominate a challenge in this space that we believe requires further research in order to enable ACO to become an operational capability. To facilitate this AI research, we, the TTCP CAGE working group, are releasing CybORG, an experimental platform using the OpenAI Gym interface together with a cyber security scenario and a challenge to which we invite researchers to respond.
Our aim is to support the development of AI tactics, techniques and procedures with CybORG and a series of CAGE scenarios with associated challenge problems in order to support practical demonstrations of ACO. We wish to engage the AI and cyber security research communities, especially to leverage domain experts outside of the cyber field, and by encapsulating the cyber elements in environments such as CybORG along with the CAGE scenarios and challenge problems, we hope that the cyber problem set becomes accessible to a wider audience. The first CAGE scenario and associated challenge problem were released at the IJCAI-21 1st International Workshop on Adaptive Cyber Defense (ACD 2021).
The CAGE challenge is written in Python. Dependencies can be installed using pip. Further instructions are included on the GitHub page. The challenge includes red agents to test against and an example blue agent. Submissions should implement the same methods of the example blue agent.
Important dates
20 August 2021: Challenge announced at ACD 2021 and open for submissions. November 2021: Release of extended version of the Challenge problem with a Misinform action available to the blue agent. 1 February 2022: Challenge closed. 4 February 2022: Final results announced. 28 February 2022: Final results presented at AAAI-22 Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Cyber Security (AICS).
Defence has initiated the Agile Command and Control STaR Shot program to transform how military capabilities are synthesised into a more effective and resilient force, able to operate and prevail across all levels of command, across all domains, and in all environments.
This EOI is calling on potential academic partners to explore a range of topics that shape the efficacy of an organisation’s C2 - sociotechnical system, with a principal focus on the integration of command and control of operations in the physical environment with effects in the information environment. In doing so, this EOI seeks to inform the critical C2 challenges, including:
How to implement Defence end-to-end joint all domain C2 organisational change, to achieve multi-domain operations posturing the ADF to deliver synchronised effects, and;
How to optimise Defence’s C2 approach to operate in contested, congested and denied environments while withstanding operational shocks.
DSTG are seeking academic partners to propose and conduct a body of research in collaboration with DSTG scientists that addresses these challenges, through an experiment that integrates teams comprised of participants working in a fire fighting simulation performing coordinated tasks in the physical (i.e.. firefighting) and information (i.e. social media) environment.
Background
Working with DSTG scientists, you will develop an experimentation plan to test C2 – sociotechnical system design employing teams of participants in simulated activities, through a computer laboratory environment. A fire-fighting scenario has been chosen as a representation of activities in the physical environment requiring critical decision making under time pressure and coordination across multiple capabilities.
Two pieces of software have been proposed for this experimentation: C3Fires for simulating the fire and fire-fighting assets (e.g. fire and water trucks) that in the physical environment, and Conducttr for simulating the team information systems, information flows and information actors. DSTG researchers will assist in the acquisition and training in these applications with successful project partners. Applicants are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these applications before submitting their proposal.
Topic of Interest
Multi-Domain Integration
When conducting crisis management, information effects have an impact on the effectiveness and agility of teams responding to a physical threat such as a bushfire, flood or pandemic. The rise of social media has drastically influenced actions in the information environment, changing the nature of crisis management. Social media has been speculated to have played a significant role in the events of the 2020 bushfires. Misinformation around the origins of the fires included stories of mass arson and ecoterrorism. Similarly, social media was an enabler for the phenomenon of disaster tourism. In this regard, social media may have had a negative impact on safety of the public or access by emergency response teams. Social media however also played a critical role in rapidly communicating with citizens in at-risk fire zones, distributing important fire safety guidance, and facilitating community-led support for people affected by the fires.
In the event of future bushfires, how can effects in the information domain be harnessed, and combined with effects such as the deployment of firetrucks, water supply, and emergency evacuation? Whereas traditional means of employment of physical emergency services have evolved to be planned together to integrate seamlessly, information effects remain a bespoke after-thought. Possible research questions include “How can physical and information effects be integrated?”, “What are the barriers to integrating physical and information effects?”, and “How immersed in the public discourse should emergency response teams be for effective and agile response?”
