Enhancing patient management at point of care using electronic-based clinical pathways. Clinical pathways have been adopted by most Australian hospitals and the development of a 'proof of concept' digitised clinical pathways management system (DCPMS) would provide significant benefits to the Australian healthcare system in improving the efficiency of this approach. These include improved outcomes of care arising from a better match of patient requirements to nursing care and other health resour ....Enhancing patient management at point of care using electronic-based clinical pathways. Clinical pathways have been adopted by most Australian hospitals and the development of a 'proof of concept' digitised clinical pathways management system (DCPMS) would provide significant benefits to the Australian healthcare system in improving the efficiency of this approach. These include improved outcomes of care arising from a better match of patient requirements to nursing care and other health resources and better management of resources where savings can be re-directed into front-line patient care. This Australian innovation can then be exported to international health systems that are increasingly turning to hospital funding models that utilise clinical pathway information.Read moreRead less
Novel methods for enhancing room temperature figure of merit of thermoelectric/thermionic materials for refrigeration applications. With global warming and an increased awareness of climate change, devices such as thermoelectric modules can be part of the solution, particularly if their relative power and efficiency can be increased. The aim of this project is to bring together theoreticians, experimentalists, materials scientists, and industrial partners with complementary expertise to develop ....Novel methods for enhancing room temperature figure of merit of thermoelectric/thermionic materials for refrigeration applications. With global warming and an increased awareness of climate change, devices such as thermoelectric modules can be part of the solution, particularly if their relative power and efficiency can be increased. The aim of this project is to bring together theoreticians, experimentalists, materials scientists, and industrial partners with complementary expertise to develop new techniques and methods for fabricating novel thermoelectric/thermionic materials with high figure of merit, ZT, for solid state refrigeration applications. The success of the project will lead to a 3 to 5 fold increase in the market share of thermoelectric cooler and will have a significant impact on the Australian economy and reduce greenhouse emissions and global warming. Read moreRead less
Airports of the Future. This project will enhance the capabilities of Australian airport operators to design and manage complex airport systems. Research outcomes will enable the identification of patterns of behaviour and will provide tools to manage airport effectiveness and balance conflicting security, economic and passenger-driven pressures. Outcomes will improve productivity, enhance capabilities for critical infrastructure protection, and lessen the cost of mandated security, estimated t ....Airports of the Future. This project will enhance the capabilities of Australian airport operators to design and manage complex airport systems. Research outcomes will enable the identification of patterns of behaviour and will provide tools to manage airport effectiveness and balance conflicting security, economic and passenger-driven pressures. Outcomes will improve productivity, enhance capabilities for critical infrastructure protection, and lessen the cost of mandated security, estimated to grow to $152M by 2010 for the five major Australian airports. The deliverables of this project will be transferable to other complex socio-technical systems providing the potential to transform a range of Australian critical infrastructure and transportation hubs.Read moreRead less
Active Vibration Control of a Cricket Bat using Piezoelectric-based Smart Materials Technology. Improvement of sporting equipment performance of late has largely ignored the game of cricket. Using the combined disciplines of advanced materials and control technologies, it is anticipated that the traditional cricket bat can be vastly improved while keeping to bat modification guidelines as specified in the rules of the game. This project involves the dynamic study of the bat using established e ....Active Vibration Control of a Cricket Bat using Piezoelectric-based Smart Materials Technology. Improvement of sporting equipment performance of late has largely ignored the game of cricket. Using the combined disciplines of advanced materials and control technologies, it is anticipated that the traditional cricket bat can be vastly improved while keeping to bat modification guidelines as specified in the rules of the game. This project involves the dynamic study of the bat using established experimental techniques. Once the various regions of high strain rates are determined, smart materials technologies will be used to reduce the transient vibrations transmitted to the batsman. The effect of this monitoring and control is to increase the comfort level and hence, effectiveness of the batsman.Read moreRead less
High-speed bidirectional optical interconnects for board-to-board communications. The project will contribute directly to Australia's participation in various ICT industries through the development of innovative solutions and will increase the knowledge and skills base in silicon-photonics. The development of the proposed board-to-board high-speed optical interconnect prototypes will result in R&D outcomes well-matched to the needs and interests of Australian companies; this project will assist ....High-speed bidirectional optical interconnects for board-to-board communications. The project will contribute directly to Australia's participation in various ICT industries through the development of innovative solutions and will increase the knowledge and skills base in silicon-photonics. The development of the proposed board-to-board high-speed optical interconnect prototypes will result in R&D outcomes well-matched to the needs and interests of Australian companies; this project will assist Australia to capitalise on new technology and to become a significant player in the next ICT boom. This project will put Australia at the cutting edge of high-speed interconnect technology and will generate income through licensing the technology and the establishment of spin-off opportunities in both Australia and off-shore.Read moreRead less
