EX Autonomous Warrior enables better undersea communications

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) has tested successfully two undersea communications and ISR technologies at this year’s EX Autonomous Warrior, held in Jervis Bay in the fortnight before the Indo Pacific 2023 maritime expo in Sydney.

Rock Lobster is a deployable and disposable underwater acoustic communication relay system, which was developed by L3 Harris and demonstrated in collaboration with Navy and DSTG.

The second system was a neuromorphic processing capability used for underwater sensing – a proof of concept developed in collaboration with Western Sydney University and Sydney University – and deployed at Autonomous Warrior on Ocius’ BlueBottle uncrewed surface vessel.

Neuromorphic processing is an approach to processing acoustic signals, inspired by the structure and function of the human brain.

Autonomous Warrior presented a controlled environment to test and evaluate these and a range of other trusted autonomous technologies below and on the surface of the ocean.

Trusted autonomy is one of six innovation, science and technology priorities identified in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) that could be the basis of asymmetric advantage for the ADF.

This year’s Autonomous Warrior exercise focussed not only on the maturity of the technology presented, but the maturity of technology integration for mission effectiveness.

The ability to communicate in any hostile environment is critical. This becomes a bigger challenge when the communication needs to occur between autonomous systems in an underwater domain.

Group Leader of Maritime Integrated Autonomy Amelia Eggerking said the tests for both Rock Lobster and neuromorphic capabilities were successful.

“The Rock Lobster capability demonstrated the relay of mission-relevant information from the United States to an underwater system in Jervis Bay,” she said.

“While the neuromorphic system was successfully deployed on an Ocius BlueBottle and participated in a number of sensing activities.”

Discipline Lead of Maritime Robotics and Autonomous Systems Communications Justin Dinale said the exercise provided an opportunity for project sponsors, scientists, engineers, industry and Navy to see the capabilities in action in a real-world environment.

Ms Eggerking said collaborating with Defence in the maritime domain allows DSTG to help mature capabilities to meet Navy’s mission needs.

“Testing the capabilities in a real-world environment demonstrates their value to the maritime domain,” she said.

Reflecting on their time at Autonomous Warrior, the DSTG team said the collaboration effort was a highlight, with many people taking the opportunity to engage with Navy partners to understand their needs and challenges.