Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved ....Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved by resolving the current lack of integration between ship motion and the unmanned vehicle guidance systems. The proposed research will make substantial contributions in areas of ship motion prediction and sensing and hover control of tethered and non-tethered small helicopters.
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Image-based teleoperation of semi-autonomous robotic vehicles. This project will contribute strongly to Australia's robotic service industry in the development of semi-autonomous robotic inspection vehicles by; developing core technology in image-based teleoperation, training experts in the area, promoting the study of this topic within the Australian academia, and developing test facilities and prototype vehicles. Robotic inspection vehicles have the potential to replace direct human presence i ....Image-based teleoperation of semi-autonomous robotic vehicles. This project will contribute strongly to Australia's robotic service industry in the development of semi-autonomous robotic inspection vehicles by; developing core technology in image-based teleoperation, training experts in the area, promoting the study of this topic within the Australian academia, and developing test facilities and prototype vehicles. Robotic inspection vehicles have the potential to replace direct human presence in difficult, dangerous or simply uncomfortable inspection tasks such as; inspection of industrial pressure vessels, piping and conduits in factories or mines, undersea cabling, inspection of bridges, dams and other large scale civil buildings, amongst many other possibilities.Read moreRead less
Image Based Visual Servo Control of Dynamic Under-Actuated Systems. The project builds on earlier work on visual servo control of under-actuated rigid body dynamics to develop and implement sophisticated and robust image based visual servo control for a wide class of under-actuated and fully actuated dynamic systems. The scope of the project extends far beyond basic testing of preliminary results to address key technical issues facing visual servo control algorithms at this time. The project i ....Image Based Visual Servo Control of Dynamic Under-Actuated Systems. The project builds on earlier work on visual servo control of under-actuated rigid body dynamics to develop and implement sophisticated and robust image based visual servo control for a wide class of under-actuated and fully actuated dynamic systems. The scope of the project extends far beyond basic testing of preliminary results to address key technical issues facing visual servo control algorithms at this time. The project is strongly motivated by the host of emerging applications for visual servo control of unmanned aerial vehicles. The experimental program within the project is based on control of a four rotor VTOL `hoverbot'.Read moreRead less
High-Bandwidth Control and Advanced Dynamic Modelling for Unmanned Helicopters. Advanced control theory will be applied to enable precise control of unmanned helicopters in the presence of disturbances. This is critical for: operating unmanned helicopters among the buildings of urban environments, reconnaissance, investigating dangerous areas, pursuit of targets, and many other desirable capabilities for law enforcement and military purposes. The ability of a small RUAV to launch and recover to ....High-Bandwidth Control and Advanced Dynamic Modelling for Unmanned Helicopters. Advanced control theory will be applied to enable precise control of unmanned helicopters in the presence of disturbances. This is critical for: operating unmanned helicopters among the buildings of urban environments, reconnaissance, investigating dangerous areas, pursuit of targets, and many other desirable capabilities for law enforcement and military purposes. The ability of a small RUAV to launch and recover to a moving vessel would significantly enhance operational possibilities for border protection tasks and the Australian Defence Force. The research has direct application to other mechanical systems such as underwater vehicles, mobile robots, and precision control of agricultural vehicles, overhead cranes, and mining equipment.Read moreRead less
Remote Delivery and Capture of Payloads using Aerial Deployed Tethers. The capability to rapidly transport payloads to and from remote locations is critical for search and rescue, disaster relief, remote communities, and military operations. Conventional technology is not well suited to this role, hence we propose to develop an intelligent system to manoeuvre a tether, towed from an aircraft, to pick-up or set-down a payload, with zero surface velocity. Because of the complex, nonlinear dynamics ....Remote Delivery and Capture of Payloads using Aerial Deployed Tethers. The capability to rapidly transport payloads to and from remote locations is critical for search and rescue, disaster relief, remote communities, and military operations. Conventional technology is not well suited to this role, hence we propose to develop an intelligent system to manoeuvre a tether, towed from an aircraft, to pick-up or set-down a payload, with zero surface velocity. Because of the complex, nonlinear dynamics of a cable-body system, advanced modelling and nonlinear optimal control will be applied in this task. The resulting world-first system will provide important economic opportunities and demonstrate Australian scientific capacity for novel developing intelligent systems.Read moreRead less
