Innovation remains central to modern air power, and an EDGY Air Force team put that mindset into practice at Australia’s first Defense Tech Hackathon, held at UNSW Canberra from February 6 to 8.

The 48-hour event involved challenges that were based on real-world problems, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

During the hackathon, the EDGY team developed a prototype autonomous perimeter breach detection system to support base security. Sergeant David O’Toole and Corporal Christopher Siles built a mesh radio network and a tactical awareness kit with a common operating picture display. Flight Lieutenant Christopher Arnold managed drone coding and data analysis. Squadron Leader Abdulghani Mohamed provided system‑architecture guidance and mentorship, and Aircraftman Gideon Caturla, a recent recruit graduate, led the team’s pitch presentations.

“While we didn’t walk away with an award, we proudly placed in the top 10 out of 23 teams. However, and more importantly, the hackathon created an environment where we could blend technical skill sets with operational experience to achieve an outcome,” Flight Lieutenant Arnold said. 

“Working with people outside Defence exposed us to our assumptions and perspectives we needed to hear.”

The hackathon drew more than 20 teams of innovators, students, academics and defence personnel from Australia and overseas, with judging emphasising rapid, low‑cost tactical solutions. 

'The hackathon created an environment where we could blend technical skill sets with operational experience to achieve an outcome.'

Within strict three‑minute pitch and two‑minute Q&A windows, EDGY showcased the core technical feasibility of their autonomous adaptive perception system. They demonstrated secure, reliable event data transfer across encrypted networks and presented a professional video of the system in action. 

Mentor engagement from academia and industry helped refine the value proposition and align the project to sponsor priorities for subsequent development phases.

For Aircraftman Caturla, the learning experience was equally valuable.

“I want to take this problem‑solving mindset back to my unit and work collaboratively with my team to tackle challenges we face,” Aircraftman Caturla said.

Flight Lieutenant Arnold said hackathons were great environments that built collaboration and nurtured innovation. 

“I hope to be part of an EDGY hackathon team again in the near future,” he said.