Scott beams in to defence

Scott Hutchinson Saab intern - blog
Flinders at Tonsley student Scott Hutchinson at work at the Saab research centre at Technology Park, Adelaide. Photo courtesy Saab Australia.

Flinders University student Scott Hutchinson is playing a part in developing the new technology of Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV), working with global defence company Saab Australia at Technology Park under a State Government industry scholarship program.

The third-year computer systems student is one of the first-round recipients of Defence and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) internships aimed at giving university students experiences to increase their skills and improve their career and employment prospects.

The second round of the Defence and STEM Scholarship Program will be advertised on the link here.

Scott will work for 20 weeks at Saab’s Global Centre of Excellence in Autonomous Vessels where he is focusing on research and development into collision detection capabilities for USV.

The Saab team at Mawson Lakes have been designing and developing a low cost, flexible Mission System (the electronics or brains of the system) for USV, named Bonefish™, which can be applied to a multitude of hulls for different operations.

“USV are an emerging technology and emerging developing market,” says Dr Derek Rogers, the Programme Manager and Engineering Manager at the Saab research centre.

“USV have a wide range of possible applications – from surveillance for illegal fishing activities, to scientific research related to oceanography and hydrography, to anti-submarine warfare and mine counter-measures, to protecting and supplying offshore oilrigs, and even dangerous search and rescue operations.”

Scott Hutchinson, whose academic supervisor is Associate Professor Karl Sammut, the director of the Centre of Maritime Engineering at Flinders Tonsley, said he is enjoying his project at Saab.

Entitled “Sensor Performance Modelling and Data Fusion for Autonomous Surface Vessels,” his project will focus on developing video and radar-based obstacle detection and collision avoidance systems for USV.  

The Flinders Centre of Maritime Engineering also has a autonomous unmanned vessel, and regularly interacts with Saab Australia on the project.

 

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