Additional Considerations
Investigators may also choose to additionally examine other facets of team composition. Modern Defence teams are culturally and professionally diverse, and can leverage this diversity to enhance the team’s collective knowledge and wisdom. To achieve this, Defence needs to understand the challenges and biases that can impede diverse teams.
Due to the current pandemic there is a need to consider the location of study participants, who may need to participate remotely due to restrictions at the time of experimentation. Investigators may wish to consider this in their applications, and may also choose to propose a study design that considers the factors enabling success for distributed teams, which is not only becoming an important topic of interest for Defence, but most government and private organisations.
Call for Research Partners
DSTG are seeking academic partners who are interested in establishing an ongoing C2 science research capability, to explore current and future C2 topics.
Eligibility
The call is open to researchers of all career tenures;
The lead investigator must be employed by and undertake the project at an Australian university;
Co-investigators may be employed by the same, or another Australian university;
There are no requirements for discipline knowledge, but investigators should demonstrate sufficient knowledge in a related field (such as psychology, management or political sciences).
Investigators are not required to hold an Australian security clearance, however may be eligible for sponsorship.
Funding
Funding will be provided through the Agile C2 Starshot, and subject to the level of involvement and committed resources of the academic partner. Provision of funding will be subject to the completion of milestones and deliverables negotiated between DSTG and the successful applicant, with the possibility to extend on an ongoing annual basis.
Essential Requirements
Demonstrated capability and experience to conduct experimentation of human teams.
Ability to attract research participants;
Suitable facilities to support a computer-based laboratory experiment
Signatory to the Defence Science Partnering Deed, DSP 2.0.
Desirable Requirements
Capacity to develop and grow a sovereign C2 science research capability within their institution, and promote an ongoing partnership with Defence.
How to Apply
Submissions are now closed.
Disclaimer
The nature of this research and its subject matter may be perceived as relevant to the STaRshot – Agile Command & Control. The party or parties involved in or undertaking this particular research activity should be aware that it does not provide them with any formal relationship with the relevant STaR Shot activity. Any future STaR Shot activity will be subject to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, in particular, relating to non-discrimination and ethical behaviours. In short, this research activity will not advantage a party in future arrangements.
The Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) seeks proposals to identify science and technology partnering opportunities in the area of Precision and Quantum Sensing.
The Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) seeks proposals from academia, industry and Government-Funded Organisations (GFO) which identify and pursue PQS S&T areas critical for future Australian Defence capability. This new call seeks to build upon the successful outcomes of the first round of Quantum Research Network (QRN) investment and to identify new partnering opportunities at the intersection of quantum technology and precision sensing.
Quantum Research Network – Precision and Quantum Sensing Call
The NGTF Quantum Research Network (QRN) was established in 2018 with the goal of informing Defence of the potential benefits and practical limitations of quantum technologies in sensing and communications.
Many of the most promising recent advances in precision sensing and metrology rely on the exploitation of the quantum properties of light, matter, and their interaction. Because of this, synergies exist between precision sensing and the broader quantum technologies R&D effort. Defence recognises that continuing strategic investment is needed to help translate deep technology in precision sensing and quantum technologies from the laboratory to real-world environment.
Precision sensors play an important role in many areas of defence, from the detection of submarines to detecting hazardous chemical, biological and radiological (CBRN) signatures, to medical imaging in field hospitals, to precision navigation in GPS-denied environments. In More Together. Defence Science and Technology Strategy 2030, launched in May 2020, DST announced 8 ambitious Science Technology and Research (STaR) Shot missions to focus strategic research and proactively develop new leap-ahead Defence capabilities to deliver impact at scale. These 8 STaR Shots will shape Defence strategic research priorities for the next decade. Among these, the Remote Undersea Surveillance (RUS), Quantum Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT), Resilient Multi-mission Space, and Operating in CBRN environments, will all be reliant to some degree on advances in precision sensing and quantum technologies. The NGTF Advanced Sensors Priority Theme is particularly aligned to the RUS STaR Shot. A key priority is to build sovereign capability in strategic sensor technologies that will assist in addressing the challenge of establishing a remote undersea surveillance network.
