Dr Chad Hargrave

Chad Hargrave obtained his bachelor’s (1993) and doctoral (2014) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Queensland. Chad has over 25 years’ experience in industrial and mining automation, including system design and integration, project management, and sensor system development. Since joining the CSIRO in 2001 he has worked on several major industry and ACARP-funded projects: he had a leading technical role in the award-winning Landmark Longwall Automation project and was project leader for the $2M Teleoperated Shiploader project.

Chad is currently taking a leading role in a major Space Technologies Future Science Platform project in the field of In-Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) - the processes and technologies required to locate, extract and use space-based resources to sustain current and future missions. The FSP project is developing ISRU solutions by leveraging CSIRO's expertise in terrestrial mining automation technologies and adapting them to space.

Chad is Research Team Leader of the Resource Logistics team in CSIRO’s Sustainable Mining Technologies Research Program. The Resource Logistics Team delivers research into, and development of, technologies and services that enhance the value and global competitiveness of Australia’s resources supply chain. The team develops technologies that improve the characterisation, storage and transport of mineral resources, delivering research impact by improving the efficiency of material transfer, characterising the quality and distribution of the resources, monitoring the environmental impact of the industry, optimising the control of haulage resources and reducing the impact of transport through infrastructure monitoring.

Chad's research interests lie in the areas of sensor signal processing, including radar target characterisation and laser sensing technologies. He has applied his research to various challenges within the mining and space industries such as equipment/personnel recognition and localisation, geological characterisation and bulk material profiling.