An 1,850-acre research and development complex in Canada’s capital is getting a new defence tech lab.
The news: At GCXpo last week, Ottawa-based defence company Calian and regional innovation hub Invest Ottawa announced they will open the Northstar Defence Lab at Area X.O, an expansive R&D complex located in the city’s west end.
The Northstar Defence Lab is meant to be a “system-of-systems orchestration lab” that connects tech developed by different companies for different platforms and missions using Calian’s Athora platform. Athora allows the tech to securely share data, coordinate, and operate as an integrated system of systems.
From the source: Calian’s president of defence and space, Chris Pogue, told the Ottawa Business Journal last week that future defence tech will include fewer “monolithic systems” and more platforms built by different, specialized suppliers that adapt and change alongside the battlefield.
“It’s the idea that you have to rapidly innovate on the battlefield today, go back in your garage tonight, change it, and operate that way tomorrow morning,” Pogue said. “Northstar lab is designed to optimize Canadian industry to do that rapid cycle.”
The context: Calian and industry partners will contribute communications, data integration, AI, cybersecurity, sensing, and operational decision support resources to the lab. The founding partners include local defence firms like ADGA, Anvil, Larus, and Tactiql, as well as other Canadian companies like Evertz Microsystems, Tessellate Robotics, 123 Cyber, and Cohere, with federal agency Export Development Canada participating as an industry commercialization partner.
Calian said the lab is the first facility in its planned nationwide network of regional defence development labs, and that it is related to its $100-million push to advance Canada’s sovereign C5ISRT capabilities. C5ISRT stands for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting.
Final thought: As a certified test centre for NATO DIANA, the alliance’s defence tech accelerator program, Area X.O already has plenty of defence companies making use of its space. One such company is Victoria-based InDro Robotics, which has most of its staff in Ottawa because of the test site.
Area X.O sports advanced communications infrastructure and real-world urban and rural mobility infrastructure along 16 kilometres of test track, a designated drone area, and other resources for robot testing. Pogue told the Ottawa Business Journal that Calian is constructing the new building at Area X.O and expects it to be ready early next year.
Feature image courtesy Calian.