Photonic Antenna: Nested multi-band patch antenna and arrayed photonic interconnect. This project aims to investigate the design of a broadband ?photonic antenna? for airborne radar warning and electronic countermeasure systems. The project will investigate the development of a suite of printed antennas that cover bands in the range from 2-40 GHz realised on a single substrate. Nesting these antennas to reduce system size, and integration of this module with a custom optical modulator array and ....Photonic Antenna: Nested multi-band patch antenna and arrayed photonic interconnect. This project aims to investigate the design of a broadband ?photonic antenna? for airborne radar warning and electronic countermeasure systems. The project will investigate the development of a suite of printed antennas that cover bands in the range from 2-40 GHz realised on a single substrate. Nesting these antennas to reduce system size, and integration of this module with a custom optical modulator array and RF signal combiner will be investigated. The resulting broadband antenna suite with photonic interconnect will require minimal fabrication and packaging resources, and will thus be an economically viable photonic solution for practical defence systems.Read moreRead less
Application of Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) Technology to Intelligent Design Engineering Systems. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) is a systematic approach to the integration of design and manufacturing of products and their related processes, from concept to disposal. Typical for KBE applications is that it accepts design rules and procedures. This makes the design process more efficient, which reduces development cost and product lead time. It also enables knowledge and experience to be ....Application of Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) Technology to Intelligent Design Engineering Systems. Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) is a systematic approach to the integration of design and manufacturing of products and their related processes, from concept to disposal. Typical for KBE applications is that it accepts design rules and procedures. This makes the design process more efficient, which reduces development cost and product lead time. It also enables knowledge and experience to be captured and retained which reduces training cost and makes new staff more effective. The aim of the project is to develop a KBE environment for wire and conduit routing through complex structures and verify the benefits in an industry environment.Read moreRead less
Development of Internet-based Kinematic GPS Solutions for Local and Regional Positioning Services. This interdisciplinary project develops a highly novel total network strategy for real-time kinematic GPS positioning services using the Internet communication protocols for data transmission. The proposed system is technically superior to existing network-based differential GPS (DGPS) systems, by providing positioning services at different accuracy levels (metre to centimetre) with reduced operati ....Development of Internet-based Kinematic GPS Solutions for Local and Regional Positioning Services. This interdisciplinary project develops a highly novel total network strategy for real-time kinematic GPS positioning services using the Internet communication protocols for data transmission. The proposed system is technically superior to existing network-based differential GPS (DGPS) systems, by providing positioning services at different accuracy levels (metre to centimetre) with reduced operational cost to users. The research focuses on improved network operations and processing, along with developing user-specific algorithms. The outcomes are expected to provide significant opportunities for both real time and near-real-time kinematic positioning applications and commercialisations of such services, in urban and regional areas of Australia.Read moreRead less
Hardware Verification Techniques for Complex High Performance Systems-on-a-chip. Verifying the correctness of modern integrated circuit designs is a critical success factor from both economic and technological perspectives. Rapid advances in semiconductor manufacturing technology are not matched by similar gains in hardware design verification methodology. This creates a widening verification gap that threatens the viability of future complex integrated circuits. This project aims to address th ....Hardware Verification Techniques for Complex High Performance Systems-on-a-chip. Verifying the correctness of modern integrated circuit designs is a critical success factor from both economic and technological perspectives. Rapid advances in semiconductor manufacturing technology are not matched by similar gains in hardware design verification methodology. This creates a widening verification gap that threatens the viability of future complex integrated circuits. This project aims to address this issue by developing novel hardware verification techniques targeting complex high performance systems-on-a-chip. The research outcome will be a set of verification techniques and tools that directly benefit the advancement of future integrated circuit development, verification and manufacturing.Read moreRead less
Investigation of novel magneto-optic materials exhibiting high Faraday figure of merit. Magneto-optical materials have a wide range of potential applications in consumer products, telecommunications and defence. Nanotechnologies based on these materials offer an even broader range of emerging applications. Understanding and participating in the development of magneto-optic technologies will therefore be critical to maintaining Australia's knowledge base and expertise in future technological adv ....Investigation of novel magneto-optic materials exhibiting high Faraday figure of merit. Magneto-optical materials have a wide range of potential applications in consumer products, telecommunications and defence. Nanotechnologies based on these materials offer an even broader range of emerging applications. Understanding and participating in the development of magneto-optic technologies will therefore be critical to maintaining Australia's knowledge base and expertise in future technological advances. Given the early stages of development of these technologies, Australia's expertise in material science and the patent rights held by Australian companies in this area, Australia has the opportunity to make major contributions to this field, and the potential to capitalise on the application of these technologies in niche markets.Read moreRead less