Empire of Emergency: Martial Law and the British Empire, 1700-1865. Emergency powers are of enormous importance in the twenty-first century. Empire of Emergency aims to explain a core aspect of their development by exploring the history of martial law in the British Empire. It aims to show how martial law proliferated in British colonies after 1760, becoming a ubiquitous tool, not only for quelling colonial rebellion, but for managing disorder in difficult hinterlands in colonies as disparate as ....Empire of Emergency: Martial Law and the British Empire, 1700-1865. Emergency powers are of enormous importance in the twenty-first century. Empire of Emergency aims to explain a core aspect of their development by exploring the history of martial law in the British Empire. It aims to show how martial law proliferated in British colonies after 1760, becoming a ubiquitous tool, not only for quelling colonial rebellion, but for managing disorder in difficult hinterlands in colonies as disparate as Honduras and New South Wales. Using traditional research methods and new tools of digital analysis, this project expects to enhance our understanding of the complex relationships among violence, law, humanitarianism and liberalism that underpinned British imperial ideology at a crucial time in global history. Read moreRead less
Wireless Integrated Circuits for the Era of 6G: System-in-a-Package. The aim of this project is to build a hardware foundation for future wireless integrated circuits, using a combination of silicon and compound semiconductor technologies. The project will generate knowledge for circuit design and system integration to pivot towards the engineering of emerging 6G technology. Expected outcomes include a transceiver-in-package using multiple semiconductor technologies and the development of sovere ....Wireless Integrated Circuits for the Era of 6G: System-in-a-Package. The aim of this project is to build a hardware foundation for future wireless integrated circuits, using a combination of silicon and compound semiconductor technologies. The project will generate knowledge for circuit design and system integration to pivot towards the engineering of emerging 6G technology. Expected outcomes include a transceiver-in-package using multiple semiconductor technologies and the development of sovereign design capabilities. The results will constitute an important step towards implementing 6G. Benefits for Australia include the development of early career workers, generation of intellectual property, and securing social and economic benefits for Australians through application of this next-generation technology.Read moreRead less
Performing cold microwave measurements with warm diamonds. Detecting weak microwave signals at room temperature is an exceptionally difficult task, due to the excessive thermal microwave noise that exists all around us. At present, the best microwave receivers must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures, restricting their widespread use. This project aims to apply diamond-based quantum technologies to achieve unprecedented microwave signal detection sensitivities with a room-temperature setup, prov ....Performing cold microwave measurements with warm diamonds. Detecting weak microwave signals at room temperature is an exceptionally difficult task, due to the excessive thermal microwave noise that exists all around us. At present, the best microwave receivers must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures, restricting their widespread use. This project aims to apply diamond-based quantum technologies to achieve unprecedented microwave signal detection sensitivities with a room-temperature setup, providing more accessible ultra-low noise detectors. The ability to measure weak microwave signals is crucial for a range of sectors and the results of this project are expected to have applications in defence (radar), space exploration (satellite communication), and fundamental research (spectroscopy).Read moreRead less
Quantum Nanophotonics with Atomically Thin Materials . This project aims to deliver new hardware for scalable integrated quantum photonics based on fluorescent defects in hexagonal boron nitride. The project will generate new knowledge in advanced manufacturing of two-dimensional systems, to pivot towards engineering of new optical qubits. Expected outcomes include a solid-state platform for on-chip quantum technologies and development of sovereign quantum capabilities. The results will constitu ....Quantum Nanophotonics with Atomically Thin Materials . This project aims to deliver new hardware for scalable integrated quantum photonics based on fluorescent defects in hexagonal boron nitride. The project will generate new knowledge in advanced manufacturing of two-dimensional systems, to pivot towards engineering of new optical qubits. Expected outcomes include a solid-state platform for on-chip quantum technologies and development of sovereign quantum capabilities. The results will constitute an important step towards implementation of secure communications and quantum information protocols. Benefits include advances in emerging manufacturing capabilities, training of young Australians, generation of intellectual property and securing major economic benefits to all Australians.Read moreRead less
Compressed network sharing for large-scale distributed systems. The project will make the critical theoretical advances to enable the building of large-scale machine-to-machine communications systems. This will be the essential precursor to technologies for constructing Australia’s intelligent infrastructure and smart cities.