What are the research areas?
S&T proposals are sought in the field of PQS technologies and systems, applicable to one or more of the following broad focus areas:
Precision sensing for undersea surveillance (Particularly magnetic field sensing)
Quantum enabled precision, navigation and timing
Other applications of precision quantum sensing technologies relevant to defence innovation priorities (e.g, Enhanced Human Performance, CBRN)
It is highly desirable, though not essential, that proposed technologies demonstrate capabilities that are unique to quantum technology.
It is essential that proposals make a clear case for the potential of the proposed technology to achieve superior performance or otherwise provide an advantage, over conventional technologies in the context of at least one of the 3 application areas listed above.
Furthermore, proposals must demonstrate feasibility and indicate a realistic maturation path.
DSTG will provide a research program brief to all interested parties via Microsoft Teams on Tuesday 9th November 2021. This will provide an opportunity for clarifications and questions to be raised. Any further questions after this brief will need to be provided in writing with DST providing a written response that will be provided to all parties. Nominations to attend the briefing are to be forwarded in writing to the Contact Officer via email (AS-NGTF@dst.defence.gov.au) by 8th November 2021 to be provided with a Microsoft Teams invite. For security purposes: Full Name, Organisation, Position, Mobile Telephone number, and email address of all nominated personnel are to be included at the time of nomination.
Contact Officer and RFP Inquiries
Proposers are to direct any questions or concerns regarding this RFP in writing to the Contact Officer.
Proposers may submit questions or concerns to the Contact Officer up until five working days prior to the Closing Time specified in the Tender Details Schedule.
Defence is seeking expressions of interest from Australian universities, research organisations and industry to join a community advisory group to help guide and shape research in the area of remote undersea surveillance.
The advisory group will assist with the ongoing development, implementation and quality assurance of the research and innovation activities under the Remote Undersea Surveillance STaR Shot, a large-scale, multi-disciplinary, long-term program of research aimed at securing Australia’s maritime interests through persistent and responsive undersea situation awareness.
Call for partners
It is expected that members of the advisory group will have strong capabilities and existing research programs that could support innovation efforts in one or more of the following areas:
Underwater environmental sensing, modelling and forecasting;
Acoustic sensing and propagation;
Active and passive optical sensors for submerged objects;
Automated data processing for object detection and recognition;
Dynamic and robust sensor networks.
A diverse range of partners will be needed to cover the scope of the research program.
Advisory group members will contribute to the design of the program, the generation of white papers, and the development, quality assurance and evaluation of complementary programs and activities.
Essential Requirements
Demonstrated capability and experience in one or more of the described priority research areas; and
Capacity to work with Defence and other partners to co-design activities aligned with a provided mission such as: ‘unattended surveillance of a remote location’.
Desirable Requirements
DSTG is interested in fostering and building enduring relationships with appropriate partners. As such, the following will be considered desirable when assessing expressions of interest:
Multi-party submissions including stakeholders from across the innovation system.
Genuine interest in developing and growing a sovereign research capability within their organisation in a related field, and promoting an ongoing partnership with Defence;
Clear vision for the development of an ongoing capability;
Capacity to:
appoint an academic chair (or equivalent) to provide program oversight and set the foundation for an enduring capability driven partnership, and
appoint a part-time postdoctoral fellow (or equivalent); and
Support of their organisation(s) to undertake activities supporting the community advisory group.
How to Apply
DSTG is inviting expressions of interest from Australian universities, research organisations and industry, including small to medium enterprises. Submissions should be no longer than four (4) pages outlining relevant experience and interest in the program addressing the following:
A model of engagement which includes capacity and capability to establish and maintain partnering capability; and
The proposed expertise that they can provide to the advisory group
Their understanding of the research and innovation challenges in the area of remote undersea surveillance
Their capabilities or current research activities are in one or more of the five priority research areas outlined above.
