- Quantum tech player Q-CTRL says sensing technology is a $400bn market
- Freelancer merges Freightlancer and Loadshift to form Australia’s largest freight marketplace
- Mobilicom nabs $408,000 R&D grant from the Space Florida innovation project
Sydney start-up Q-CTRL has just launched a quantum sensing division which will be showcased at the Army Quantum Technology Challenge (QTC) in Adelaide.
In physics, a quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction and Q-CTRL CEO and founder Michael Biercuk says quantum sensing is all about detecting exceptionally small signals.
“There are many forms of quantum sensors, but our work relies on trapped atoms – the fundamental particles of matter that gave rise to quantum theory in the first place – in order to detect gravity, movement, and electromagnetic fields,” he said.
“Gravity detection can be used to map the earth, find underground water or hidden targets, or build maps for precision navigation.
“The detection of movement is used in navigation when there’s no GPS signal. By precisely measuring how a vessel moves, we can accurately calculate the vessel’s position.
“And electromagnetic field detection is routinely used in identifying enemy targets such as drones that are communicating via radiofrequency.”
Biercuk says the new devices can have real-world impact in defence, positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), minerals exploration, magnetic anomaly detection, persistent earth observation for climate monitoring, long-term weather forecasting and even space exploration.
$400bn market for sensing tech
“Quantum sensing is an emerging part of a global $400bn market for sensing technology, and ~$19bn for remote sensing,” Biercuk said.
CSIRO says the specific quantum sensing market opportunity will make up around 2-4% of this market by 2040.
“Q-CTRL’s mission is to make quantum technology useful,” Biercuk said.
“From day one we knew that quantum sensing provided a near-term opportunity to translate our specialisation in quantum control into value capture and new sovereign capabilities.”
The company says its key areas of application also include the $8bn/year observation market and the $14bn/year PNT markets.
Who’s got tech news out today?
Freelancer is merging its freight divisions Freightlancer and Loadshift to form Australia’s largest freight marketplace.
The company says the merger will transform Loadshift from a simple membership-based bulletin board to a full marketplace for freight, and in the process of doing so introduces a 3% (for shippers) or 10% (for carriers) commission-based model for non members, replicating the model of Freelancer.com.
In the last 12 months, Loadshift saw a notional Gross Load Value of $350 million of freight posted, presenting an opportunity to translate a portion to actualised Gross Load Value and revenue at a 13% commission.
New features as part of the move to a marketplace includes secure payments, invoice financing, ratings and reviews, improved vetting and managed services offerings including freight operations and project management.
“Combining the two platforms will give our carriers more opportunities to find loads, while offering shippers access to more carriers across Australia,” CEO Matt Barrie said.
“Today, we are moving everything from grain to machinery across the country.”
The company has been awarded a new $408,000 research and development grant under the Space Florida innovation project for the development of triple link redundancy communications to improve operation of unmanned platforms, addressing US drone regulations.
Mobilicom says the development of the Multi-Link communications system will extend its beyond visual-line-of-sight datalink functionality to include the use of satellite connections for redundancy – which will enable the operation of unmanned systems in areas with no or insufficient cellular network coverage.
“The project also expands our collaboration with Censys Technologies, a leading US-based commercial drone manufacturer for the agriculture, infrastructure monitoring, disaster relief and public safety sectors,” CEO Oren Elkayam said.
“Censys has been an early adopter of our smart solutions in the US, and we look forward to working closer with them as we increase our presence in the world’s largest market for both commercial and defence applications.”
Back in May the once underwater robotics company announced plans to acquire Mobile Business Devices, which operates the One Click Life business – a fintech platform aiming to disrupt and capitalise on increased market demand for online, self-directed financial and life admin services.
UUV says it’s working to complete the administrative matters of the acquisition and commence trading on ASX as One Click Group Limited under the ASX code 1CG.
Notably, One Click Life has over 40,000 users and its first product, One Click Tax, has seen revenues grow over 336% to $1.074m for HY 31 December 21 (up from $0.246m for HY 31 December 20) with limited marketing budget.
FLN, MOB and UUV share prices today: