Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program

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Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program

• Andrew Arnold
• Director CTD Program Office
• June 2006

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CTD Program Objective

• The CTD Program assists in the improvement or
  support of priority Defence capability by
  providing Australian Industry with an opportunity
  to demonstrate their technology, thereby
  informing Defence of the potential performance
  and technical risk associated with its
  implementation.

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CTD Program snapshot

• The CTD program was established in 1997 as a
  result of the Defence Efficiency Review.
• The CTD program is organisationally located
  within DSTO. DSTO manages the CTD Program on
  behalf of Defence.
• The annual budget for the CTD program for 2005-07
  is 26M.
• The CTD program is not a grants program rather
  it is a collaborative activity conducted under
  contract between Defence and industry to deliver
  a demonstration of the capability potential of
  new technology.

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How the CTD Program works

• The CTD Program operates on an annual rounds
  basis. A new round is opened with a public call
  for Initial Proposals.
• If a proposal attracts Defence interest, the
  proposer is invited to produce a Detailed
  Proposal.
• Defence will endorse selected Detailed Proposals
  before seeking Government approval for funding.
• CTDs are then conducted under contract between
  the proposers and Defence.

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The CTD Selection Approval timeline
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Evaluation Criteria

• Potential to contribute to Defence Capability
  Development - the potential to provide a new or
  enhanced capability to Defence and/or inform the
  capability development process.
• Potential to Transition into Service - the
  presence of an identified need, or pathway into
  service.
• Technology and Innovation - the degree of
  technical innovation and its importance to
  Defence.
• Industry Capability Enhancement - the degree to
  which important Australian Defence industry
  capability will benefit.
• Project Management - the maturity of the
  proposers project management processes,
  including identification and mitigation of risks.

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Recent Program Improvement Initiatives

• Seed Funding for Detailed Project Proposals.
  Initial Proposals which are of interest but which
  need further development may attract Seed Funding
  for the development of Detailed Proposals.
• Project Viability Funding. Project Viability
  Funding is available to help selected companies
  retain staff and maintain infrastructure
  allocated to proposed CTD projects while awaiting
  the application outcome.
• Concept Definition Funding. In additional to the
  annual round call, Defence may accept proposals
  of varying levels of maturity at any time, and
  provide funding towards developing such proposals
  to the level required for the CTD Program.

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Round 9 (FY 05-06)

• Round 9 CTD Land-related Projects (approved May
  2005)
• Flexible Solar Panels (2.13m) Advanced
  flexible solar panels to generate power for ADF
  systems in the field. demonstrate flexible solar
  panels based on Australian Solar Cell technology
  applied to a flexible substrate to provide energy
  in the field. Flexible solar panels hold
  promise for application to clothing, tentage,
  vehicle shelters etc to power cooling,
  communications, and sensors.
• Blast Resistant Protection (1.30m) Lighter
  weight/higher performance blast protection for
  ADF personnel in vehicles. demonstrate a fibre
  reinforced plastic, bullet and blast resistant
  material that could be used in place of steel as
  armour and for protection of vehicle flooring.
  The material should provide greater protection
  for the same installed weight.
• Geospatial Information to the Field (2.30m)
  Timely communication of geospatial information to
  and from special forces in the field.
  demonstrate a system based on commercially
  available technology to allow deployed forces
  access through hand held devices to a wide range
  of geospatial information relevant to their
  mission (eg. Special Forces on a mission in an
  urban area).
• Helicopter Landing Aid (1.72m) Safely landing
  helicopters in dust and poor visibility.
  demonstrate a sensor system that would fuse
  sensor, processing and display technologies to
  provide a landing aid for pilots of helicopters
  operating in limited visibility situations. This
  capability would increase the safety of
  helicopter operations.

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Round 10 (FY 06-07)

• Round 10 CTD Land-related Projects (approved May
  2006)
• Haptically Operated Counter-Explosive Robot to
  demonstrate how a radio-controlled robot working
  on an explosive device is able to provide a
  remote operator with tactile feedback during its
  manipulations of the device. This would increase
  the probability that bombs can be made safe
  without injury to people and damage to property.
• Personnel Location Device to demonstrate a
  position-reporting system for troops and a
  monitoring system that could inject this
  information into the ADF networked reporting
  system. This system could reduce the chances of
  friendly forces engaging each other in battle.
• Appliqué Armour for Land Vehicles to demonstrate
  removable armour that could applied to the
  outside of lightly armoured vehicles without
  requiring any permanent modifications. This would
  provide increased protection for the crews.
• Smart Power Management to demonstrate smart
  power management and distribution incorporated
  into the soldiers load carrying system. It would
  potentially reduce costs and the load carried by
  soldiers by allowing a diverse range of batteries
  to be replaced with a single power source.
• Demountable Combat Armour to demonstrate a
  portable armoured shelter to better protect
  personnel from small arms fire while manning
  temporary check points and gun positions from
  small arms fire.
• Automated Personnel Tracking to demonstrate how
  smart card and radio-frequency identification
  technologies could be applied to monitoring and
  controlling personnel and assets in constrained
  environments such as amphibious ships and
  headquarters.

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Round 10 (FY 06-07)

• Round 10 CTD Land-related Projects (approved May
  2006)
• Segmented Rubber Track The aim of development
  is to design and manufacture an armoured vehicle
  track system which utilises rubber segments
  instead of discrete steel links. This system
  would be acoustically quiet and lighter.

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Round 11

• Round 11 of the Program was opened on 29 April
  2006, and will close for submission of Initial
  Proposals on 7 July 2006.
• Areas of interest advertised are
• Battlespace energy generation and storage
• Non-lethal weapons
• Force protection systems
• Counter-measures for Improvised Explosive Devices
• Innovative gun technology
• Improving human factors in the field
• Management and security of Battlespace networks
• Common standard information systems and exchange
  services
• Intrusion detection and analysis systems
• Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in
  complex terrains

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Further information

• CTD Program Office
• [phone] / 7903 / 7975
• ctd_at_defence.gov.au
• www.dsto.defence.gov.au