Submissions are now closed.
Engagement Model
DSTG will engage through multi-party agreements under the Defence Science Partnering Deed for universities, or via the appropriate MOU instrument where the partners are from research organisations or industry.
Applications for the 2025 NAVIGATE Program have closed.
The NAVIGATE Program is dedicated to supporting the advancement of a diverse range of high performing scientists and technologists from across the science and technology ecosystem in Australia to build our capability to solve the biggest challenges for Defence.
What is the NAVIGATE Program?
The NAVIGATE Program is designed to enable high performing and experienced researchers, academics and STEM professionals from around Australia to more easily transition into the complex area of Defence science and technology. The NAVIGATE Program does not target any particular discipline, but seeks high performing research, academics and STEM professionals that are leaders in their field, and are willing to utilise their transferrable research skills in high priority areas of Defence.
Since its inception in 2021, the NAVIGATE Program has been successful in attracting a significant number of applicants and providing career advancement opportunities in the Defence ecosystem. With over 1,700 applications received, the program has supported 69 participants to date, and a further 36 are expected to complete their NAVIGATE journey in May 2025.
In accordance with Assistant Minister for Defence’s announcement, the NAVIGATE Program has a 50% female target. A diverse workforce supported by an inclusive culture enhances Defence’s capability and effectiveness, as it draws on difference ideas to innovate and adapt to the rapidly evolving strategic environment and the changing nature of warfare.
The NAVIGATE Program is a valuable initiative that provides participants with the opportunity to gain hand-on experience and contribute to the development of innovative technology solutions for Defence. By working with partners in industry and academia, both in Australia and around the world, participants in the program are able to broaden their perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the Defence ecosystem.
Through their work on the program, participants will have the chance to contribute to the delivery of scientific advice and innovative technology solutions that will help give Defence a capability edge. This is an important role, as the ability to harness the latest technological advances and apply them in a practical way is essential to maintain the effectiveness and competitiveness of Defence in the face of evolving threats and challenges.
The NAVIGATE Program is a comprehensive 12 month initiative that provides participants with a wide range of opportunities and support to help them advance their careers in the Defence ecosystem. Over the course of the program, participants undertake two six-month placements in different science and technology areas, giving them exposure to a diverse range of challenges and opportunities.
In addition to the hands-on experience gained through these placements, participants are also provided with training and leadership development opportunities, as well as mentoring and coaching to support their career development. This well-rounded approach ensures that participants have the skills, knowledge and support they need to succeed in their careers.
At the conclusion of the 12 month program, NAVIGATE Participants are offered an ongoing role within DSTG or wider Defence which takes into account their skillset, interests, and Defence’s highest priorities. This ensures that participants are able to apply the skills and knowledge they have gained during the program in a practical way, and that they are able to make a meaningful contribution to the Defence community.
To deliver the Accelerating Asymmetric Advantage – delivering more, together Strategy, Defence Science and Technology Group is taking deliberate and sustained action to recruit, retain and grow the highly specialised and skills workforce needed to meet increased technological requirements. The NAVIGATE Program ensures we are enabling the best talent from across our community to realise their full potential in the service of our nation.
The NAVIGATE Program aims to:
Improve Defence’s access to high calibre mid-career researchers and technologists by providing a new pathway into Defence.
Provide opportunities for high-performing Defence STEM specialists with a supported opportunity to broaden their leadership exposure and contribution.
Enable STEM professionals from the broader S&T ecosystem to transition into the complex area of Defence Innovation, Science and Technology.
Enable career mobility for STEM Professionals within Defence.
Increase diversity to allow greater innovation to solve the future challenges for Defence.
Create a cohort with a deeper understanding of both Defence and the ecosystem.
NAVIGATE Rotations
The two six-month rotations are a key component of the NAVIGATE Program, providing participants with the opportunity to gain practical experience and contribute to high priority areas for Defence.
The two 6-month rotations aim to:
Provide all participants with exposure to the breadth of STEM careers in DSTG and Defence.
