Multi-energy driven photothermal evaporators for all-weather desalination. This project aims to develop advanced Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) technology to stably deliver clean water. This project expects to facilitate desalination practices by generating new ISE systems that use multiple energy sources from the environment and can operate under different weather conditions. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge in the area of renewable energy, improved ISE technique and ....Multi-energy driven photothermal evaporators for all-weather desalination. This project aims to develop advanced Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) technology to stably deliver clean water. This project expects to facilitate desalination practices by generating new ISE systems that use multiple energy sources from the environment and can operate under different weather conditions. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge in the area of renewable energy, improved ISE technique and enhanced capacity for desalination and industrial wastewater treatment. This should provide significant benefits to remote communities who suffer from severe freshwater shortages and enhance research capabilities to position Australia as a global leader in developing green and affordable desalination technologies.Read moreRead less
Innovative Grid-Connected, Small-Scale Wind Turbine Generators Offering Low Cost and Wide Operating Speed Range. Growing concerns about sustainability issues with fossil fuels have resulted in strong interest in wind power worldwide. Grid-connected inverters are an efficient way of utilising small wind turbines on domestic, farming or small commercial properties which have access to the power grid. Existing small-scale, grid-connected wind turbines are expensive and have a limited operating wind ....Innovative Grid-Connected, Small-Scale Wind Turbine Generators Offering Low Cost and Wide Operating Speed Range. Growing concerns about sustainability issues with fossil fuels have resulted in strong interest in wind power worldwide. Grid-connected inverters are an efficient way of utilising small wind turbines on domestic, farming or small commercial properties which have access to the power grid. Existing small-scale, grid-connected wind turbines are expensive and have a limited operating wind speed range. We are investigating new designs for low-cost wind turbine generators which can produce power over a wide range of wind speeds. The project should result in a greater application of small-scale wind generators in Australia and will lead to reductions in fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions.Read moreRead less
Wide Speed Range, Inverterless, Constant Current Mode Alternator. Increasing auxiliary electric power demands in cars due to proposed new features such as electromechanical valves and active suspension has created a pressing need for a higher power car alternator. There has also been a continuing need for improved alternators for small-scale renewable energy generation such as wind turbines. These applications require the lowest possible cost solution which meets the challenging technical spec ....Wide Speed Range, Inverterless, Constant Current Mode Alternator. Increasing auxiliary electric power demands in cars due to proposed new features such as electromechanical valves and active suspension has created a pressing need for a higher power car alternator. There has also been a continuing need for improved alternators for small-scale renewable energy generation such as wind turbines. These applications require the lowest possible cost solution which meets the challenging technical specifications. Present research in this area is focussed on expensive inverter-based methods. We propose a low-cost, "inverterless" alternator configuration based on a specially-designed interior permanent magnet machine operating in a new current source mode.Read moreRead less
Foundations for Physically Unclonable nano-Security on Silicon. This project aims to develop an on-chip physical unclonable function (PUF) based on recent progress in nanotechnology to generate unprecedented number of unique signatures. This is significant because these signatures can be used for preventing fraud and counterfeiting, protecting sensitive data and securing communications. PUFs will play an extremely vital role in future security systems. The PUF in the proposed project will be sim ....Foundations for Physically Unclonable nano-Security on Silicon. This project aims to develop an on-chip physical unclonable function (PUF) based on recent progress in nanotechnology to generate unprecedented number of unique signatures. This is significant because these signatures can be used for preventing fraud and counterfeiting, protecting sensitive data and securing communications. PUFs will play an extremely vital role in future security systems. The PUF in the proposed project will be simple, fast, tiny, energy efficient and highly secure as a result of the abundant nano-fabrication variations. The outcome of this project will be a prototype of a super high secure nanoelectronic-based PUF that will be tested to evaluate the technology and its security against malicious attacks.Read moreRead less
