First announced as part of Budget 2010 to help bridge the pre-commercialization gap, the federal government’s Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program (CICP) has assisted dozens of companies in taking innovative ideas from the drawing board to the marketplace.
In Budget 2012, the government removed the pilot project status of CICP and announced $95 million over three years, starting in 2013, and $40 million per year thereafter. It also added a military procurement component.
Though the launch of that military component is still to come, many of the products and services in its four priority areas – environment, safety and security, health, and enabling technologies – have distinct military applications.
The recently updated CICP list of pre-qualified innovations includes a device that enables soldiers to extend the usefulness of disposable batteries, a system that helps military software operators harden their systems against hackers, and spring-loaded crutches that assist injured and disabled soldiers to become more mobile.
In this issue, Vanguard profiles seven Canadian innovations.
Adventure Lights — Battery Harvester
Soldiers usually discard the disposable batteries in their flashlights and radios when missions are done and replace the cells with new ones. They need to be sure the batteries won’t die mid-mission. This prudence is somewhat wasteful, however. Partially depleted batteries wind up in the recycling bin when they may still have plenty of juice left.
Montreal’s Adventure Lights’ Battery Harvester may help the military reduce battery wastage. Using this device, soldiers can pull leftover power from partially drained batteries and store the energy on a lithium-ion cell. That cell can then be used to power other devices, such as mobile phones and tablet computers. Adventure Lights’ product offers USB ports and also has a solar cell to collect extra energy. The device weighs about 450 g (1 lb.) and is just eight inches long by approximately three inches high and four inches wide.
Company president Tim Ford says the device would help the Canadian Forces save money otherwise spent on replacing partly depleted batteries. It’s too soon to say exactly how much could be saved; Adventure Lights is just starting the four- to six-month testing phase through the CICP and a DND test department. When that’s done, the company should have numbers to share, Ford says.
D-TA Systems — RFvision-2 ultra-wideband radio frequency scanner/ recorder
Enemy forces sometimes use signal-hopping techniques to keep radio transmissions from being detected. D-TA Systems’ frequency scanner and recorder thwarts those evasion efforts. The device enables users to scan for and record signals across a wide spectrum: 500 MHz, all at once.
The broader the scan, the greater the likelihood of catching enemy signals hopping from channel to channel. The RFvision-2 covers the spectrum ranging from 500 MHz to 26.5 GHz. According to Dipak Roy, chairman of the Ottawa-based company, D-TA is developing the device further to scan up to 40 GHz.
The real differentiator here is speed, he says. No other scanner manufacturer offers a device capable of recording and playing back signals so quickly (2 GB per second). Applications include RF spectrum monitoring, electronic intelligence, communications intelligence, RF test and measurement, and arbitrary waveform generation. D-TA has won a contract to provide this technology to the Canadian Forces.
Clearpath Robotics — Kingfisher M200 USV
Organizations in Europe have inquired about using the Kingfisher unmanned surface vessel (USV) for harbour defence, but in fact, the vehicle was originally designed to help scientists study sediment movement in bodies of water.
Through the CICP, Water Survey Canada has chosen the Kingfisher for bathymetric surveying: the study of stream, river and pond floors. The Kingfisher can carry a range of sensors, cameras and other payloads, and it’s ideal for exploring otherwise inaccessible bodies of water. Mining and oil-extraction companies could use the USV to study tailings ponds up close without jeopardizing the operator’s health, for instance. “Any time you can take people off the water, it benefits everyone,” says account executive Robin Albrecht.
Unlike other USVs, the Kingfisher is small and light enough for one person to carry, and it’s easy to use. Operators can control the electric jet thrusters remotely or use the accompanying software to program the device’s mission, enabling the USV to run autonomously.
KDM Analytics — Threat Risk Analysis Workbench
What should organizations do to block hackers from accessing their software systems? An Ottawa-based company KDM Analytics provides a program that helps organizations identify, manage and mitigate technology risks. Designed to analyze enterprise and embedded software, the TRA workbench incorporates best practices and standards developed by cybersecurity analysts and published by standard organizations such as the Object Management Group and International Organization for Standards.