Unified digital networking for wireless and optical access. The provision of broadband services is a high priority for the Australian government as evidenced by the various initiatives around Australia. The merging of backbone infrastructures for access environment will overcome unnecessary cost of maintaining and upgrading two separate networks for wired and wireless applications. The merged infrastructure will potentially provide inexpensive and cost-effective solutions for truly broadband ser ....Unified digital networking for wireless and optical access. The provision of broadband services is a high priority for the Australian government as evidenced by the various initiatives around Australia. The merging of backbone infrastructures for access environment will overcome unnecessary cost of maintaining and upgrading two separate networks for wired and wireless applications. The merged infrastructure will potentially provide inexpensive and cost-effective solutions for truly broadband services with a choice of wired or wireless connectivity to customers and will remove the rural-urban broadband divide that has been challenging Australia. The outcomes of this project can lead to new business ventures and will further strengthen the telecommunication industry.Read moreRead less
Smart Wireless Radio Environments for the 6G Era. This project aims to revolutionise radio signal propagation and information transfer by developing “smart” wireless radio environments. Using Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), the smart wireless network can transmit information without generating new signals but recycling the incoming signal. However, as an emerging technology, fundamental analysis – in terms of rate, reliability, and efficiency – is needed to understand the performance o ....Smart Wireless Radio Environments for the 6G Era. This project aims to revolutionise radio signal propagation and information transfer by developing “smart” wireless radio environments. Using Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS), the smart wireless network can transmit information without generating new signals but recycling the incoming signal. However, as an emerging technology, fundamental analysis – in terms of rate, reliability, and efficiency – is needed to understand the performance of RIS-empowered wireless networks. Expected outcomes include new communication-theoretic models and the enabling technologies to realise them in practice. These smart environments have the potential to offer “greener” and more "seamless wireless connectivity" for the future wireless network.Read moreRead less
Novel carbon dioxide tolerant ceramic membranes for oxygen separation to improve the viability of clean energy technology. Conventional cryogenic air separation is a major economic impediment to the deployment of these low emission technologies like Callide oxyfuel combustion. This project will lead to the discovery of a new class of oxygen selective membranes for air separation with significantly reduced cost to improve the viability of these clean energy technologies.
Nano-toughening of Conductive Composites with High Electrical Ductility. This project aims to develop a new technology to effectively toughen conductive thin films including metals and conductive polymers with significantly improved mechanical robustness for next-generation stretchable electronics. This new technique will tackle the major limitation of stretchable electronics propensity to abrupt electrical failure caused by plastic deformation and long channel cracks in conductive thin films of ....Nano-toughening of Conductive Composites with High Electrical Ductility. This project aims to develop a new technology to effectively toughen conductive thin films including metals and conductive polymers with significantly improved mechanical robustness for next-generation stretchable electronics. This new technique will tackle the major limitation of stretchable electronics propensity to abrupt electrical failure caused by plastic deformation and long channel cracks in conductive thin films of low yield strain and ductility. By overcoming the bottleneck issue of low stretchability and ductility of existing conductive thin film materials, it will be possible to significantly expand the design space of flexible and stretchable electronic devices.Read moreRead less
Novel Synthesis and Bio-applications of Functional Macroporous Ordered Siliceous Foams. This project will lead to advances in materials science and nanotechnology, providing high efficiency separation and purification for viruses or plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which are important in modern gene engineering for the treatment of genetic and acquired diseases. Application benefits also include developing a new protocol in the detection of trace amount proteins, which will afford a signific ....Novel Synthesis and Bio-applications of Functional Macroporous Ordered Siliceous Foams. This project will lead to advances in materials science and nanotechnology, providing high efficiency separation and purification for viruses or plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which are important in modern gene engineering for the treatment of genetic and acquired diseases. Application benefits also include developing a new protocol in the detection of trace amount proteins, which will afford a significant improvement in diverse fields such as health care. Through this project, novel macroporous materials will be fabricated using an economically and environmentally sustainable approach. These new materials will have unique structures and properties compared to conventional macroporous materials, advancing Australia's intellectual position in this discipline.Read moreRead less