Bio-inspired speech analysis: Specialised information processing of vocalisations in the auditory brainstem. This project has the potential to benefit bionic ear and hearing aid users through the development of signal processing methods that mimic the amazing abilities of the brain. Speech perception performance by bionic ear users has reached a plateau and these new strategies could produce the breakthrough needed to provide the next increase in performance. The benefit for greater improved hea ....Bio-inspired speech analysis: Specialised information processing of vocalisations in the auditory brainstem. This project has the potential to benefit bionic ear and hearing aid users through the development of signal processing methods that mimic the amazing abilities of the brain. Speech perception performance by bionic ear users has reached a plateau and these new strategies could produce the breakthrough needed to provide the next increase in performance. The benefit for greater improved hearing has enormous benefit and potential for improving the quality of life of the hearing impaired, especially those with severe and profound hearing loss. In addition, the algorithms may provide more robust automatic speech recognition, making this technology more useful in everyday situations; the markets that this would open up are enormous.Read moreRead less
Blind Signal Separation from Unidentifiable Systems. This project will contribute to the designated national research priority goal on frontier Information and Communications Technology. The outcomes of the project will advance the theory of signal processing and enable performance improvement of a wide range of hi-tech applications. This project will enhance Australia's research reputation and competitiveness, promote the understanding and applications of advanced signal processing techniques i ....Blind Signal Separation from Unidentifiable Systems. This project will contribute to the designated national research priority goal on frontier Information and Communications Technology. The outcomes of the project will advance the theory of signal processing and enable performance improvement of a wide range of hi-tech applications. This project will enhance Australia's research reputation and competitiveness, promote the understanding and applications of advanced signal processing techniques in local industries, and provide excellent training opportunity for PhD and Honours students.Read moreRead less
Adaptive learning of spatiotemporal patterns: Development of multi-layer spiking neuron networks using Hebbian and competitive learning. The aim of this project is to develop a method for recognising patterns that change in time. The development of a reliable method that is fast and robust to noise will have wide application in many areas, especially computer speech recognition where timing plays a crucial role. Building-blocks similar to those in the brain (spiking neurons) will be used. Aut ....Adaptive learning of spatiotemporal patterns: Development of multi-layer spiking neuron networks using Hebbian and competitive learning. The aim of this project is to develop a method for recognising patterns that change in time. The development of a reliable method that is fast and robust to noise will have wide application in many areas, especially computer speech recognition where timing plays a crucial role. Building-blocks similar to those in the brain (spiking neurons) will be used. Automatic techniques will be used to teach groups of spiking neurons the differences between sequences of events by adjusting connections between them. The significance of this approach is that it captures information about timing that is missed in existing techniques.Read moreRead less
Mobile spatial-audio telecommunication systems. We will develop an inter-personal electronic spatial-audio telecommunication system that works outdoors in a mobile environment. Talkers using the system will be acoustically aware of other talkers? locations because the communication channel is rendered as 3D audio. The system provides situational awareness useful during activities such as fire fighting, search and rescue, surveillance, audio/video teleconferencing. The research investigates syste ....Mobile spatial-audio telecommunication systems. We will develop an inter-personal electronic spatial-audio telecommunication system that works outdoors in a mobile environment. Talkers using the system will be acoustically aware of other talkers? locations because the communication channel is rendered as 3D audio. The system provides situational awareness useful during activities such as fire fighting, search and rescue, surveillance, audio/video teleconferencing. The research investigates system implementations using wearable computing with personal location sensors (differential GPS) and personal orientation sensors (hybrid gyroscopic/magnetic system). The work will result in fundamental data relevant to the development, testing and validation of a mobile telecommunication system with individualised spatial audio.Read moreRead less
Frequency-related features derived from phase spectrum for robust speech recognition. Though the currently available speech recognizers work reasonably well in noise-free environments, their performance deteriorates drastically even in the presence of a small amount of noise. In order to overcome this problem, new frequency-related features are proposed in this project for speech recognition. These features are derived from the phase spectrum of the speech signal, and are expected to be robust t ....Frequency-related features derived from phase spectrum for robust speech recognition. Though the currently available speech recognizers work reasonably well in noise-free environments, their performance deteriorates drastically even in the presence of a small amount of noise. In order to overcome this problem, new frequency-related features are proposed in this project for speech recognition. These features are derived from the phase spectrum of the speech signal, and are expected to be robust to the additive noise distortion. These features will make the speech recognizer less sensitive to noise and will enhance its utility in a number of applications in the telecommunication and business world.Read moreRead less
