DEFENCE

THE NEW BASE FOR DEFENCE

A $500 million investment into RAAF’s Edinburgh base is bringing the latest technology and brightest minds to South Australia

 

There’s a buzz in the air at the RAAF Base Edinburgh in Adelaide’s northern suburbs – and it isn’t all about the aircraft.

The base is currently undergoing its most significant change since being formed in the 1950s, with another $500 million investment in infrastructure and technology to accommodate the 6000 Defence personnel and civilian contractors who work at the base and adjoining Defence Science and Technology Group hub, the largest Defence R&D organisation in Australia. And while much of that infrastructure revolves around the 12 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft currently winging their way to Edinburgh, the redevelopment is also bringing new aircraft, Australian Army units and logistics and engineering jobs on site.

 

“It’s a really exciting time for the rebirth of the base,” says Reg Carruthers, executive director defence and space, Defence SA. “There’s lots of work in cyber, systems engineering, mission analysists ... there will be at least 400 more people at Edinburgh over the next five-to-seven years supporting all of these new capabilities that are flying around.”

 

The new capabilities include three major projects:

 

• AIR 555 Peregrine program: an electronic warfare-type aircraft based on a Gulfstream jet, due to be operating from Edinburgh within the next three years and requiring hangar space and additional infrastructure.
  
  
• AIR 7000 Triton program: an unmanned aircraft that will fly out of Northern Australia with the pilot and operators based at Edinburgh. “This is the big game-changer for what’s going to happen at Edinburgh,” Carruthers says.
  
  
• AIR 7003: still in final stages of government decision, this project will see Sky Guardian armed drones fly out of Northern Australia and Adelaide with crews, mission analysts and data based at the information hub at Edinburgh.

 

And this doesn’t include the upgrades to the Woomera Range Complex and town, works at Cultana and upgrades to the Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar Network.

 

“Up to $500 million worth of infrastructure is set to go into the base just to support those platforms as they come in over the next few years,” Carruthers says. “It’s basically double the current infrastructure.”

 

The new hub places Edinburgh at the centre of Australia’s military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, with operators – uniformed, public servants and potentially contractors – working in a highly secure environment analysing, collecting and disseminating information on a real-time basis. “So Defence personnel can be deployed in, say, Northern Australia, but the information they are using could be coming from an asset flying somewhere else that is sending the information back to Edinburgh, where it is analysed and re-sent to the soldier in the field,” Carruthers says. “That’s where Edinburgh is going to be so critical to Defence.” 

 

The significant investment in the Edinburgh base is also an investment in South Australia’s future, promising exciting career opportunities both today and for years to come. “It’s not only for the young men and women going through school and university now – it will definitely be an attractor for future generations,” Carruthers says. “The base is a very large employer of people in high-skilled, well-paid jobs; once the infrastructure is built, there will also be direct benefits to the local communities and the state.

 

“When we think about Defence we think about ships and submarines, but Edinburgh is the unsung hero of South Australia.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STEM

HARNESSING A NEW CAREER VISION

Being based at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen puts the Australian Institute of Machine Learning in a prime position to dovetail with the innovation hub in exciting new STEM-focused careers

The future is now at Adelaide’s Australian Institute of Machine Learning. 

And – to help secure its cutting-edge position in the years ahead – there’s nothing Dr Kathy Nicholson and Professor Simon Lucey would love to see than more of South Australia’s smartest minds come through its doors.

It’s the only way, they say, of remaining at the global forefront of the burgeoning artificial intelligence sphere, which is today moving out of the pages of science fiction and into real-world applications.

Being based at Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen – in the repurposed former women’s health centre building at the corner of North Terrace and Frome Road – puts the AIML in a prime position to dovetail with the innovation precinct in exciting new STEM-focused careers.

 

Dr Nicholson joined earlier this year as operations manager of the institute, which was established through “generous” funding from the University of Adelaide and the State Government two years ago. She believes the close alignment means computer science students with an interest in sectors such as space, defence, agriculture and medicine will virtually be able to see their careers being created around them.