According to KDM Analytics CEO Djenana Campara, the Workbench tackles threat analysis from two angles: top-down guidance (e.g., considering the threats to a software system’s operational environment and related undesired events) and bottom-up software analysis (identifying vulnerabilities and assessing safeguard deficiencies). The Workbench stands out from competing products in that KDM Analytics’ solution not only incorporates numerous software standards for comprehensive threat and risk assessments, but also packages them into a single efficient software program.
This digital solution automates an erstwhile manual evaluation, Campara says. Defence Research and Development Canada-Valcartier will use the Workbench to assess its systems.
MDA Systems — MDA BlueHawk
MDA BlueHawk is software-plus-web service that helps government organizations monitor and secure remote bodies of water. Through any Internet-connected device, the system gives intelligence teams a complete maritime domain awareness picture, fused from multiple satellites to detect threats such as suspected pirates, foreign warships, illegal fishers and illegal bilge dumpers, for example.
BlueHawk employs cooperative reporting mechanisms, such as the automatic identification system (AIS), and non-cooperative detection, including satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR), to pinpoint non-reporting and non-compliant targets. The solution enables organizations to track and predict where vessels may be headed anywhere in the world, including remote fishing grounds and areas where no national sensors are deployed.
An Internet-based service, MDA BlueHawk enables users to access information even when they’re not in a command and control centre. The system employs unclassified commercial data sources so that organizations can share information with coalition partners and internal government departments for more efficient operations.
Allen-Vanguard — Universal Surface Decontaminant (USDF)
Allen-Vanguard says its foam decontaminant destroys all known chemical and biological agents, and encapsulates radiological particles. The manufacturer says USDF is effective within just 30 minutes, and it’s safe to use, containing no known carcinogens and posing no risk to downstream water treatment facilities.
Allen-Vanguard also says it’s the only foam decontaminant on the market effective against health pathogens, viruses, industrial chemical and radiological materials. Most competing products address one or two, but not all four varieties of threat agent. USDF is effective over large areas such as building interiors, but it’s also useful for decontaminating hard-to-reach surfaces such as jagged edges, cracks and joints.
Allen-Vanguard supported Environment Canada in the development of USDF, which follows on the success of its predecessor Surface Decontamination Foam. SDF was a collaborative effort with Defence Research and Development
Canada and the RCMP, and is used by police, counter-terrorist teams and Special Forces in several countries.
SideStix Ventures — SideStix Boundless PRO forearm crutches
Multi-sport athlete Sarah Doherty has transformed the results of a tragic accident into a technological innovation that helps injured and disabled soldiers become more mobile. In 1973, a drunk driver struck Doherty while she was riding her bicycle. Her leg was amputated, but she continued to pursue sports, using forearm crutches for mountain climbing.
In 2003, Doherty and her partner Kerith Perreur-Lloyd created SideStix, the company, and invented sports crutches that feature shock absorbers with articulating, rotating feet and interchangeable tips for different terrain, such as ice, snow and sand. Since then, defence organizations have embraced the devices.
“We found our Stix are being used in the U.S. and Canadian military already – and in rehab clinics for knee and hip replacements,” says Perreur-Lloyd. “They’re much more comfortable and therefore promote activity, which accelerates recovery.”
Tests conducted by the University of British Columbia found that the crutches boost users’ propulsion by eight percent. In 2009, Doherty used SideStix crutches to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa (5,895 metres).
Worth noting
Among other CICP participants with innovative products and services:
• Institut National d’Optique (INO) developed a transportable device for detecting and classifying biological aerosol particles for defence and homeland security applications.
• NovAtel created a low-cost, single-unit GPS anti-jam solution. The GAJT-700ML (pronounced “gadget”), works with existing receivers to cancel jammers, ensuring GPS systems function properly.
• COM DEV International developed a switch for coaxial-cable connections with a low signal-leakage rate, a wide operating frequency range and immunity to magnetic interference.