Provide practical workplace experience to be applied in the wider STEM ecosystem.
Provide participants with the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and expertise to a high priority body of work.
Provide participants with an engaging and supported opportunity to contribute to Defence.
The NAVIGATE Program allocates participants to rotations based on organisational priorities, available opportunities, educational background, experience, career aspirations, location and developmental needs.
The first rotation will see participants that are new to Defence placed in a position within Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). This rotation will provide participants with a solid foundation of knowledge and experience that will support them as they progress through the program.
Current Defence employees will be provided with an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of Defence’s Science and Technology work through a placement in the broader STEM ecosystem that can benefit from their STEM knowledge and expertise.
The second rotation seeks to align the participant’s career aspirations and development goals with Defence’s organisational priorities. NAVIGATE will work with participants to support their placement in a suitably aligned area with consideration to Defence’s organisational priorities.
At the conclusion of the program, participants will be offered an ongoing role within DSTG and the wider Defence where their knowledge and experience can be best utilised. This enables participants to apply the skills and knowledge they have gained throughout the program in a practical way, and to make a meaningful contribution to the Defence community.
Further Information
If you have any questions about the program or would like further information, please contact navigate.program@defence.gov.au.
Seeking members for Information Warfare Innovation Community.
DSTG is seeking individuals or groups with an interest in information warfare to join an Information Warfare Innovation Community to advise on and guide research and innovation activities relating to information warfare.
The Information Warfare Innovation Community, comprising representatives from industry, academia, national security and Defence will assist with the ongoing development, implementation and quality assurance of the research and innovation activities of the Information Warfare STaR Shot.
Membership of the innovation community will provide access to future calls for proposals to address the innovation, science and technology requirements of the Information Warfare STaR Shot.
D.Start Spark is looking for emerging and future technologies with the potential to provide game-changing capabilities for Australia's defence and national security.
Designed for research teams working on science and technology with a potential defence application, it is the first step towards understanding the customer and market for your project or idea.
The program gives you the skills, frameworks and mindset to determine 'proof of problem', demonstrating the value of your research project and how it addresses a problem in the defence market.
Applications for D.Start Spark are now open.
We are delivering D.Start Spark in partnership with CSIRO. Supported by the Next Generation Technologies Fund, D.Start Spark is looking for emerging and future technologies with the potential to provide game-changing capabilities for Australia's defence and national security.
About D.Start Spark
D.Start Spark is designed for research teams working on science and technology with a potential defence application. It is the first step towards understanding the customer and market for your project or idea.
The program gives you the skills, frameworks and mindset to determine 'proof of problem', demonstrating the value of your research project and how it addresses a problem in the defence market.
There is no cost to teams to participate.
What teams will get out of D.Start Spark
By the end of the two-day experience, participants will be able to:
apply effective tools to articulate and iterate the unique value proposition of their research/idea
apply effective tools to articulate and iterate the potential customer segments of their research/idea
understand and experience a different approach to working on their research impact
gain experience in presenting their research in a way that's focused on the problem they’re solving and the impact it has on the world
better understand the potential defence application for their research/idea.
How D.Start Spark is delivered
D.Start Spark is a high intensity, fast-paced two-day program delivered virtually by our expert facilitators in a workshop format. There is some pre-work required and there will be one day in between the two sessions, in which time your team will have activities to complete.
How to apply
Applications for D.Start Spark Winter 2022 are now closed.
Applying to participate in D.Start Spark is a simple, two-step process:
Submit an online application: Each team is required to fill out an application via the online application portal. Access to the portal will be made available when applications open. Submitting the application will trigger an email to all team members listed in the application where they can confirm that their personal details are correct and agree to the terms and conditions and privacy notice.
Application review and evaluation: At the closure of the application period, all applications will be reviewed by representatives of their lead organisation. This is to ensure that each team has engaged their sponsoring institute and has full support to participate in the program.
Each application is evaluated by multiple experts from our extended network. The highest-rated applications will be selected and invited to participate in D.Start Spark.
