DroneShield has been selected by the Australian MoD for a Phase 2 (prototyping) Defence Innovation Hub Contract, as part of a $10 million Artificial Intelligence grant round.

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DroneShield computer-vision screenshot (Picture source: DroneShield)

The Morrison Government is investing $10 million in innovative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that will strengthen Defence’s military capability and support highly skilled jobs in Australia’s defence industry. The investment supports the Government’s new Blueprint for Critical Technologies and Action Plan, released by the Prime Minister. It also contributes to the development of a sovereign critical technology capability in AI, one of the Government’s nine listed critical technologies of national interest. 

The project is valued at approximately $800,000, and leverages two core elements of DroneShield’s technology base: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (“AI”) in the Computer Vision space, and the Command-and-Control (“C2”) system.

DroneShield will examine autonomous AI-enabled computer-vision search, track and classification techniques with a focus on multi-sensor fusion, beyond traditional sensor “correlation”. The combination of advanced computer-vision and sensor fusion allows automatic generation of target data for future use – an essential part of the Intelligence Mission Data (“IMD”) cycle for defence, Government agency and similar customers.

This technology stream has direct application in both the C-UAS space as well as military/Government agency applications.

Oleg Vornik, DroneShield’s CEO, commented, “Today, DroneShield is a global leader in the Artificial Intelligence multi-domain applications for military, intelligence and Government agency work. In addition to our cutting-edge AI capabilities in the radiofrequency spectrum, this project enables deeper collaboration with Australian defence to leapfrog our AI capabilities in the computer-vision, sensor-fusion and command-and-control domains. We are extremely excited to continue pushing the envelope of what is possible with AI applications to military and Government work, and bring those capabilities to our customer base.

We have a deep history of collaboration with the Australian military, including presently delivering a $3.8 million Electronic Warfare project, and this initial Defence Innovation Hub grant opens a new teaming sovereign industrial capability front.”