Electronic Auditory Pathway. We will develop electronic building blocks to investigate biological signal processing. In particular, we will investigate the auditory pathway and develop the most accurate electronic model of the biological cochlea and auditory nerve. These will be followed by electronic circuits that model the processing of sensory signals in the brain. Processing signals with neural spikes offers distinct advantages over current analogue and digital signal processing techniques i ....Electronic Auditory Pathway. We will develop electronic building blocks to investigate biological signal processing. In particular, we will investigate the auditory pathway and develop the most accurate electronic model of the biological cochlea and auditory nerve. These will be followed by electronic circuits that model the processing of sensory signals in the brain. Processing signals with neural spikes offers distinct advantages over current analogue and digital signal processing techniques in terms of noise, energy consumption and extraction of temporal information. We will implement the first spike-based models of pitch and timbre perception, and a neural model of speech recognition in noisy environments.Read moreRead less
Analysing Iterative Machine Learning Algorithms with Information Geometric Methods. Online machine learning problems arise from situations where data is provided a point at a time. There are many classical algorithms for solving such problems based on the principle of stochastic gradient descent. Recent research by the CIs and others have thrown up interesting but diverse geometric connections that offer new insights. The proposed research aims to integrate the understanding of these algori ....Analysing Iterative Machine Learning Algorithms with Information Geometric Methods. Online machine learning problems arise from situations where data is provided a point at a time. There are many classical algorithms for solving such problems based on the principle of stochastic gradient descent. Recent research by the CIs and others have thrown up interesting but diverse geometric connections that offer new insights. The proposed research aims to integrate the understanding of these algorithms with the aim of designing algorithms better able to exploit prior knowledge, and to extend existing algorithms to new problem domains thus offering well principled and well understood algorithms for solving a variety of novel online problems.Read moreRead less
Convex optimisation for control, signal processing and communication systems. Renewable control of complex systems, signal processing, telecommunication and in general any industries interested in these applications stand to benefit from our research. In particular, the automotive and defence industries stand to benefit from the nonlinear control design aspect of the proposed project outcomes. The
telecommunications industries, on the other hand, benefit from the signal processing and communicat ....Convex optimisation for control, signal processing and communication systems. Renewable control of complex systems, signal processing, telecommunication and in general any industries interested in these applications stand to benefit from our research. In particular, the automotive and defence industries stand to benefit from the nonlinear control design aspect of the proposed project outcomes. The
telecommunications industries, on the other hand, benefit from the signal processing and communications aspects. We also build a core expertise in optimisation and its applications in Australia by training PhD students and Postdoctoral researchers. The research collaborations will cement and maintain the international linkages which will improve applied research in AustraliaRead moreRead less
Fundamentals of active sensor network for damage identification in engineering structures. The development of active sensor network techniques for Australia's vast civil and defence infrastructure will improve operational safety, reduce maintenance costs and extend the residual life of many of our engineered assets. The resulting cost-efficiencies will advantage Australian producers in competitive global markets; our companies will be well placed to produce and install active sensor network tech ....Fundamentals of active sensor network for damage identification in engineering structures. The development of active sensor network techniques for Australia's vast civil and defence infrastructure will improve operational safety, reduce maintenance costs and extend the residual life of many of our engineered assets. The resulting cost-efficiencies will advantage Australian producers in competitive global markets; our companies will be well placed to produce and install active sensor network techniques and to provide training in the associated asset management systems. Australian industry will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with the world-class research networks on emerging areas such as damage diagnosis, prognosis and control, and structural repair.Read moreRead less
Online Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System Using Active Diagnostic Sensor Network. It is imperative to remain technological leading for Australian research community. But current lack of reliable technique in structural health monitoring in Australia is considerably impeding her competition with other developed countries in areas of forefront technology. Outcomes of the project will lead to an online structural health monitoring system incorporated with active diagnostic sensor network, re ....Online Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System Using Active Diagnostic Sensor Network. It is imperative to remain technological leading for Australian research community. But current lack of reliable technique in structural health monitoring in Australia is considerably impeding her competition with other developed countries in areas of forefront technology. Outcomes of the project will lead to an online structural health monitoring system incorporated with active diagnostic sensor network, related software and hardware, novel signal processing technique, and artificial intelligence algorithm-based damage identification scheme. Its successful applications in various industries, e.g. aerospace, maritime and civil, are expected to bring significant improvement in operation safety and great benefit in reducing maintenance cost.Read moreRead less
