$2.7 million awarded to Uni for defence research

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

The University of Adelaide has won a total of $2.7 million from the State Government to help fund critical defence research projects for South Australia.

In the latest round of the Premier's Science and Research Funds announced this week, the University will collaborate with Tenix Defence and Aerospace, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), Cisco Systems and the University of South Australia in key scientific research.

The majority of the funds - $1.5 million - have been awarded to Professors Jesper Munch and Tanya Monro to develop high-powered fibre lasers for use in critical defence applications. The two researchers, from the School of Chemistry and Physics, will play a leading role in producing third-generation lasers to assist SA's defence industry.

"The immediate applications for these lasers include jamming of heat-seeking missiles homing in on airplanes and the further development of novel lasers for defence against advanced threats," Professor Munch says.

"This work will also provide significant research opportunities for advanced students in laser physics and engineering and generate more high tech jobs in the SA defence industry."

Scientists and engineers from the University, DSTO and Tenix will collaborate on the project to strengthen the SA Defence Photonics Cluster and the national focus on defence.

The State Government has also awarded $900,000 to a project led by the University's Professor Michael Rumsewicz to develop new communication technologies for the Australian defence industry.

Professor Rumsewicz, the Director of the Centre for Defence Communications and Information Networking (CDCIN), will work with the Institute for Telecommunications Research at the University of South Australia to build a South Australian Networking Laboratory (SANLAB).

"This laboratory will provide experimentation facilities and research expertise to develop Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, an emerging communication technology that holds great promise for the Australian defence forces," Professor Rumsewicz says.

Dr Braden Phillips and Dr Said Al-Sarawi from the University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering will also benefit from a $307,372 State Government grant to develop smart sensors which can identify the contents of a package and monitor its environment.

This grant will enable the researchers to collaborate with an industry partner, Collotype, in developing advanced manufacturing technology.

The University of Adelaide has supplemented the Premier's Science and Research Funds with an additional $977,000 to support these three projects.

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