Beamforming with acoustic vector sensors for audio user interfaces. We aim to create new Audio User Interfaces (AUIs) for the automatic separation and annotation of audio from complex sound scenes using acoustic vector sensor beamforming technology. Specifically, we will develop: speech AUIs for noisy, multi-talker, reverberant environments; and sound transcription AUIs for the deaf. Ultimately, users will be able to walk into a room, hold conversations and leave with a searchable, automatically ....Beamforming with acoustic vector sensors for audio user interfaces. We aim to create new Audio User Interfaces (AUIs) for the automatic separation and annotation of audio from complex sound scenes using acoustic vector sensor beamforming technology. Specifically, we will develop: speech AUIs for noisy, multi-talker, reverberant environments; and sound transcription AUIs for the deaf. Ultimately, users will be able to walk into a room, hold conversations and leave with a searchable, automatically-generated transcript of the audio events, tagged with metadata. The application of these technologies will create new possibilities for recording audio in the music, radio, TV industries, and future home based audio communication systems.Read moreRead less
Iterative subspace expansions for space-time adaptive wireless communications, radar and sonar. This project addresses the fundamental challenge of high receiver complexity for bandwidth-efficient, high data-rate wireless communications, radar and sonar. We do this by designing the signal transmissions so that smart receivers can detect the signals in "warp speed". We expect these results to have an immediate impact on the design of next generation communications technologies. Information and Co ....Iterative subspace expansions for space-time adaptive wireless communications, radar and sonar. This project addresses the fundamental challenge of high receiver complexity for bandwidth-efficient, high data-rate wireless communications, radar and sonar. We do this by designing the signal transmissions so that smart receivers can detect the signals in "warp speed". We expect these results to have an immediate impact on the design of next generation communications technologies. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been recognised by the Australian Government as a National Research Priority. This research project will contribute to the intellectual property in ICT held by Australia, and help supply Australian industries with the knowledge necessary to participate in the development of frontier technologies.Read moreRead less
Fixed and variable-length segment vocoders for very low bitrate speech coding. Reliable and secure voice communication is an important aspect of military and defence operations. In order to reduce the possibility of interception, low power transmitters are normally used for radio communications, where the bandwidth is often very low. Military voice communication, therefore, requires the coding of speech at very low bitrates. Our research proposal aims to develop speech coders that can operate ....Fixed and variable-length segment vocoders for very low bitrate speech coding. Reliable and secure voice communication is an important aspect of military and defence operations. In order to reduce the possibility of interception, low power transmitters are normally used for radio communications, where the bandwidth is often very low. Military voice communication, therefore, requires the coding of speech at very low bitrates. Our research proposal aims to develop speech coders that can operate at lower bitrates and reproduce speech of high quality and intelligibility. This is highly beneficial to the defence forces of Australia as it will permit the use of high-grade encryption technology to improve the security of transmission.Read moreRead less
Superconducting MgB2 thin films and structures for electronic devices and telecommunication applications. Two important directions of electronic application for MgB2 films are superconducting Josephson junction (JJ) technology and passive microwave devices. Superconducting JJ technology will have a small but important niche in high-performance digital signal and data processing applications for civilian, commercial, and military terrestrial, as well as space deployment. With superconducting pass ....Superconducting MgB2 thin films and structures for electronic devices and telecommunication applications. Two important directions of electronic application for MgB2 films are superconducting Josephson junction (JJ) technology and passive microwave devices. Superconducting JJ technology will have a small but important niche in high-performance digital signal and data processing applications for civilian, commercial, and military terrestrial, as well as space deployment. With superconducting passive microwave devices, the potentially largest market in this segment are filter systems for ground- or satellite based wireless communication systems. The research outcome could support Australian companies to develop corresponding products, as well as broaden Australia's knowledge of the physics of the new MgB2 superconductor.Read moreRead less
Adaptive learning in networks of spiking neurons for recognising patterns that change with time. The aim of this project is to develop a method for recognising patterns that change with time. Building-blocks similar to those in the brain (spiking neurons) will be used. Automatic techniques will be developed to teach groups of spiking neurons the differences between sequences of events by adjusting connections between neurons. The significance of this approach is that it captures information abou ....Adaptive learning in networks of spiking neurons for recognising patterns that change with time. The aim of this project is to develop a method for recognising patterns that change with time. Building-blocks similar to those in the brain (spiking neurons) will be used. Automatic techniques will be developed to teach groups of spiking neurons the differences between sequences of events by adjusting connections between neurons. The significance of this approach is that it captures information about timing that is missed in existing techniques. The development of a reliable method that is fast and robust to noise will have wide application in many areas, especially computer speech recognition where timing plays a crucial role.Read moreRead less