Mathematical Foundations of Distributed Radar. Conventional military threats to Australia are large or fast moving objects such as ships and aircraft and conventional radar systems are designed to handle such threats. Recent global political shifts have changed the threats to include objects that are small and slowly moving, such as people, small vehicles and boats. Advances in radar hardware make feasible small, low-powered, devices with inherently reduced performance in comparison to deployed ....Mathematical Foundations of Distributed Radar. Conventional military threats to Australia are large or fast moving objects such as ships and aircraft and conventional radar systems are designed to handle such threats. Recent global political shifts have changed the threats to include objects that are small and slowly moving, such as people, small vehicles and boats. Advances in radar hardware make feasible small, low-powered, devices with inherently reduced performance in comparison to deployed systems. Methods for information integration over a dispersed system of such small devices, design of suitable waveform suites and clever local signal processing algorithms will be developed to achieve the performance improvements the hardware offers, to handle the new threats.Read moreRead less
Efficient Algorithms for Multiple Object Filtering using Stochastic Geometry. The outcomes of this project will enhance our ability to harness advances in sensing and computing technologies and develop automated systems which facilitate rapid and reliable detection and monitoring of potential threats in our air, sea, and land space. Such systems assist our defence personnel in the event of a threat to implement measured and effective responses, and ultimately enhance Australia's operational adva ....Efficient Algorithms for Multiple Object Filtering using Stochastic Geometry. The outcomes of this project will enhance our ability to harness advances in sensing and computing technologies and develop automated systems which facilitate rapid and reliable detection and monitoring of potential threats in our air, sea, and land space. Such systems assist our defence personnel in the event of a threat to implement measured and effective responses, and ultimately enhance Australia's operational advantage, in line with the national research priority of 'Safeguarding Australia' and its associated priority goals. The developed technologies also have significant commercial potential which benefit Australian industries in areas such as robotics, automotive safety and biomedical engineering.Read moreRead less
Performance evaluation and characterisation for filtering in multi-object system. The project falls within the National Research Priority of 'Safeguarding Australia' and associated research priority goal of 'Transforming Defence Technology'. The project outcomes will provide cutting edge technology in surveillance, and monitoring of potential threat in our air, sea, and land space. Fast, reliable information enable our personnel to make timely, intelligent judgements, and appropriate responses i ....Performance evaluation and characterisation for filtering in multi-object system. The project falls within the National Research Priority of 'Safeguarding Australia' and associated research priority goal of 'Transforming Defence Technology'. The project outcomes will provide cutting edge technology in surveillance, and monitoring of potential threat in our air, sea, and land space. Fast, reliable information enable our personnel to make timely, intelligent judgements, and appropriate responses in the event of a threat, thereby maintaining Australia's operational advantage. Other application areas that benefits from our research include radar, sonar, guidance, navigation, air traffic control, image processing, oceanography, autonomous vehicles and robotics, remote sensing, and biomedical research.
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Optimal Control of Multi-Object System. Better understanding of multi-object systems developed from this research, in particular, optimal control algorithms for multi-object systems have several significant socio-economic benefits. Application areas that benefits from our research include aerospace applications such as radar, sonar, guidance, navigation, and air traffic control and non-aerospace areas such as image processing, oceanography autonomous vehicles and robotics, remote sensing, and bi ....Optimal Control of Multi-Object System. Better understanding of multi-object systems developed from this research, in particular, optimal control algorithms for multi-object systems have several significant socio-economic benefits. Application areas that benefits from our research include aerospace applications such as radar, sonar, guidance, navigation, and air traffic control and non-aerospace areas such as image processing, oceanography autonomous vehicles and robotics, remote sensing, and biomedical research. The sensor network discipline also stand to benefit from the understanding of multi-object system and control framework. Read moreRead less
Information Geometry and Compressive Sensing for Radar and Communications. Australia's vast distances, thin population and extensive sea approaches force us to place heavy reliance on telecommunications and the remote sensing that radar and other modalities can provide. This project will enchance capabilities in sensing to provide more reliable, robust and cost effective communications and surveillance over a wide area.