Fabless semiconductor company Optera Solutions, which is commercialising “event-based sensing” (EBS) technology developed at Western Sydney University, was selected to join Thales’s Space Business Catalyst Program in Toulouse. The French-headquartered defence contractor announced this week that Optera began its six-month residency in the September 2024 intake of the SBC, which selects the “most promising global…
In a move that could save Australia’s wine industry millions, La Trobe University has unveiled an innovative smoke sensor dubbed the “Wizard.” The device is specifically designed to protect vineyards from the devastating effects of bushfire smoke. Deployed across the Grampians, these Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs) are already making waves. Historically, vineyard owners have…
In the first profile as part of our Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers campaign, we look at a business that is borrowing from nature to build event-based vision sensors. Brent Balinski speaks to Optera Solutions founder/CEO Jonathon Wolfe. As anybody who has tried to do it will tell you, taking research breakthroughs and turning them…
Semiconductor developer and maker BluGlass has announced a project with Macquarie University and defence contractor Aurizn aimed at commercialising a method of laser-based sensing for underwater environments. In a statement to the ASX on Wednesday, BluGlass said the LIDAR sensing method would be used to measure subsurface water temperature and depth, with the project part-funded…
A device developed by Defence, originally for laboratory tests and investigated for early warning of chemical threats on the battlefield, was used in a pilot test by the federal department of agriculture this year. According to a statement on Wednesday from Defence, the MIST sensor is thumb-sized, low-cost, low-weight and simple to use, with no…
The New Zealand subsidiary of defence business EPE has been awarded a contract on reconnaissance and surveillance work for the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF.) According to a statement from Brisbane-based EPE, EPE New Zealand will deliver the Exensor Flexnet Remote Ground Sensor (RGS) system in collaboration with Bertin Exensor. The RGS system is described…
Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) have made powdery “nanoprobes” from baker’s yeast, which could one day be used to cheaply and rapidly detect viruses in an environment. The dust created is made up of synthetic fragments of the yeast cell walls. According to AIBN Professor Matt Trau,…