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An invention born in a dusty basement two decades ago called the Sapphire clock may be the key to future technology innovation in Australia starting with the defence systems:
A CLOCK that will protect Australia is about to be integrated into our defence systems to pinpoint any threats targeting our nation.
In fact, the clock is the best in the world because of its ability to hold time better than anything else. [*]
Basically, the Sapphire Clock keeps time within one second over 40 million years.
The reason that's important is because its precision accuracy enhances our current defence radar system, allowing even more detailed information to be received about missiles, planes and ships that could be a threat to Australia.
University of Adelaide's Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing director Professor Andre Luiten said the technology that could save Australia came about in a "dusty basement" 20 years ago.
[...] The Sapphire Clock was designed to work alongside Australia's current linchpin for defence, the Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar Network (JORN) system, to emit signals that are 1000 times purer than current methods, which means even smaller objects can be seen at even greater distances.
[*] Maybe they are not aware of atomic clocks, some of which are accurate to 1 second in billions of years?
See also: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/ipas/research/nls/pmg-research/SapphireClock/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 01 2018, @07:19AM
It has always been obvious that Australia, as a penal colony, has alway been an expendable appendage of the British Empire! So when they are taken over by the Indonesians, the Chinese, or the Tasmanians, they should just remain calm, and carry on. This means the Sapphire Clock, as ever it was, is nothing more than a ruse, a facade, a paper tiger, a pantomime horse, a paper-mache bandikoot, a mere bauble thrown before the necessities of international intrigue. So at some point, Britain will surrender Australia, like it did Hong Kong, treaty or no, Sapphire Clock ticking, or not. We await The Last Wave [imdb.com]