Navigating future technologies
An exciting endeavour between UTS Tech Lab and Advanced Navigation will drive rapid growth in Australia’s science, tech, engineering and mathematics industries.
FEIT Dean, Professor Peta Wyeth, said the vision for UTS Tech Lab is to be the go-to place for where researchers and students work hand-in-hand with industry partners such as Advanced Navigation. Photo by Karl Planes.
Advanced Navigation, an industry leader in navigation and robotics technologies, is partnering with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and has unveiled a new, high-tech AI robotics facility for autonomous systems at UTS Tech Lab.
The facility will accelerate the manufacturing and production of Advanced Navigation’s digital fibre-optic gyroscope, also known as DFOG technology.
These systems are critical for navigating in situations where GPS signals may be unreliable or unavailable, such as underwater, in a storm, in the desert or in space.
This technology empowers reliable navigation for marine vessels, space missions, aerospace, defence, autonomous and un-crewed vehicles.
UTS Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Andrew Parfitt, said UTS is pleased to be working with Advanced Navigation to tap into critical growth areas, including AI, robotics and space technologies.
“The collaboration between UTS’s global research leaders in autonomous systems technology and Advanced Navigation’s exceptional team of scientists and engineers, utilising UTS Tech Lab’s cutting-edge facilities, highlights our commitment to developing sovereign capabilities for defence and space here in Australia.
“We look forward to deepening and expanding our collective capabilities with Advanced Navigation to accelerate the production of high-impact innovation,” said Professor Parfitt.
UTS Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT), Professor Peta Wyeth, said UTS Tech Lab is the go-to place for industry partners to work with expert academics.
“UTS Tech Lab is the place where researchers and students work on cool tech ideas, and where they have access to amazing opportunities with our partners.
“Our relationship with Advanced Navigation started small and is evolving into a multifaceted interaction over time. Together we are creating new ways of working, thinking and imagining future possibilities. Sometimes it takes a village to birth an innovation!”
Advanced Navigation will soon commence three projects at UTS Tech Lab using robotics AI, and optics in space and maritime environments to help create and refine the next generation of technologies.
“Advanced Navigation is determined to be the catalyst of the autonomy revolution, and we will achieve this by commercialising technologies that are key to addressing some of humanity’s biggest challenges,” said Advanced Navigation Co-founder and CEO Xavier Orr.
“We are honoured to partner with UTS, which has a reputation for supporting multidisciplinary research and opening access to next-generation technologies."
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Advanced Navigation co-founders Chris Shaw and Xavier Orr, and the Hon. Ed Husic check out an underwater drone display at the launch event at UTS Tech Lab.
The facility will be home to extensive research collaborations between Advanced Navigation and UTS Tech Lab. This will expedite the commercialisation of several socially impactful technologies including:
- Light Detection, Altimetry and Velocimetry (LiDAV) system - LiDAV delivers precise three-dimensional velocity and altitude information relative to the lunar surface, enabling complex autonomous landing procedures and confident exploration on the moon. The technology is set to board US-based space systems company, Intuitive Machines, Nova-C lander as part of NASA’s ongoing Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
- Cloud Ground Control- A revolutionary cloud-based solution that allows pilots and mission planners to remotely command and control a swarm of uncrewed vehicles across air, land and sea through a web browser. By enabling real-time video feed and telemetry, and easy access and management of captured data, Cloud Ground Control provides full remote visibility and situational awareness in search and rescue, emergency response and disaster relief operations.
- Guiding visually impaired passengers - As part of the NSW Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) program, Advanced Navigation has developed an indoor positioning technology to support members of the visually impaired community navigate safely inside underground train stations.
The new facility was officially opened by the Hon. Ed Husic MP, Minister for Industry and Science, who said it was an honour to see not only the work underway, but also the potential of what Advanced Navigation will achieve.
“I’m very grateful you’re doing it here, that you’re determined to make Australia the place that is the beacon for others and to open up new economic and commercial opportunity."
