Space for Australia on the periodic table: creating new superheavy elements. This project aims to apply innovative methods developed in Australia to determine the optimal nuclear fusion reactions to synthesise new superheavy elements. As part of a major international collaboration aiming to discover elements 119 and 120, the project leverages our new conceptual approach, unique detector instrumentation and Australia's Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. Anticipated outcomes include the first direct ....Space for Australia on the periodic table: creating new superheavy elements. This project aims to apply innovative methods developed in Australia to determine the optimal nuclear fusion reactions to synthesise new superheavy elements. As part of a major international collaboration aiming to discover elements 119 and 120, the project leverages our new conceptual approach, unique detector instrumentation and Australia's Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility. Anticipated outcomes include the first direct Australian contribution to the discovery of new elements, improved understanding of nuclear fusion and fission at the limits of nuclear existence, tests of our new theoretical approach to energy dissipation in many-body quantum systems, strengthened international links, and top-level nuclear science and accelerator training.Read moreRead less
Co-design and dynamic mission optimisation of hypersonic flight vehicles. This project aims to deliver fundamental knowledge by integrating the modelling and control with the design of next generation hypersonic platforms. In an era where Australia's national security reliance on geographic isolation and support from allied forces are being challenged, the research outcomes of this project will play an important role in understanding the capabilities of hypersonic systems. The project will also ....Co-design and dynamic mission optimisation of hypersonic flight vehicles. This project aims to deliver fundamental knowledge by integrating the modelling and control with the design of next generation hypersonic platforms. In an era where Australia's national security reliance on geographic isolation and support from allied forces are being challenged, the research outcomes of this project will play an important role in understanding the capabilities of hypersonic systems. The project will also have significant spillover benefits into other complex system domains, where computational tools can be used to aid in design leading to high embedded-IP products for Australian industry. Furthermore, the proposal encompasses a strong research training aspect, with graduates exposed to leading edge industry and academia.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics. The Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics will deliver breakthroughs in our understanding of the Universe through the pursuit of the discovery of dark matter particles which comprise 80% of the mass of the universe. It assembles for the first time a strong and diverse team of physicists from particle, nuclear, and quantum physics as well as particle astrophysics. It will deliver high-profile experiments using new cutting- ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics. The Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics will deliver breakthroughs in our understanding of the Universe through the pursuit of the discovery of dark matter particles which comprise 80% of the mass of the universe. It assembles for the first time a strong and diverse team of physicists from particle, nuclear, and quantum physics as well as particle astrophysics. It will deliver high-profile experiments using new cutting-edge technologies. The Centre will exploit the unique geographical location of the first underground physics lab in the Southern Hemisphere. The ultra-sensitive detectors and ultra-low radiation techniques will translate into a broad range of industrial applications and train a new generation of scientists.Read moreRead less
Heavy atoms and ions and precision tests of fundamental physics. This project aims to further the understanding of the structure of heavy atoms through development and application of state-of-the-art many-electron methods. Atomic physics is undergoing a period of rapid growth with a new generation of experiments underway across different areas in fundamental physics. This includes testing particle physics at low energies, opening a new realm of discovery with the synthesis and interrogation of s ....Heavy atoms and ions and precision tests of fundamental physics. This project aims to further the understanding of the structure of heavy atoms through development and application of state-of-the-art many-electron methods. Atomic physics is undergoing a period of rapid growth with a new generation of experiments underway across different areas in fundamental physics. This includes testing particle physics at low energies, opening a new realm of discovery with the synthesis and interrogation of superheavy elements, and the development of atomic clocks of ever-increasing precision. The expected benefit will be to increase capability in fundamental physics tests and in the development of precision atomic instruments.Read moreRead less
Enabling the Internet of Things (IoT): structured networked control systems. Networked control systems are an emerging technology that combines control, communication and computation to deliver solutions for a range of manufacturing, safety-critical infrastructure, such as transport, defence and other Industrial Interent of Things (IIoT) applications. The current analysis and design approaches often take a ``monolithic" view of the system, which render them inadequate for addressing many importa ....Enabling the Internet of Things (IoT): structured networked control systems. Networked control systems are an emerging technology that combines control, communication and computation to deliver solutions for a range of manufacturing, safety-critical infrastructure, such as transport, defence and other Industrial Interent of Things (IIoT) applications. The current analysis and design approaches often take a ``monolithic" view of the system, which render them inadequate for addressing many important IIoT applications. This proposal will exploit specific features and structure of the plant, the communication network and the distributed computation to provide an analysis and design methodology which will deliver significant advances in control and optimised performance of IIoT with benefits to the economy and society.Read moreRead less
