Novel power system architecture and control for 'More Electric Aircraft'. This project aims to propose a new conceptual design of an internal aircraft electrical system and its control, which minimises the issues of traditional power systems and takes advantage of contemporary control and technology advances to minimise weight/volume and maximise reliability. The project will target a specific design, which includes consideration of novel power electronic topologies, to achieve these goals. The ....Novel power system architecture and control for 'More Electric Aircraft'. This project aims to propose a new conceptual design of an internal aircraft electrical system and its control, which minimises the issues of traditional power systems and takes advantage of contemporary control and technology advances to minimise weight/volume and maximise reliability. The project will target a specific design, which includes consideration of novel power electronic topologies, to achieve these goals. The results will be validated through simulation, experiments and field testing. It is anticipated that the ideas developed within this project will have a major impact on More Electric Aircraft technology, as well as on general interconnected energy resource systems, such as DC and AC microgrids.Read moreRead less
Safe, Plug and Play, Multi Agent Dynamic Systems. From driverless cars, to networks of nano satellites, and complex biological networks, the modern world has many examples of multi agent dynamic systems that need careful coordination and control to perform correctly. In many cases, these systems are built up using designs based on intuition, computer simulations and empirical testing. However, there is a clear need to advance the fundamental understandings of such systems: (i) Verifiable overall ....Safe, Plug and Play, Multi Agent Dynamic Systems. From driverless cars, to networks of nano satellites, and complex biological networks, the modern world has many examples of multi agent dynamic systems that need careful coordination and control to perform correctly. In many cases, these systems are built up using designs based on intuition, computer simulations and empirical testing. However, there is a clear need to advance the fundamental understandings of such systems: (i) Verifiable overall dynamic system properties need to be derived to give assurance of performance in situations not previously envisaged; (ii) It is also critical to understand stable system behaviours not just with fixed configurations, but with agile configurations such as splitting, merging, and morphingRead moreRead less
Control of network systems with signed dynamical interconnections. New technologies such as online recommendations, smart grids, and cyber-physical systems are becoming backbone infrastructure. Such systems are operated as network systems with interconnected functioning units (agents) where cooperative and adversarial agent relations often coexist. This project aims to develop the theories and tools for designing and building dynamic networks with signed interactions that arise from a variety of ....Control of network systems with signed dynamical interconnections. New technologies such as online recommendations, smart grids, and cyber-physical systems are becoming backbone infrastructure. Such systems are operated as network systems with interconnected functioning units (agents) where cooperative and adversarial agent relations often coexist. This project aims to develop the theories and tools for designing and building dynamic networks with signed interactions that arise from a variety of applications where both cooperative and adversarial agent interactions coexist. By developing theories and algorithms for control and identification over such systems, this project will contribute directly to their safe and robust operation. The resulting theories will provide deeper understanding of network control systems and the resulting algorithms will enable the elimination of attackers and malicious users for online review systems and smart grids. This project will contribute to increased cybersecurity for all Australians.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101375
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
The forest and the trees: How global brain rhythms facilitate local information processing. One of the greatest challenges in understanding the brain is the enormous range of scales it operates on, from single neurons a few microns across to entire hemispheres on the scale of tens of centimetres. This project will investigate how large-scale brain rhythms influence and facilitate information processing, particularly motor control, among small networks of individual neurons. The research question ....The forest and the trees: How global brain rhythms facilitate local information processing. One of the greatest challenges in understanding the brain is the enormous range of scales it operates on, from single neurons a few microns across to entire hemispheres on the scale of tens of centimetres. This project will investigate how large-scale brain rhythms influence and facilitate information processing, particularly motor control, among small networks of individual neurons. The research questions will be addressed by combining detailed computer simulations with data-driven analyses of empirical human and monkey brain dynamics. The outcomes of this project will provide a richer understanding of how our brains encode and process information, leading to practical benefits such as improved control of artificial limbs.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH210100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub in Intelligent Robotic Systems for Real-Time Asset Management. This hub aims to transform the way assets and infrastructure are managed by developing new capabilities for intelligent robotic systems for inspection, monitoring, and maintenance. The hub expects to generate new knowledge in robotics and associated fields including sensing, planning, data processing, and machine learning using interdisciplinary approaches and tight collaboration between academia and industry. The ex ....ARC Research Hub in Intelligent Robotic Systems for Real-Time Asset Management. This hub aims to transform the way assets and infrastructure are managed by developing new capabilities for intelligent robotic systems for inspection, monitoring, and maintenance. The hub expects to generate new knowledge in robotics and associated fields including sensing, planning, data processing, and machine learning using interdisciplinary approaches and tight collaboration between academia and industry. The expected outcomes are robots with the ability to autonomously collect data for integration into a digital twin that provides a real-time representation of the true state of a physical asset. The benefits include both improved asset management and establishing Australia as a leading manufacturer of advanced robotic systems.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC200100001
