Leonardo has been contracted by the Australian Department of Defence to deliver information management software for the navy's six Collins-class submarines, the company announced on 5 October.
The contract is part of Australia’s Project SEA1439 Phase 5B2 upgrade programme.
Leonardo will provide its SmartIDMS software application which allows navy crews to upload and download data in a sophisticated, managed way when the submarine connects to a network.
Submarines share information over computer networks. However, they are cut off from their networks for long periods as they spend a lot of time deep underwater. To stay in touch, a submarine must rise to periscope depth in order to join the network and exchange data with the outside world.
Traditionally, the data would be uploaded and downloaded in the order that it was stored. This results in important information getting stuck in a queue behind bulky, low-priority files.
Leonardo’s SmartIDMS system optimises this process by intelligently choosing which information to send and receive first and which can wait - for example prioritising operating orders over personal emails.
SmartIDMS allows other network users to see a virtual submarine that is always present on the network, even when it is disconnected, enabling them to move data onto the submarine which will then be synchronised when the real submarine re-connects to the network.
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