NSSN Co-Director Professor Benjamin Eggleton was awarded Academic of the Year at the 2022 Australian Defence Industry Awards at a glittering ceremony in Canberra on 15 September. The award recognises Professor Eggleton’s efforts in leading the Jericho Smart Sensing Laboratory (JSSL) – a collaboration between the University of Sydney Nano Institute, NSSN and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

NSSN Co-Director Prof. Ben Eggleton receives Academic of the Year prize at the 2022 Australian Defence Industry Awards

Recognising people and businesses, rather than products and platforms, the Australian Defence Industry Awards universally acknowledges all defence industry stakeholders — from primes, SMEs, academic institutions, and associations through to high-performing individuals such as defence executives, Indigenous and female leaders, students, scientists, technicians, and academics.

The combination of science & design thinking at the JSSL ensures that the high-end science developed at world-class facilities are developed with end-users in mind. This unique approach of developing rapid prototypes and evaluating them in the field has received considerable attention from Defence stakeholders.

Upon receiving the award, Professor Eggleton said “This is a great honour. Thank you to my colleagues who are here with me from the University of Sydney, and I really love working with the Royal Australian Air Force. This award recognises the amazing work of the JSSL team and shows that the contributions are valued by our peers and key stakeholders.”

Members of the Jericho Smart Sensing Lab. From left to right: David Powers, Ivan Chua, Harjit Rana, Dr. Ayu Saraswati, Dr. Moritz Merklein, Prof Benjamin Eggleton, Dr. Tomonori Hu, Jack Liang, Adeline Williams

Taking smart sensing to the field

One recent activity performed by the JSSL was the live testing of remote sensing capability from an airborne platform. Project Lead Dr. Tomonori Hu and JSSL Electrical Engineer Jack Liang developed a sensor suitable for field tests. Though the sensor’s capabilities were well known inside the laboratory, a question loomed on how it would perform under more realistic conditions – from five thousand feet in the air.

The prototype was developed by the JSSL team, who collaborated with the RAAF to arrange a test flight. Team members worked with a local aviation industry partner, flight operators, and the RAAF to facilitate a flight path that enabled critical data captures.

“In hindsight it’s a miracle we managed to get the data we needed – given how so many things could have gone wrong. We owe it all to the team members involved (this includes the RAAF) who made this possible. The aviation industry is full of wonderful people who work closely together.” said Tomonori Hu.

The experiment successfully captured some key footage from both maritime and land environments.

“Although we can simulate how the system will perform under different circumstances, nothing beats being able to run the experiment live in a real-world environment.” said Tomonori Hu.

This is just one of the many experiments conducted at the JSSL. The ground-breaking technology developed by the group is built on a foundation of world-leading photonics research over a decade led by Professor Ben Eggleton’s group at the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

“The next phase of JSSL will emphasise further field trials and prototypes that highlight functionality, accelerating the development of sovereign capability” said Professor Ben Eggleton.

Declaration

Founded in 2019, the Jericho Smart Sensing Lab is a science design initiative embedded in the Sydney Nanoscience Hub at the University of Sydney and funded by the Royal Australian Air Force.

NSSN Co-Director wins prestigious Australian Defence Industry Award

Taking smart sensing to the field