Next Generation Technologies Fund - Small Business Innovation Research for Defence - Call for Applications - June 2018

Small Business Innovation Research for Defence (SBIRD) is a program encouraging Australian Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (including University start ups) to undertake research projects under the Next Generation Technologies Fund (Next Gen Tech Fund) in the following topic.

The Australian Defence Force uses remotely piloted fixed wing aircraft for some tactical surveillance operations. When deployed over a surveillance area, the aircraft is vulnerable to visual and acoustic detection from the target areas on the ground. The aircraft is silhouetted against the sky, which varies in luminance and colour, therefore a single colour of coating may not minimise detection in all situations. Similarly, the acoustic noise generated by the aircraft may alert a surveillance target prior to its visual observability. Novel solutions are sought that can:

1. adapt to changing conditions to reduce the visual detectability against a sky background; and/or

2. reduce/change the acoustic signature of these small aircrafts to make them less acoustically detectable in different environmental conditions.