Machine learning is fundamental to AI, involving the study of computer algorithms to “teach” computers through example. Among projects being tackled at AIML, computers are essentially being taught to detect and identify individual objects in photographs or video – research that could see applications as far-reaching as helping autonomous vehicles get around safely or to facilitate tasks such as grape picking.

 

“Australia is not going to succeed in this space unless we have educated people to drive ideas forward,” Dr Nicholson says. “We need to create an ecosystem that enables and encourages our young minds to stay and contribute to Adelaide’s growth. By partnering with Lot Fourteen, AIML students see real world examples of how machine learning and AI are disrupting our technological workforce. By partnering with industry and encouraging local internship we’re actually helping create that workforce locally. That’s definitely part of our vision.”

 

AIML co-director Professor Simon Lucey says encouraging more primary and secondary school students into STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – subject streams will be key to “maintaining excellence” in the area.

 

Also a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Adelaide, he recently returned to Australia to settle in Adelaide with his young family after six years in the US, where he taught at the world-renowned Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

During this time he also worked for an autonomous vehicle company for three years as a principal research scientist, gaining valuable industry experience and perspective.

Professor Lucey says it is important to harness the “excitement around the technology” to inspire people to consider STEM subjects in their learning pathways.

 

“Australia needs more PhD (students) in computer science. We have to engage and build and get them early. We have to get them excited about the opportunities and the science … and let that passion transcend from the primary school years through to high school and university. We want the future PhD students of 2030 to start thinking about it now. We want them engaging now and thinking about their jobs.”

Professor Lucey says it is important to foster an “economy and community of ideas” in Adelaide and to be pro-active in the sector.

 

“I think that’s what’s exciting about Lot Fourteen ­– there’s room for commercial entities and educational entities co-located in the one area. It seems obvious, but if you look around the world, there’s not many places doing it. Lot Fourteen is very unique for Australia ... there are not a lot of places with the ability, the forethought, or the nous to go and do what the SA Government did. So hat’s off to them, and we have to pay back that trust and really create that ecosystem that generates up entrepreneurship and opportunities.

 

“It is the future. And if want to have a say in how the future is panning out we need our young people involved in STEM. That’s where the pipeline starts – none of this happens unless we get the STEM stuff right in Australia from the start.”

 

Dr Nicholson says the establishment of the AIML showed great foresight in a country that’s traditionally been ahead of the curve when it comes to developments in technology.

“The state government and the university (of Adelaide) identified that we had to be part of the game – and if we weren’t we were going to be left behind,” she says. “Therefore they saw the incentive to set up this institute, which is flourishing – we went from 20 members two years ago to 130 members today.”

 

Dr Nicholson says Australia has a huge reputation in the knowledge space, with the creation of wi-fi and CSIRAC – one of the first computers built in the world, in 1949 – among the nation’s list of credits. “We have been hitting above our weight for a very long time but we don’t celebrate that and push it through to our kids as much as we should.”

It’s also important to redress the gender bias by encouraging more girls to become involved in STEM subjects at an early age.

 

“The boys just go like moths to the fire – or to the computer game or whatever else ­­– but the way girls engage is often more subtle, and somehow, despite the best intentions of parents and teachers we are still leaving them behind,” Dr Nicholson says. “It’s changing, but we still have a long way to go, especially in this field.”

 

Professor Lucey says if properly harnessed, the accuracy and efficiency of AI-assisted technology can deliver many benefits.

 

“Sometimes we get fearful, especially in western cultures, of this dystopian future of AI – the whole ‘they’re coming for our jobs and we’re going to get beaten by robots’ and that sort of thing – but AI has so many opportunities for good.

 

“I can’t see, for example, AI replacing a radiologist any time soon – but I can definitely see a radiologist that’s using AI replacing a radiologist that doesn’t. So in terms of enhancing productivity – and basically being able to use humans in more efficient and better ways – is so important for Australia because our demographics can benefit so much from it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINE

RECORDING THE FUTURE

Technology and tradition are joining forces to protect one of South Australia’s most prestigious industries

 

South Australia has established a global reputation for producing some of the world’s most respected fine wines. It’s a reputation the state’s premium winegrowers are deservedly proud of – but one that is under threat. Counterfeit wine is big business. In China alone, it is estimated that more than 40 per cent of all wine sold is fake, with fraudsters swapping out labels for those of premium producers. Experts estimate that, by 2022, this scam will cost the global wine industry more than $4 trillion. It’s also happening here in Australia. Late last year, 600 tonnes of Langhorne Creek shiraz was taken to the Barossa Valley on a series of trucks and passed off as Barossa shiraz, netting the fraudsters a $600,000 profit; while shiraz from the Riverland was also passed off as Barossa shiraz.

