Humans of HTX: Engineering the perfect shot

Chua Song Heng likes starting his weekend with a bang. Literally.

For the past 16 years, Saturday mornings usually involve a baseball cap, ear protection and a sleek pistol that sends dozens of bullets downrange.

The Deputy Director of Sensor Systems at HTX’s Robotics Automation & Unmanned Systems Centre of Expertise (RAUS CoE) first picked up sport shooting in 2009, when a fellow National Serviceman in the police force introduced him to the sport.

At the beginning, the young serviceman found it difficult to land his shots in the bullseye. Today, he consistently attains scores of above 450 (out of 480) in the Sporting Shooters’ Federation’s bi-weekly Precision Pistol Competition (PPC).

Such proficiency, he said, is only possible through discipline, determination and sheer perseverance.

“If you apply a certain rigour and discipline to anything, you will inevitably achieve results. The same principles, when applied to other areas of life, bring the same successes,” he said.

Song Heng certainly walks the talk. He meticulously keeps track of his shooting scores, sets small and measurable goals for improvement, and even brings home his target boards to remind himself of the progress he’s made.

This same penchant for discipline was also what saw him rise to become a Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) as a reservist in the SPF – the highest attainable rank an NSman can attain.

Today, this same drive continues to shape his work at HTX, where he channels the same rigour and perseverance into advancing unmanned systems and sensors for the Home Team.

A tinkerer at heart

Song Heng’s dogged persistence and desire to constantly improve himself can be said to stem from his childhood, when he found himself fascinated with all kinds of hardware.

His father, a technician at the former Telecoms Authority of Singapore, also frequently indulged him by bringing home spare parts from work and patiently explaining how they worked. His father would at times also build simple contraptions with relays, bulbs, and amplifiers from these spare parts.

Fascinated, Song Heng started experimenting with the parts himself and even began creating his own little gadgets, though not without setbacks.

“I liked taking things apart to see how they worked. Putting them back together – well, that was often another matter,” he laughed.

In secondary school, Song Heng joined the hobbies club, where he further honed his tinkering skills. There, he built a strong foundation in electronics after learning to solder and troubleshoot circuit boards.

During his pre-university days, he even managed to build his own computer from scratch by procuring various parts from People’s Park Complex in Chinatown.

“You save a lot of money by building the computer yourself. At the same time, you learn a ton of valuable lessons when you troubleshoot problems. When parts don’t work, you have to figure out what went wrong, then fix it,” he explained.

In fact, this personal computer he built ended up being more than just a passion project – it helped him learn more about programming and was even used to write some of his papers.

Engineering as a way of life

This deep-seated passion followed him into university where he studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the National University of Singapore. There, his ability to bridge hardware and software allowed him to excel in his studies.

After graduation, he began his career in firmware development at Seagate Technology, where he was involved in hard disk drive research and development. He later joined the Police Technology Department as an Assistant Director in charge of master planning for enterprise ICT systems. When HTX was established in 2019, Song Heng was among the pioneering group who came together to shape the fledgling agency from its earliest days.

For Song Heng, engineering has never been just a profession – it has always been an integral part of who he is.

“Even today, I’m very hands-on. I still code, I still build,” he said.

In fact, he still very much fancies himself an adept handyman. His accomplishments include installing his own automated home systems and giving new life to a camera that the brand’s service centre had declared was beyond repair.

For this latter project, Song Heng sourced spare parts from aftermarket suppliers in China, trawled through forums and YouTube tutorials, and painstakingly put the broken camera back together again.

“I’m really a maker. I love making stuff. I enjoy it because it constantly challenges me,” he said.

“There’s also the fact that I don’t give up easily. Leading NSmen as a commander, balancing family with demanding projects, or pushing through tough engineering problems, whatever the situation, I believe it can be solved with enough elbow grease.”

He mused that at the very core of his penchant for perseverance lies a burning desire to learn and grow.

“The key to improving lies in mastering the fundamentals. In the context of sport shooting, it’s about taking the proper stance, controlling your breath, having a good grip, aligning your sights properly, and pulling the trigger in the most optimal manner,” he explained.

“No, putting in the time and effort to master something won’t necessarily get you a perfect solution. But trust me – you will always be better off than when you started. And that’s all the matters.”