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Media Release

 
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Head-on photo of an aeroplane on the tarmac.
The Australian Defence Department's Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft

CSIRO completes Wedgetail project for Boeing

Reference: 05/152
A three year CSIRO research program for the Boeing Company was successfully concluded in Sydney last week.
18 August 2005

The CSIRO program has conducted research into new technologies for optimising and improving the performance of personnel undertaking complex information tasks onboard the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) platform, which is under acquisition by the Commonwealth of Australia.

Wedgetail aircraft will provide the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with an enhanced surveillance capability in the broad expanse of the Australian north.

The team has developed new techniques for automating interpretation of combat and surveillance situations, and intelligent ways of providing information to operators that minimise the risk of information overload. The system is also capable of providing feedback to the operators on their performance by interpreting their speech and actions.

CSIRO Project Leader, John Colton says that the work brought together a diverse team of research specialists in information engineering from the CSIRO ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) Centre.

Wedgetail aircraft will provide the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with an enhanced surveillance capability in the broad expanse of the Australian North.

“Our competitive strength is having capabilities that span information acquisition, enhancement, delivery and interpretation – each of which presents a unique set of problems and technology challenges,” says Mr Colton.

Dean Webb, Boeing Project Manager, led a Boeing review of CSIRO's work last week finding it to be of the highest standard.

“The team met all our expectations and much of the resulting technology we envisage being utilised on multiple Boeing projects, not just on the 737 AEW&C program. The ability to interpret and communicate information effectively in extremely stressful and fast paced environments is vitally important,” says Mr Webb.

CSIRO and Boeing are now jointly investigating ways to further develop the technology.

Images are available for the media release at www.ict.csiro.au/mediaimages.

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Fast facts

  • Wedgetail aircraft will provide the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with an enhanced surveillance capability in the broad expanse of the Australian north.
  • The system is also capable of providing feedback to the operators on their performance by interpreting their speech and actions.

  • CSIRO and Boeing are now jointly investigating ways to further develop the technology.

Contact Information

Primary Contact

Mr John Colton (MSC BA)
Project Manager
ICT Centre
Phone: 61 2 6216 7086 
Fax: 61 2 6216 7111 

Contact

Ms Jo Finlay
Communication Manager
ICT Centre
Phone: 61 2 9372 4309 
Alt Phone: 61 4 447 639 688 
Fax: 61 2 9372 4585