How our humble Halifax Engineering firm became an important defense player.

Now in its 17th year, DEFSEC Atlantic is Canada’s premiere Aerospace, Defence, Security and Marine trade show. The conference draws many Canadian and international delegates from across various disciplines and attracts some of the biggest names in the Aerospace and Defence sectors. 

And we are honoured to stand shoulder to shoulder with the big players.  Turn on the 6 o’clock news or scroll through your news feed, and the most unavoidable concern facing all life on our planet, in addition to climate change, is global security. It is easy for one to be discouraged with the current state of the world, but we cannot become complacent, it is necessary that we work together to address these challenges. And as the adage goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.”  

Our Halifax-based firm is on the forefront of both ever rising and current concerns. Having begun our foray into the defence sector with the development of a covert tracking system twenty years ago, (this device incidentally is still in current use by US Forces Special Ops) we have now found ourselves as one of the region’s most important enablers in the Defence and Aerospace sectors. Today, we can boast the completion of hundreds of projects for a slew of Defence and Aerospace clients from around the globe. But our relationships do not evaporate once the device is out the door.

The continued support of the client is a hallmark of the Enginuity ethos. From prototyping and product design, to navigating supply chains, this support and collaboration is of paramount importance to each and every individual within our company. Our enduring relationships with GeoSpectrum Technologies and training simulation impresarios Bluedrop Training and Simulation (both regular DEFSEC attendees respectively) are a testament to this spirit. 

Another shared quality among all at Enginuity, is the appreciation and enjoyment of the challenges arising in the sector, in light of unprecedented insecurity. Whether solving complex subsea training issues with MDA or propelling through space with the VASMIR Space Ion Thruster, the Enginuity team are equally at home. Projects like these bring a series of challenges and constraints from size, weight, material and functionality to budgetary requirements and stringent deadlines. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. 

An event like DEFSEC 2023 may outwardly seem like any other trade show, a competitive sales exhibition and networking opportunity. But that would be doing it a disservice. Frontier communications, exploration and global security are more akin to community endeavors. Endeavors we are always proud in which to be a part. DEFSEC is one of those rare conferences where all participants’ objectives are aligned – the safety and security of our way of life. 

These relationships are of an extremely collaborative nature. Together all stakeholders are intimately involved throughout Enginuity’s Design Control Process. Objectives are determined, strategies agreed, problems arise, solutions are found, drawings are shared, testing observed, and adjustments are made.  

As Enginuity founder and president Ben Garvey humbly explains, “We own our mistakes, and we recognise that we don’t know everything.  That’s part of our schtick – we aren’t going to sell you services or stuff we can’t deliver value on.  If we don’t know it, we will find out who does and bring them to the table.”  This is an incredibly rare, yet honest and forthright position necessary when the stakes are so high. 

However, this modesty has not tempered Enginuity’s successes. Even ambitious space exploration firm Ad Astra, led by famed astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, required assistance when refining the VASMIR Space Ion Thruster, they turned to Halifax based Aethera Technologies, who in turn sought design and fabrication expertise from Enginuity. 

The project required the redesign of the original power plant from something rather large to small and durably suitable for space flight.  

“You can’t realistically integrate this subsystem into the system itself, because you know it’s flimsy. It’s big, it’s heavy”, describes team lead Louis-Phillipe (Lou) Manuge. “So, it really was our task to develop the design into something that could conceivably be flightworthy. The previous iteration, before our iteration, had a mass of almost 500 kilograms, it was cubic meters of components.

So, we ended up with a tiny little tube. With a mass of 50 kilograms. So that was the challenge of the component selection. It was, the packaging, the engineering, the thermal design, all of that stuff.  That all goes into it.” 

 This incredibly astute design innovation spearheaded advancements in Impulse Plasma Rocket technology, which was evaluated by NASA as one of the mechanisms to speed up travel to Mars. This is an innovation that Lou and his team are still proud of today. 

DEFSEC 2023 will bring together diverse players from many industries. The crossover of innovation and technology among the various industries is something to behold. It is where marine survival systems and training dove tail with space exploration, where subsea sonar technologies dive deep into the defence sector, and it is where agile companies like Enginuity help larger organisations and governments move the needle and get their goals realised.  This sea change in how innovation is being realised in the sector is apparent when you examine and merger & acquisition activity in the space.  

It is taking and learning from all types of industries and incorporating them to the needs of the Aerospace and Defence sector is what a small and mighty firm like Enginuity can offer attendees of DEFSEC. It has been proven time and again, year after year.  

Yet perhaps of the utmost of challenges, as so plainly stated by mechanical engineer, Lou, “It’s real people, who are doing real things, that are relying on you. And it’s answering that call, that is the greatest honour”.