Sensing and Communications for Tactical Radio: Mapping the RF Weather. This project investigates sensing, localisation and communication strategies to improve the performance of modern tactical radio networks. Such networks face all of the well-known design challenges of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) but with added complication of a contested and adversarial operating environment. By exploiting the power of radio nodes to sense the radio spectrum, as well as to communicate over it, a distribut ....Sensing and Communications for Tactical Radio: Mapping the RF Weather. This project investigates sensing, localisation and communication strategies to improve the performance of modern tactical radio networks. Such networks face all of the well-known design challenges of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) but with added complication of a contested and adversarial operating environment. By exploiting the power of radio nodes to sense the radio spectrum, as well as to communicate over it, a distributed network of nodes can create a detailed picture of the surrounding radio-frequency (RF) environment: the nodes can work together to map the “RF weather”. In this project we will design advanced sensing and localisation methods to accurately map the RF spectrum, and then exploit this map in communication system design.Read moreRead less
Cooperative control of networked systems with constraints. This project aims to address the challenge of networked systems in deploying teams of robotic agents. Control of the networked system is extremely difficult due to real world constraints imposed on each agent. This project will focus on motion constraints, equipment/capability constraints, and spatial constraints. In addition to theoretical advances, the wider scientific community will benefit directly, because the control algorithms dev ....Cooperative control of networked systems with constraints. This project aims to address the challenge of networked systems in deploying teams of robotic agents. Control of the networked system is extremely difficult due to real world constraints imposed on each agent. This project will focus on motion constraints, equipment/capability constraints, and spatial constraints. In addition to theoretical advances, the wider scientific community will benefit directly, because the control algorithms developed are expected to allow straightforward deployment of robotic teams. There are myriad applications for cooperative robotic agents, ranging from surveillance, to environmental monitoring using underwater and aerial drone formations – with an array of benefits and impacts including economic, commercial and societal. The results are intended to ensure and cement Australia’s front-line position in the current technological revolution known as “Industry 4.0”.Read moreRead less
Information consensus and coordination of multiagent systems. Revolutions in information and communication technologies create a complex 'network of everything'. This project will develop advanced control techniques for such networks, to make the nation's power systems safer, to fly formations of unmanned airborne vehicles, and to extract key information from networks of environmental monitoring sensors.
Cepstral methods of operational modal analysis to separate multiple sources. This project aims to develop new methods of operational modal analysis in situations with multiple complex sources, such as rotating machines. The project will obtain scaled mode shapes as well as separated scaled sources. One of the main applications will be to improve the prognostics of machines by having separated scaled estimates of the forcing functions to make it easier to find fault parameters which trend monoton ....Cepstral methods of operational modal analysis to separate multiple sources. This project aims to develop new methods of operational modal analysis in situations with multiple complex sources, such as rotating machines. The project will obtain scaled mode shapes as well as separated scaled sources. One of the main applications will be to improve the prognostics of machines by having separated scaled estimates of the forcing functions to make it easier to find fault parameters which trend monotonically towards failure, and thus greatly improve the estimates of remaining useful equipment life. An additional benefit of the application will be the ability to predict overall noise radiation from a machine or object if both the sources and modal models are scaled.Read moreRead less
When stabilization and optimization meet: a codesign approach. The next generation of engineered systems need to perform complex tasks with precision, and be robust, resilient and adaptive to their environment enabled by the confluence of control, optimization, learning and computation Understanding the interplay between robust stability and optimization is key to this endeavor. Many techniques, such as model predictive control and reinforcement learning, rely on an intricate interplay between ....When stabilization and optimization meet: a codesign approach. The next generation of engineered systems need to perform complex tasks with precision, and be robust, resilient and adaptive to their environment enabled by the confluence of control, optimization, learning and computation Understanding the interplay between robust stability and optimization is key to this endeavor. Many techniques, such as model predictive control and reinforcement learning, rely on an intricate interplay between an optimization-based control algorithm and an optimization routine used to calculate the control law. This project aims to develop a general design framework for stability, suboptimality and robustness of such algorithms, that can be used in range of novel applications, such as driverless cars and drones. Read moreRead less