Applications are evaluated against how clearly they have articulated the following points:
the problem that their idea/solution addresses
the identified potential end-users or customers of their idea
the solution and value proposition for their idea.
Successful teams will be notified approximately four weeks after the application closing date. To confirm the offer of a place in the program, each member of the team will need to complete an online form and their lead organisation will need to sign a participation agreement.
Applicants who do not successfully progress to D.Start Spark will be able to access detailed feedback from the evaluation process to help them refine and continue to work on their ideas.
The Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) seeks proposals from academia, industry and other government research agencies in research activities across a range of AI-related focus areas.
This program of work aims to use artificial intelligence to process noisy and dynamic data in order to produce outcomes to provide decision superiority to Australian Defence. This may include the ability to fuse data and construct causal models from a wide range of modalities and diverse forms, in large volumes, and collected at varied rates. The diverse data types may range from physically measured sensor data to discrete or tokenised data such as in natural language documents.
The focus of this call is Patterns in Noisy and Dynamic Data.
Submissions are now closed.
Defence Artificial Intelligence Research Network (DAIRNet) Call
This specific call is on the problem of finding patterns in noisy and dynamic data using Artificial Intelligence.
Information (Data) patterns may be unclear and may indicate anomalies that need to be investigated or events of interest such as indications of a pandemic or an attack.
The data often will be from multiple sources, in diverse forms, in large volumes and collected at varied rates and may need to be combined before the patterns are manifest.
Proposals for up to 2.5-year research plans will be considered and successful proposals may be funded up to $100,000 in the first six months and possibly up to $500,000 in subsequent years.
Experimental findings and prototyped concepts are the expected outcomes.
What are the research areas?
Several use cases have been gathered by the DSTG research teams, and provide examples for this general research area.
Examples include:
The detection of the presence of chemical or biological threats and the prediction of how they are spreading may not be apparent until effects are observed in humans. Observations of subtle variations in biomarkers may lead to inferences that the human body has been exposed to toxic chemicals or dangerous biological pathogens. An ambitious aim is to detect such events before poisoning or infection has harmful effects, i.e. very early after exposure, to maximise the effectiveness of possible interventions. Major challenges arise from the fact that there are many causes for subtle biomarker variations; that these variations are not random; and that different humans react differently to threat exposure. Thus, it is important to develop new accurate and differentiating data analytics and inferencing methods in parallel with novel wearable sensor technologies;
Significant amounts of data are collected for each flight an aircraft undergoes. In addition to the volume of data, there is a variety of data related to flight dynamics and various on-board sensors. One challenge is to use machine learning across this disparate data, looking for the signals that indicate anomalous events such as structural problems and predict times to failure in order to maximise uptime and availability of assets;
Missions involving multiple agent coordination (involving for example unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles) in complex environments will utilise an array of different sensing modalities and information sources including text, imagery from radar, infra-red and lidar. The size limitations of these agents requires edge computing – algorithms that are relatively fast, use small memory and low power. An exemplar mission is finding hidden adversaries in congested, dynamic settings (e.g. urban) where information is multi-modal and requires fusion; objects of interest are moving and need to be tracked within limited fields of view; with operations at close range necessitating decisions being made in short timeframes. Object detection and tracking may necessitate moving sensors based on 3-D representations of the space of interest. Compute limitations may necessitate processing on other platforms. One aspiration is to automatically describe these complex scenes using visual narratives.
DSTG will provide a research program brief to all interested parties via Microsoft Teams on 14 October 2021 at 2pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). This will provide an opportunity for clarifications and questions to be raised. Any further questions after this brief will need to be provided in writing with DSTG providing a written response that will be provided to all parties. Nominations to attend the brie1fing are to be forwarded in writing to the IISR mailbox: IISR@dst.defence.gov.au to be provided with a Microsoft Teams invite.
For security purposes: Full Name, Organisation, Position, Mobile Telephone No. and email address of all nominated personnel are to be included at the time of nomination
Contact Officer and RFP Inquiries
Proposers are to direct any questions or concerns regarding this RFP in writing to the Contact Officer.
