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Defence is entering the next phase of its Miniaturised Orbital Electronic Warfare Sensor System (MOESS) project.
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The Australian government announced in April that it had awarded a $3.1 million contract to DEWC Systems to advance the second phase of development of a concept demonstrator system.
DEWC Systems, which operates from the Technology Park in Mawson Lakes, is a key player in the defence sector and provides research and development of electronic warfare and related technologies to solve challenges for Defence.
The MOESS program intends to deploy a sovereign Australian tactical electromagnetic sensor capability, installed on a constellation of CubeSats. DEWC is developing a sensor that can conduct radar electronic support in defence-relevant radio frequency bands used by assets such as ships and aircraft.
Flight trials are expected to begin in 2021 and in space tests by 2022.
Ian Spencer, DEWC Systems CEO, speaking with Shephard, stated, “Work has begun on the system under test to perform the demonstration. We have performed optimisation work on miniaturising a simple system and are progressing the design of the demonstrator system.”
“The concept demonstrator will be of representative size, weight and power to the final system and will consist of at least one complete system as well as software emulations. Some of the main challenges are sourcing Australian-made components, which is our preference, and developing some aspects of the unique techniques and coding the boards in the allocated time frame.
“Should we be successful in Phase 2, then we would be seeking a Phase 3 contract to develop the first orbital prototype. Phase 4 is when we would look at further development and production,” Spencer explained.
The new EW sensor will include AI capabilities, Spencer said, and for this phase, there will be elements of AI-enabled techniques and look-up tables to perform classification and identification.
“AI enables the identification of emitter behaviour and allows us to identify modern systems that are dynamic and of low probability of intercept. The development of this technology and these techniques is critical to the full operational capability of the system,” Spencer said.