Fibre sensors with subwavelength features in the Terahertz radiation (T-ray) regime. With this program, Australia will benefit from expertise in photonics that will develop new chemical biosensors based on optical fibre technology. The novelty is that the fibres will be used to guide Terahertz radiation (T-ray) frequencies that will be able to detect very small samples of material or fluid. This is a fundamental step towards a system that will impact on applications in the medical, pharmaceutica ....Fibre sensors with subwavelength features in the Terahertz radiation (T-ray) regime. With this program, Australia will benefit from expertise in photonics that will develop new chemical biosensors based on optical fibre technology. The novelty is that the fibres will be used to guide Terahertz radiation (T-ray) frequencies that will be able to detect very small samples of material or fluid. This is a fundamental step towards a system that will impact on applications in the medical, pharmaceutical, forensic, and security industries. Ultimately, Australia will benefit from a new cutting-edge technology and a new diagnostic biosensing technique.Read moreRead less
Novel geometric invariants. Quantum theory is the language of fundamental physics, it describes the small scale structure of matter and possibly space-time. Sophisticated models in condensed matter physics and string theory have exposed geometric and topological structure as basic building blocks of the theory. Issues thrown up by quantum theory are very similar to, and have provided techniques to solve, problems in the geometry of three and four dimensional manifolds. Exciting two way exchanges ....Novel geometric invariants. Quantum theory is the language of fundamental physics, it describes the small scale structure of matter and possibly space-time. Sophisticated models in condensed matter physics and string theory have exposed geometric and topological structure as basic building blocks of the theory. Issues thrown up by quantum theory are very similar to, and have provided techniques to solve, problems in the geometry of three and four dimensional manifolds. Exciting two way exchanges of methods, problems and solutions have emerged. This project aims to settle fundamental questions in the interaction between these two fields.Read moreRead less
Virtual acoustic sensors for active noise control systems. Traditional active noise control systems achieve the greatest noise reduction at the microphone error sensor(s). It is often desirable to achieve the maximum noise reduction remote from such sensors. Virtual sensing technology, the focus of this application, has the promise to replace traditional microphone sensing by projecting the zone of quiet away from the sensor microphones and directly into the ear of the user of the active noise c ....Virtual acoustic sensors for active noise control systems. Traditional active noise control systems achieve the greatest noise reduction at the microphone error sensor(s). It is often desirable to achieve the maximum noise reduction remote from such sensors. Virtual sensing technology, the focus of this application, has the promise to replace traditional microphone sensing by projecting the zone of quiet away from the sensor microphones and directly into the ear of the user of the active noise control system. This will revolutionise the sensing used in active noise control systems, and in doing so allow the realisation of active noise control in applications that have previously been infeasible.Read moreRead less
New approaches to index theory. The laws of nature are often expressed by differential equations, involving their rates of change. If 'elliptic,' they have an 'index,' which is the number of solutions minus the number of constraints imposed. The Atiyah-Singer index theorem gives a striking calculation of this "index'. An extension is Fractional Index Theory, which has received international attention, having solved a fundamental open problem. A central aim is to investigate this further. I will ....New approaches to index theory. The laws of nature are often expressed by differential equations, involving their rates of change. If 'elliptic,' they have an 'index,' which is the number of solutions minus the number of constraints imposed. The Atiyah-Singer index theorem gives a striking calculation of this "index'. An extension is Fractional Index Theory, which has received international attention, having solved a fundamental open problem. A central aim is to investigate this further. I will assist beginners to navigate to the cutting edge of research through workshops, spring-schools and supervision. Benefits include the enhancement of Australia's position in the forefront of international research.Read moreRead less
Operator Integrals and Derivatives. The project is a contribution to the study of non-commutative differential and integral calculus. The novelty of the present project lies in the study of smoothness properties of functions whose domains and ranges are spaces of unbounded, non-commuting operators on some Hilbert space. Our general approach will be based on a detailed investigation of properties of double operator integrals, which permit smoothness estimates of operator-functions. It can be expe ....Operator Integrals and Derivatives. The project is a contribution to the study of non-commutative differential and integral calculus. The novelty of the present project lies in the study of smoothness properties of functions whose domains and ranges are spaces of unbounded, non-commuting operators on some Hilbert space. Our general approach will be based on a detailed investigation of properties of double operator integrals, which permit smoothness estimates of operator-functions. It can be expected that the new techniques generated will find further application in areas of mathematical physics and non-commutative geometry related to quantized calculus.
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Non-commutative analysis and differential calculus. This project is in an area of central mathematical importance and will lead to important scientific advances that will keep Australia at the forefront internationally in this field of research. There is an emphasis on international networking and we will collaborate with leading researchers in USA and France.