Sound and Shape Synthesis Using Tensegrity Particle Systems. Pixar's Toy Story amazed audiences with its computer-generated images, yet the sound was still composed and ?tuned? almost wholly by human hand. In industry, virtual reality systems are increasingly applied to simulation and visualisation but, in general, 'sound? is poorly handled. In this project, we seek to research complex systems that will simulate an object's sound, shape and interaction characteristics in a unified approach. Our ....Sound and Shape Synthesis Using Tensegrity Particle Systems. Pixar's Toy Story amazed audiences with its computer-generated images, yet the sound was still composed and ?tuned? almost wholly by human hand. In industry, virtual reality systems are increasingly applied to simulation and visualisation but, in general, 'sound? is poorly handled. In this project, we seek to research complex systems that will simulate an object's sound, shape and interaction characteristics in a unified approach. Our proposed Tensegrity particle systems generate minimal, stable and robust descriptions of objects in interacting situations. This represents a new and unique approach to the unified representation of multimedia objects with applications in manufacturing and entertainment.Read moreRead less
A Gesture-Based Interface for Designing in Virtual Reality. Many design professions including architecture, fashion, and engineering can benefit from the outcomes of this project and may return financial benefits to Australia, since they heavily rely on sketching in the conceptual design process. Other areas, such as films, computer games, user interface design that involves storyboarding and visualization may also benefit from sketching in virtual reality. Further research may be carried out us ....A Gesture-Based Interface for Designing in Virtual Reality. Many design professions including architecture, fashion, and engineering can benefit from the outcomes of this project and may return financial benefits to Australia, since they heavily rely on sketching in the conceptual design process. Other areas, such as films, computer games, user interface design that involves storyboarding and visualization may also benefit from sketching in virtual reality. Further research may be carried out using a variety of VR facilities and a responsive workbench (3D interactive table-top display) to allow distributed Virtual Prototyping between geographically separated design teams, to assemble the product drawn using a force feedback device to place Australia in a leading position.Read moreRead less
Intelligent Model Checking. Real-world systems are typically so complex that software engineers require specialised CAD tools to debug and verify a design. Model checking is a formal method that is used extensively for this purpose, particularly for mission-critical systems. In this work, a new kind of verifying tool, based on model checking, is developed. This new model checker is intelligent because a heuristic search is integrated into the underlying formalism. It is not exhaustive, and is mo ....Intelligent Model Checking. Real-world systems are typically so complex that software engineers require specialised CAD tools to debug and verify a design. Model checking is a formal method that is used extensively for this purpose, particularly for mission-critical systems. In this work, a new kind of verifying tool, based on model checking, is developed. This new model checker is intelligent because a heuristic search is integrated into the underlying formalism. It is not exhaustive, and is more efficient than a traditional model checker during the design phase because it does only a minimum amount of work in its search for a fault.Read moreRead less
Risk Management using Agent-Based Virtual Environments. Since September 11, terrorism and its prevention has been high on the agenda of modern governments. On reflection, there were many signs that could have alerted US government officials to what was about to transpire and saved many lives. But much of the knowledge needed to detect and handle such situations can not be learnt from a book. Many things we need to experience in order to learn. This project combines the investigators' expertise i ....Risk Management using Agent-Based Virtual Environments. Since September 11, terrorism and its prevention has been high on the agenda of modern governments. On reflection, there were many signs that could have alerted US government officials to what was about to transpire and saved many lives. But much of the knowledge needed to detect and handle such situations can not be learnt from a book. Many things we need to experience in order to learn. This project combines the investigators' expertise in knowledge based, agent based and natural language fields to produce an interactive virtual environment for the user to engage with.Read moreRead less
System Identification of Complex System Models. This project lies within an ARC Research Priority Area. Namely, "Frontier Technologies". It involves the development of new technologies and fundamental theory that take data records from physical or abstract systems and generate mathematical models for use in prediction, control and diagnosis of the underlying system. In light of this, the project also lies within the ARC Research Priority Area of "Smart Information Use",
Broadcasting 3D Audio: Recording, Transmission, and Playback. With the current state of the art, a performance at the Sydney Opera House cannot be recorded and broadcast such that you can listen to it as if you are in the best seat of the house. The goal of our project is to develop the ultimate form of multi-channel audio broadcasting to create this experience. We will develop and implement effective systems for recording, broadcasting and playback of 3D audio in three different scenarios: indi ....Broadcasting 3D Audio: Recording, Transmission, and Playback. With the current state of the art, a performance at the Sydney Opera House cannot be recorded and broadcast such that you can listen to it as if you are in the best seat of the house. The goal of our project is to develop the ultimate form of multi-channel audio broadcasting to create this experience. We will develop and implement effective systems for recording, broadcasting and playback of 3D audio in three different scenarios: individual headphone reproduction; small loudspeaker array reproduction; and large loudspeaker array reproduction. We will create optimal recording techniques and broadcasting software for each of these playback techniques.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
Innovative visualization of next-generation biomedical images. This project addresses the difficult problems associated with managing the vast amounts of data that are currently available with advanced imaging devices and displaying these data so that the maximum amount of information can be extracted. Developing visualization capabilities for such data is not a trivial undertaking but the outcome of this research will produce enabling visualization technologies that will significantly impact th ....Innovative visualization of next-generation biomedical images. This project addresses the difficult problems associated with managing the vast amounts of data that are currently available with advanced imaging devices and displaying these data so that the maximum amount of information can be extracted. Developing visualization capabilities for such data is not a trivial undertaking but the outcome of this research will produce enabling visualization technologies that will significantly impact the life science, biomedical research and the way clinicians view and use these data for patient management. These technologies will have broad applications across biology and molecular science and will enhance Australia's leading position in the development of frontier technologies.Read moreRead less
Novel time-frequency techniques for analysing and modeling non-stationary physical and engineering data. This project addresses an issue of fundamental importance in science and technology, where non-stationary data (which have time-varying statistics) are ubiquitous. Therefore, the development of time-frequency tools to model and analyse non-stationary data has great potential for impact in a wide range of areas reaching from seismic data analysis to biomedical signal processing to sonar and ra ....Novel time-frequency techniques for analysing and modeling non-stationary physical and engineering data. This project addresses an issue of fundamental importance in science and technology, where non-stationary data (which have time-varying statistics) are ubiquitous. Therefore, the development of time-frequency tools to model and analyse non-stationary data has great potential for impact in a wide range of areas reaching from seismic data analysis to biomedical signal processing to sonar and radar. Employing techniques to be developed in this proposal, we expect to be able to classify and detect features of non-stationary data that were unrecognisable using hitherto known methods.Read moreRead less
Discovering Activity Patterns Driven by High Impacts in Heterogeneous and Imbalanced Data. The identification of high impact activities is important for detecting and preventing their occurrences and reducing resulting risks and losses to our society. This project will deliver cutting-edge techniques for effectively extracting activity patterns driven by high business impacts. It can safeguard Australia and build and transform Australian industries by delivering frontier techniques and smart pre ....Discovering Activity Patterns Driven by High Impacts in Heterogeneous and Imbalanced Data. The identification of high impact activities is important for detecting and preventing their occurrences and reducing resulting risks and losses to our society. This project will deliver cutting-edge techniques for effectively extracting activity patterns driven by high business impacts. It can safeguard Australia and build and transform Australian industries by delivering frontier techniques and smart prevention and intervention capabilities to enhance key industries such as finance compliance, national security and crime reduction. The resulting activity mining system, researchers trained and high quality publications will further enhance Australia's global leading role in tackling critical data mining challenges and applications.Read moreRead less