New Model Predictive Control Design Methods. Automatic computer control is fundamental to sustaining a wide range of manufacturing, mineral processing, chemical processing, and other industries vital to the Australian economy. Furthermore, the efficiency, profitability, and environmental impact of these operations is directly linked to the quality of this computer control. In many situations, even a few percent improvement in automatic control delivers dividends measured in many millions of doll ....New Model Predictive Control Design Methods. Automatic computer control is fundamental to sustaining a wide range of manufacturing, mineral processing, chemical processing, and other industries vital to the Australian economy. Furthermore, the efficiency, profitability, and environmental impact of these operations is directly linked to the quality of this computer control. In many situations, even a few percent improvement in automatic control delivers dividends measured in many millions of dollars. This project will develop design tools allowing for more sophisticated, high performance control to be more widely employed. This will deliver the potential for economic and environmental benefits and energy savings to be achieved across a range of industries.Read moreRead less
Fundamental Studies in System Identification. To operate a dynamic system such as a chemical process plant or an economy one needs two things; the equations describing the system; a way of regulating the system to provide desired outcomes. System identification provides the first; control engineering design provides the second. This proposal addresses three important problems in system identification and control. Firstly since the equations can never be known precisely we aim to determine what i ....Fundamental Studies in System Identification. To operate a dynamic system such as a chemical process plant or an economy one needs two things; the equations describing the system; a way of regulating the system to provide desired outcomes. System identification provides the first; control engineering design provides the second. This proposal addresses three important problems in system identification and control. Firstly since the equations can never be known precisely we aim to determine what is the best one can do? Secondly to provide then tight error bounds for the control design;
thirdly to develop new methods for some hitherto unresolved problems in system identification.Read moreRead less
Joint System Identification for Point Processes and Time-series. In various application areas such as neurophysiology, earthquake modeling, price spikes in electricity markets, the data of interest are point processes (aka sequences of events) or combinations of point processes and analog signals. To understand the underlying subject of interest we need to be able to extract the maximum information from these observation sequences. The current tools for doing this are very limited. This resear ....Joint System Identification for Point Processes and Time-series. In various application areas such as neurophysiology, earthquake modeling, price spikes in electricity markets, the data of interest are point processes (aka sequences of events) or combinations of point processes and analog signals. To understand the underlying subject of interest we need to be able to extract the maximum information from these observation sequences. The current tools for doing this are very limited. This research program will develop the complex signal processing and system methodology needed to create a suitable tool set.Read moreRead less
High Capacity Multiple Access Interference Free Block Spread OFDMA System for Next Generation Mobile Communications. Next generation broadband wireless/mobile communications is considered a critical component in the ICT industry sector of advanced national economies and their potential future growth. The proposed project will develop a superior solution when compared with existing methods in the sense that it will be characterised by higher capacity, more flexible signal format, lower complexit ....High Capacity Multiple Access Interference Free Block Spread OFDMA System for Next Generation Mobile Communications. Next generation broadband wireless/mobile communications is considered a critical component in the ICT industry sector of advanced national economies and their potential future growth. The proposed project will develop a superior solution when compared with existing methods in the sense that it will be characterised by higher capacity, more flexible signal format, lower complexity, more power efficient and better overall performance in fast fading channels. Successful completion of this project will place Australia at the forefront of this enabling technology as well establishing cutting edge expertise. This will lead to significant commercial opportunities that can easily translate into new employment/manufacturing opportunities.Read moreRead less
Design of Wireless sensor and communication networks with fixed and mobile nodes. Wireless sensor and communication networks with fixed and mobile nodes are rapidly becoming essential technologies for hostile environmental monitoring, battlefield surveillance and precision agriculture. However, due to the complexities associated with interconnected design issues involving sensors, autonomous vehicles and communication protocols, even very simple networks have proven to be difficult to design. Th ....Design of Wireless sensor and communication networks with fixed and mobile nodes. Wireless sensor and communication networks with fixed and mobile nodes are rapidly becoming essential technologies for hostile environmental monitoring, battlefield surveillance and precision agriculture. However, due to the complexities associated with interconnected design issues involving sensors, autonomous vehicles and communication protocols, even very simple networks have proven to be difficult to design. This project proposes to intelligently employ higher capabilities of mobile nodes and develop methods for rapid deployment, maintenance and routing that are aware of location, energy, and security. The outcomes of this project will form the basis for design of intelligent wireless networks for defence and civilian applications.Read moreRead less