 

These practices have a lasting impact. “It affects the reputation of local winemakers and Australian winemakers, and the Barossa Valley as a brand,” says EnTrust co-founder David Travers. “If you’re having a special event and are buying a really nice bottle and it’s not that wine, then everyone gets ripped off and the consumer loses trust in the product.”

 

As a fifth-generation farmer in the Clare Valley, Travers understands the importance of preventing fraud and protecting South Australia’s reputation. His family owns a number of vineyards in Clare and has been selling grapes to wine companies including Kilikanoon, Treasury, Penfolds, Hardys and Sevenhill Cellars for 160 years.

 

Together with Jeff Grosset, owner and founder of Grosset Wines in the Clare Valley who was instrumental in introducing the screw cap to the wine industry more than 20 years ago, Travers in 2019 launched a three-month trial of an innovative technological solution to wine fraud. Backed by $50,000 in prize money as winners of the Premier’s Blockchain Innovation Challenge in Adelaide in March last year, the trial involved embedding supply chain information in the wine bottle’s screw cap which tracks the product every step of the way from vine to bottle to confirm its authenticity.

 

“We ran the trial from February to April this year and had about 15 companies participating,” Travers says. “We built a small app which allowed wineries to use a smartphone and online platform to follow their produce. We collected about 250,000 litres of wine in various parts of the data set so it gave us the chance to do some analysis.”

 

 

The trial proved a success, catching the attention of the dairy and beef industry. Since then, the technology has developed apace. “We started out trying to stop fraud and that is still very much part of our focus – but, under the hood, the engine room of this is about empowering farmers to take control,” Travers says. 

 

That engine room is a new system called Entrust, which the Premier launched in September. The beta technology, which is currently out for testing in the market, features a hashgraph embedded in the lid which timestamps location – helping eliminate not just fraud but also the endless paperwork involved in farming. “Most farmers keep their records in a notepad in the ute glovebox, written on the whiteboard or at the back of the filing cabinet – it’s just a mess,” Travers says. “We‘re working with a hashgraph which is immutable. So if I’m in the vineyard and sending my fruit to Kilikanoon, it records the location I’m in and the time I send it and stores all the information I need in the cloud.”

 

It’s game-changing technology which can revolutionise the wine industry in South Australia – the only challenge is convincing the old guard to change their ways. “The area of agriculture, especially wine, is so slow to adopt new technology,” Travers says. “My 83-year-old dad has an old Elders’ notepad which is infamous in the farming community. If you explain this is just like that notepad – you just put it all in there and it’s there for you – you can help them to overcome the fear of something they don’t understand. It’s a little barrier they have to get over but once they see how simple it is … ”

 

While the wine industry mulls it over, the dairy and meat industries have jumped on board. “We’re hoping to do an alpha trial with 15 dairy producers, which is the whole of the dairy industry in South Australia,” Travers says. “They’re keen to be the first in Australia to do it, so we’re hoping we can get that deal up and running before Christmas as well.”

 

The versatility of the technology in its adaptability to all areas of farming makes it a significant timesaver for busy farmers. “In Clare and other parts of Australia, if you’re a farmer you don’t have one commodity – you might have two or three or five,” Travers says. “If you’re growing grapes in Clare, you’ve probably got hay and grain as well. So the idea is that eventually we’ll create a universal agriculture supply chain software trust, so as a farmer I can sell my products to the market and record everything in my smartphone.”

 

Travers and Grossett’s standing in the wine industry adds value to the technology. “Jeff has been making wine for 40 years, my family has been farming for more than one-and-a-half centuries here in SA, so we understand the thinking behind it and are just adopting what we do now to this,” Travers says. “We understand it intuitively whereas firms from outside the industry don’t have that knowledge and experience.”