SINGAPORE \u2013 The use of radio frequencies (RF) from locally built transmitters allows the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to blind hostile drone sensors before they reach our shores.<\/p>\n
These frequencies can also be used for creating images of distant targets.<\/p>\n
The custom-made RF transmitters developed over more than 16 years by DSO National Laboratories won Vincent Leong the Defence Technology Prize Individual (Research & Development) award on Nov 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cA major issue in developing this new technology is the manpower aspect. Radio frequency is not the \u2018in\u2019 thing in terms of engineering disciplines \u2013 that would be AI robotics, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI hope this award can bring inspiration to other defence scientists and engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The home-grown RF transmitters \u2013 which can be more compact than a smartphone and up to 50% smaller than similar systems being sold on the market \u2013 boost Singapore\u2019s resilience and self-reliance amid global disruptions to supply chains. They also protect the island in a warfare environment increasingly dominated by drones.<\/p>\n
A crucial part of a transmitter is the high-power amplifier. There are not many suppliers in the world for the amplifier, said Leong, who is a distinguished member of technical staff at DSO specialising in radio-frequency circuit design.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we depend on just a few suppliers for this important capability, then we will be at risk in terms of the system delivery and implementation. To avoid all this supply chain uncertainty and potential disruption, we have our own capabilities in building the transmitters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Apart from Leong, three teams also received prizes from Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing at an award ceremony held at DSO National Laboratories.<\/p>\n The RF transmitters developed by DSO National Laboratories can be more compact than a smartphone and up to 50% smaller than similar systems being sold on the market.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Established by the Ministry of Defence in 1989, the annual award recognises individuals and teams that have made significant technological contributions to Singapore\u2019s defence capabilities.<\/p>\n Leong said his key achievement is building up a team of scientists and engineers capable of customising the transmitters to the SAF\u2019s different operational needs. For instance, they may add more power amplifiers to the transmitters for missions requiring a larger radio-frequency range. DSO started work on them in 2009 with a team of between three and five people. Now, there are 15 to 20 people working on the transmitters.<\/p>\n The Defence Minister said the face of warfare is changing with advances in computing power, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, drones and robotics.<\/p>\n Emerging technologies present opportunities that are particularly significant for Singapore because they offer new ways to overcome constraints \u2013 such as limited size, manpower and resources \u2013 that have shaped the nation\u2019s strategic calculations for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIn national defence, long-term advantage depends on patient capability-building. Deep expertise cannot be bought off the shelf… The achievements we celebrate tonight did not emerge overnight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n (From left) Leader of the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport automatic midair refuelling team Chut Zhen Biao, Defence Technology Prize Individual (Research & Development) award recipient Vincent Leong, and leaders of the Veloce 60 team Toh Sze Wei and Xie Yao Yu.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Of the three winning teams, one from DSO, Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), the Republic of Singapore Navy and ST Engineering developed the navy\u2019s first indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which can be used for day and night surveillance operations. The Veloce 60 (V60) UAV has customised capabilities, such as being able to launch and recover autonomously and taking flight vertically. It also has a flight time of up to 14 hours, which is longer than other vertical take-off UAVs\u2019 ranges of three to nine hours.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team developed a hybrid aircraft that combines vertical take-off and landing with the efficiency of a fixed-wing flight to suit maritime operations without launch and recovery infrastructure,\u201d team leader Toh Sze Wei said.<\/p>\n UAVs that can launch vertically may typically have low flight times because of their high power consumption, he added. This constraint was overcome by building the V60 with fixed wings and a customised engine.<\/p>\n Difficult landings with a slim margin of error are par for the course when deploying UAVs on a moving ship. To address this operational challenge, the team added a suite of software and sensors to the UAV, which is capable of accurately locating the ship.<\/p>\n The third award went to a team from DSTA and the Republic of Singapore Air Force, which partnered Airbus Defence and Space, to develop technology which automates the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport\u2019s midair refuelling capabilities.<\/p>\n The fourth award was given to another team working on highly classified advanced weapon systems, for which details could not be provided.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 The use of radio frequencies (RF) from locally built transmitters allows the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to blind hostile drone sensors before they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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