News and Events

Archives

Spotlight on S&T - June 2003

Partnering with Defence R&D Canada

Commercialization

Although federal science-based departments have long been involved in doing business with the private sector and other governments, the notion of privatizing the product of publicly funded research has gained momentum only recently — in the last decade or so.

Why? Because of a growing understanding that the inventions and discoveries made by government labs — considerable intellectual property at the origin of countless military and civilian innovations — can act as stimulants to economic development.

Enter DRDC’s Business Development Office (DBDO). Starting from the premise that DRDC’s main client is the Canadian Forces — thus limiting the transfer potential to areas where Canada has determined technologies won’t be used against us — the DBDO looks at the commercial potential of a product in Canada and abroad.

There are several ways to partner with DRDC. Two of these are:

• licensing technologies for commercial purposes; and
• working with the Defence Industrial Research (DIR) program, which supports industries that produce and exploit good ideas.

DRDC partners with allied foreign governments, other Canadian government departments and private companies.

Scoring a virtual touchdown

A Canadian-developed technology is teaching civilian and military pilots how to land a helicopter in hazardous environments, for a fraction of the cost of doing it for real and minus all the risk.

Developed by DRDC Toronto, the VR-Sim is being marketed as the most affordable virtual reality simulator of its type currently available.

Manufactured under licence by Atlantis Systems International Inc. of Brampton, Ontario, the device sells for between $500,000 and $750,000. A conventional simulator costs at least $10 million.

As Atlantis’ chief operating officer, John Wright, explains, landing a helicopter on a ship is a closely networked event that requires a high level of training for an entire team, not just the pilot. "With this technology, we can afford to have the pilot, the landing officer on the deck, and an officer on the bridge, each wearing a relatively inexpensive virtual-reality helmet, all living in the same virtual world, seeing each other and working together on the same task."

The initial research was triggered by a request from the Canadian Forces for a low-cost simulator that provided a realistic training experience for pilots of shipborne helicopters.

Dr. Lochlan Magee of DRDC Toronto has been working on the simulator project since 1994. He says shipborne helicopters are the most difficult of all aircraft to simulate because of their demanding visual characteristics. "As well, in terms of the physics of the problem, we need to simulate a variety of factors, from the movement of the ship through the ocean, to winds and their effect on the ship, and the aerodynamics and even the sensation of the undercarriage of the helicopter meeting the deck surface." To keep costs down, Magee says, they used offthe-shelf components developed for the entertainment market.

Atlantis, which specializes in training and simulation, joined the project last year. DRDC had been looking for an industrial partner to help develop a prototype and commercial product. "I think we took the right approach to this product," says Wright, who has worked with DRDC throughout his 35-year career in the aerospace business. "We put our engineers into the government labs, which allowed us to redirect the back end of the development toward the operational world."

A prototype of the VR-Sim is now installed at 12 Wing Shearwater, the home of Canada’s maritime helicopters, and Atlantis has begun marketing it to military and civilian customers around the world. As well as shipboard landings, trainees can use the simulator to learn air-to-air refuelling, firefighting operations, airambulance manoeuvres, and drilling platform landings.

Wright says that, since September 11, 2001, American armed forces and law enforcement have expressed interest. "With the number of helicopter operations ongoing in Afghanistan, we’re offering the ability to train helicopter operators in a virtual environment before they go to the battlefront," he says. "We don’t look at this simulator as simply a basic training device. Rather, it enables pilots to practise a mission on the day it’s happening."

Text source: Canada Research Horizons, Fall 2002.

Research Spotlight: BioSteel by NEXIA

The properties of spider webs are legendary — especially webs produced to trap fast-moving heavy insects. These same mechanical properties make "spider dragline silk" ideal for the construction of soft body armour offering superior protection and comfort, with increased flexibility and less weight.

This is the aim of NEXIA Biotechnologies Inc., the company that makes BioSteel, an extremely strong spider-silk fibre produced by a patented process in the milk of transgenic goats.

For the next step, NEXIA (with support from the Defence Industrial Research program) has called on DRDC Valcartier for expertise in ballistic fabric design and evaluation, and three other partners (McGill University, the College of Textiles North-Carolina State University and SBCCOM Natick) to work on selecting the DNA sequences that show good mechanical properties to produce an optimal fibre with ballistic applications. BioSteel is:

» » Three times tougher than aramid fibres;
» » Five times stronger by weight than steel;
» » Capable of converting 70% of projectile kinetic energy to heat;
» » A flexible fibre with low flexation fatigue that comes in the full spectrum of colours;
» » Made from natural and renewable domestic resources.

Testing Spotlight: The MED-ENG Spider Mine Boot

The partners (DRDC Suffield and MED-ENG Systems Inc.) testing the MED-ENG Spider mine boot knew they had a success when blast tests on their jointly developed "prosthetic foot" confirmed that the boot would provide four to five times the protection offered by conventional mine boots.

The success of the Spider Mine Boot Protection System stems from a revolutionary design that prevents or minimizes injury to the feet and legs when the user steps over or near a blast-type antipersonnel mine. Comprising a platform (to which the user’s combat boot is secured) supported by four pods, the Spider boot keeps the foot 15 to 20 cm from the source of the blast. The pods and elevation of the boot allow the energy and fragments produced by the blast to be dispersed and deflected away from the foot and leg. The shell of the boot absorbs any residual fragments and blast energy. The Spider boot is meant to be used with appropriate full-body protective equipment.

Agency Helps Match USAF with Canadian Companies

DRDC’s DBDO recently introduced the US Air Force to more than 100 Canadian technology companies, creating links that may prove fruitful for all concerned. The meetings were part of a United States Air Force Dual Use Science & Technology (USAF DUS&T) workshop.

The one-day event gave industry representatives an opportunity to talk with USAF and DRDC personnel about technologies of mutual interest that have both military and commercial potential. "DRDC has addressed an industry need by facilitating a process that brought the parties together and enabled the beginning of a dialogue," said Eric Fresque, Director, DBDO. "The high attendance figures indicate that industry is interested and feels that it has relevant technology to offer the US government." Some of the critical technology areas discussed:

» » Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs)
» » Eye-Safe Laser Technology
» » Pilot Spatial Orientation Enhancements
» » Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology Applications
» » Sensors Enabling Technology
» » Aircraft Sustainment
» » Aging Aircraft Structures and Subsystems
» » Information Retrieval

One Partner, Endless Possibilities

» » Based on technology from DRDC Atlantic, BM Hi-tech is conducting experiments with sonar projectors.

» » DRDC Ottawa and DRDC Valcartier are currently using technology from OPAL-RT for simulation and modelling of incoming missile-threat applications.

» » In May 2002, DRDC Toronto signed a collaborative agreement with Avitar Inc. to develop a new generation of composite wound dressings.