Proposers may submit questions or concerns to the Contact Officer up until five Working Days prior to the Closing Time specified in the Tender Details Schedule.
The call for proposals closes at 1400 (AEDT) on 11 November 2021.
Tender responses are to be submitted electronically via the AusTender website using the ‘Lodgement Page’ link on the ‘tender notification’.
AusTender provides an online automatic notification facility for registered users who have registered particular areas of interest in product and service categories. Registered users will then be notified of new business opportunities and planned procurements via email once business opportunities that match their specified profile are published. A registered user can edit their profile at any time to amend their notification profile or disable automatic email notification if it is no longer required.
The Next Generation Technologies Fund (NGTF) seeks proposals from academia and industry to develop next-generation prototypes and key subsystems of phased array antennas capable of simultaneously supporting multiple RF functions being transmitted and received over a wide frequency band.
Submissions are now closed.
The program has been designed in three phases intended to run over at least a five-year period. The first phase of the program is supported by five Australian universities under a multi-party collaborative agreement. This phase develops the core concepts, addressing key S&T challenges and retiring risk to set up foundational technology pathways in the next phase. This phase will end in February 2022.
The Multi-Function Aperture Program is now seeking responses from interested industry and academic organisations to become part of the MFA team, and assist the development of Australian-based and sovereign capabilities in one (or more) of the following ways:
Establishment of new industrial capabilities relevant to MFA,
Leveraging existing in-house industry capabilities, or,
Focused research in collaboration with industry partners.
This second phase of the program intends to extend the research effort underpinned by and re-focused towards industrial research capabilities and development. This will require significant industry engagement and close collaboration with university partners to transform concepts from the first phase into technologies that can be readily scaled and integrated. This outcome will set up the third phase to develop a fully capable multi-function aperture evaluation-demonstrator to assess how the new technology can be exploited in future force in-being.
What are the research areas?
S&T proposals in the MFA developed during Phase 1 and which are expected to be taken forward in Phase 2 are:
Antenna array elements and surface: Two array designs operating over a decade of bandwidth, providing wide scan angle range, and dual polarisation have been developed.
Impedance matching: Novel impedance matching techniques are being designed to meet the multi-function wideband requirements of the antenna surfaces.
Beam forming and excitation: The MFA antenna surface designs are accompanied by novel forms of array excitation for beam forming, steering and control.
RF amplifier design: GaN power amplifier and low noise amplifier designs for the MFA front-end RF transceiver to support multi-carrier functionality across a decadal bandwidth.
Circulator and switch design: Development of switch and circulator designs capable of operating with high isolation across the MFA bandwidth.
Self-Interference Cancellation: Wideband interference cancellation, based on novel Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STaR) techniques suited to the antenna surface designs.
Digital Pre-Distortion: Digital predistortion of RF amplifiers under load to enable wideband multi-carrier operation with minimal impact from in-band distortion.
System simulator: A high fidelity electro-magnetic simulation environment has been established and is being used to assist with validation and future proofing of the array designs.
Thermal Management: Novel semiconductor design combined with electronic fabrication techniques to improve thermal management.
Industry Briefing Day
DSTG will provide a research program brief to all interested parties via Microsoft Teams on 07 October 2021 at 10.30am (Adelaide Time). This will provide an opportunity for clarifications and questions to be raised. Any further questions after this brief will need to be provide in writing with DSTG providing a written response that will be provided to all parties. Nominations to attend the briefing are to be forwarded in writing to the MFA mailbox: MFA-NGTF@dst.defence.gov.au to be provided with a Microsoft Teams invite.
For security purposes: Full Name, Organisation, Position, Mobile Telephone No. and email address of all nominated personnel are to be included at the time of nomination.
Contact Officer and RFP Inquiries
Proposers are to direct any questions or concerns regarding this RFP in writing to the Contact Officer.
Proposers may submit questions or concerns to the Contact Officer up until five Working Days prior to the Closing Time specified in the Tender Details Schedule.