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,879,415.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing. The Centre aims to build the human and technical capability Australia needs to underpin our global competitiveness in advanced manufacturing. The Centre will unite manufacturing businesses, including SMEs, and universities to develop collaborative robotics applications which combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments. The Centre will train researchers, engineers, technologists and manufacturing ....ARC Training Centre for Collaborative Robotics in Advanced Manufacturing. The Centre aims to build the human and technical capability Australia needs to underpin our global competitiveness in advanced manufacturing. The Centre will unite manufacturing businesses, including SMEs, and universities to develop collaborative robotics applications which combine the strengths of humans and robots in shared work environments. The Centre will train researchers, engineers, technologists and manufacturing leaders with the expertise industry needs to boost safety, quality assurance, production efficiency, and workforce readiness. The intended outcome is to support Australian manufacturers to shift toward higher-potential markets, compete globally and attract and retain a digitally-capable workforce for the future.Read moreRead less
Robust learning of dynamic systems. Robots and other autonomous machines use models of the real world to predict the result of their actions and make decisions, but existing methods used for machine-learning are unreliable in many cases and can be easily fooled. This project aims to make machine-learning of dynamic system models reliable, accurate, and secure. The outcomes of this project will be new models and algorithms that ensure safety and increase accuracy of models learned from data. This ....Robust learning of dynamic systems. Robots and other autonomous machines use models of the real world to predict the result of their actions and make decisions, but existing methods used for machine-learning are unreliable in many cases and can be easily fooled. This project aims to make machine-learning of dynamic system models reliable, accurate, and secure. The outcomes of this project will be new models and algorithms that ensure safety and increase accuracy of models learned from data. This project will benefit robotics, control engineering, infrastructure automation, and other fields that demand the capability to model physical systems from limited data. It will also improve cybersecurity by making learning algorithms resilient to deliberate attacks with false data.Read moreRead less
When every second counts: Multi-drone navigation in GPS-denied environments. The aim of this research is to develop a framework for multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), that balances information sharing, exploration, localization, mapping, and other planning objectives thus allowing a team of UAVs to navigate in complex environments in time critical situations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in UAV navigation using an innovative approach by combining Simultaneous Localizatio ....When every second counts: Multi-drone navigation in GPS-denied environments. The aim of this research is to develop a framework for multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), that balances information sharing, exploration, localization, mapping, and other planning objectives thus allowing a team of UAVs to navigate in complex environments in time critical situations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in UAV navigation using an innovative approach by combining Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms with Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP) and Deep Reinforcement learning. This should provide significant benefits, such as more responsive search and rescue inside collapsed buildings or underground mines, as well as fast target detection and mapping under the tree canopy. Read moreRead less
Efficient strategies for visually guided flight: from insects to drones. Flying in real environments, that are densely cluttered with obstacles, is a major challenge limiting the proliferation of aerial robotic technology yet flying insects such as honeybees accomplish this task with ease. This project will seek to uncover the salient vision-based flight-control strategies implemented by insects to deal with clutter. These will be used to develop sensory and information processing frameworks for ....Efficient strategies for visually guided flight: from insects to drones. Flying in real environments, that are densely cluttered with obstacles, is a major challenge limiting the proliferation of aerial robotic technology yet flying insects such as honeybees accomplish this task with ease. This project will seek to uncover the salient vision-based flight-control strategies implemented by insects to deal with clutter. These will be used to develop sensory and information processing frameworks for implementation in miniature robotic systems which will allow them to navigate autonomously in complex environments even when GPS positioning is denied. Such capabilities will expand the operational domain and potential applications for small autonomous vehicles while improving our knowledge of insect locomotion.Read moreRead less
Microcantilevers for multifrequency atomic force microscopy. This project aims to design a microcantilever with high-performing sensors more sensitive and with better noise performance than the typical optical system used in commercial Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs). The AFM, a nanotechnology instrument, uses a microcantilever (with an extremely shape probe) to interrogate a sample surface. It has made important discoveries in nanotechnology, life sciences, nanomachining, material science and d ....Microcantilevers for multifrequency atomic force microscopy. This project aims to design a microcantilever with high-performing sensors more sensitive and with better noise performance than the typical optical system used in commercial Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs). The AFM, a nanotechnology instrument, uses a microcantilever (with an extremely shape probe) to interrogate a sample surface. It has made important discoveries in nanotechnology, life sciences, nanomachining, material science and data storage systems. Despite its success, the technique’s spatial resolution and quantitative measurements are limited. This project could lead to breakthrough technologies such as atomic force spectroscopy to study elastic modulus of nanostructures, and establish Australia's prominence in this emerging field.Read moreRead less