Innovative soldiers awarded at 6th Combat Support Brigade

Twelve finalists from across 6th Combat Support Brigade presented innovative ideas at a brigade innovations day at 7th Signal Regiment in Toowoomba recently.

CAPTION: Lieutenant Colonel Glen Billington 19th Chief Engineer Works accepts 2nd prize on behalf of Major Tim Napper, winner Signaller Travis Quinn and 3rd place-getter Signaller James Martin, 7th Signal Regiment.

The soldiers had previously set their minds to developing ideas and equipment that could be used to solve problems across their unit, Army and industry.

6th Combat Support Brigade commander Brigadier Susan Coyle said she was very impressed by the soldiers and their ideas.

“They identify a problem and then set themselves a task to find a solution,” Brigadier Coyle said

“It is important to acknowledge where the idea came from and understand how it was realised.

“This innovations day provides us an opportunity to be with the soldier in person and acknowledge their inventiveness.”

Entries spanned science, technology and engineering domains to advance and integrate Army capabilities.

Nine of the 12 entries advanced Army information-gathering techniques facilitating full immersion into an augmented reality that will enhance operability and reduce risk.

Brigadier Coyle said said she would like to see these concepts developed further with support from Army and associated agencies.

“These ideas demonstrate that the 6th Brigade understands the complexity of the battlespace, the need for constant renewal and pursues excellence in everything they do,” she said.

Lieutenant Craig Stephenson, a troop commander with 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment (20STA) said all of the ideas were portable, adaptable and highly functional.

 

Innovators

• Major Tim Napper from 19th Chief Engineer Works’ (19 CE Wks), took out second prize for his Ballpark Blast, a software innovation that displays blast-event characteristics in order to determine safe and not-so-safe areas.
  Major Napper said the program’s utility for military planners and emergency first responders had already resulted in distribution across a variety of military, intelligence, police and academic organisations in 10 countries.

 

• Corporal Jakob Marek, also from 19 CE Wks, combining Lumion 3D Pro and Reddit applications so that draughtsmen can render 3D videos of construction projects. See a rendered video here (on Facebook).
  “By transforming traditional construction documentation into animated video, I have progressed stakeholder engagement, generating significant opportunities to decrease project costs,” Corporal Marek said.

 

• The winning and third-place projects were classified.

.

.

.

.

.


.


.