Novel power system architecture and control for 'More Electric Aircraft'. This project aims to propose a new conceptual design of an internal aircraft electrical system and its control, which minimises the issues of traditional power systems and takes advantage of contemporary control and technology advances to minimise weight/volume and maximise reliability. The project will target a specific design, which includes consideration of novel power electronic topologies, to achieve these goals. The ....Novel power system architecture and control for 'More Electric Aircraft'. This project aims to propose a new conceptual design of an internal aircraft electrical system and its control, which minimises the issues of traditional power systems and takes advantage of contemporary control and technology advances to minimise weight/volume and maximise reliability. The project will target a specific design, which includes consideration of novel power electronic topologies, to achieve these goals. The results will be validated through simulation, experiments and field testing. It is anticipated that the ideas developed within this project will have a major impact on More Electric Aircraft technology, as well as on general interconnected energy resource systems, such as DC and AC microgrids.Read moreRead less
When every second counts: Multi-drone navigation in GPS-denied environments. The aim of this research is to develop a framework for multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), that balances information sharing, exploration, localization, mapping, and other planning objectives thus allowing a team of UAVs to navigate in complex environments in time critical situations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in UAV navigation using an innovative approach by combining Simultaneous Localizatio ....When every second counts: Multi-drone navigation in GPS-denied environments. The aim of this research is to develop a framework for multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), that balances information sharing, exploration, localization, mapping, and other planning objectives thus allowing a team of UAVs to navigate in complex environments in time critical situations. This project expects to generate new knowledge in UAV navigation using an innovative approach by combining Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms with Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP) and Deep Reinforcement learning. This should provide significant benefits, such as more responsive search and rescue inside collapsed buildings or underground mines, as well as fast target detection and mapping under the tree canopy. Read moreRead less
Identification and Examination of Visual Cues for Aircraft Glideslope Control. While aviation safety has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, accidents are still more common during landing than any other stage of flight. This project aims to improve our understanding of the way pilots use visual information to land an aircraft. Once our findings have been incorporated into existing training programs, this much-needed information should result in: (i) reduced pilot training time and cost ....Identification and Examination of Visual Cues for Aircraft Glideslope Control. While aviation safety has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, accidents are still more common during landing than any other stage of flight. This project aims to improve our understanding of the way pilots use visual information to land an aircraft. Once our findings have been incorporated into existing training programs, this much-needed information should result in: (i) reduced pilot training time and cost; (ii) increased trainee pilot safety and confidence; and (iii) reduced aircraft maintenance costs. A PhD student, who will be trained in visual perception and aviation, should contribute significantly to future aviation research in this country.Read moreRead less
Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to ....Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to keep track of time and testing whether time is encoded as a basic feature. These experiments will further our knowledge of time perception and lead to improved models of how the brain encodes time.Read moreRead less
Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysica ....Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysical experiments will explore: (i) audio-visual interactions in perception (sound enhancing vision, vision enhancing hearing); (ii) audio-visual interactions in spatial attention. Neurophysiological evidence, plus very recent psychophysical findings of audio-visual interactions, suggest this will be a rich vein of research.Read moreRead less
Visual Coding of Motion and Form. Understanding how brains solve the problems of vision may prove crucial in understanding how to build intelligent robots capable of seeing, as well as in developing more sophisticated virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. Moreover, given that a large proportion of our cortex is given over to visual processing, anything we can learn about the operation of the visual system might prove relevant to our understanding of cortical processing in general as ....Visual Coding of Motion and Form. Understanding how brains solve the problems of vision may prove crucial in understanding how to build intelligent robots capable of seeing, as well as in developing more sophisticated virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. Moreover, given that a large proportion of our cortex is given over to visual processing, anything we can learn about the operation of the visual system might prove relevant to our understanding of cortical processing in general as well as bringing us one step closer to an explanation of how activity in our brains gives rise to the experience of conscious perception. This project will directly expand Australia's knowledge-base regarding neural processing in general and visual perception in particular.Read moreRead less
An investigation of long-range stereopsis. Our project will be the first to examine long-range stereoscopic perceptions of depth, slant and curvature, as well as perceived changes in slant and curvature on the ground. The research is also theoretically significant and novel in exploring the scaling of stereopsis by monocular distance cues such as the ground plane, perspective and horizon. Determining the useful range of stereopsis also has many practical applications e.g. for understanding vehi ....An investigation of long-range stereopsis. Our project will be the first to examine long-range stereoscopic perceptions of depth, slant and curvature, as well as perceived changes in slant and curvature on the ground. The research is also theoretically significant and novel in exploring the scaling of stereopsis by monocular distance cues such as the ground plane, perspective and horizon. Determining the useful range of stereopsis also has many practical applications e.g. for understanding vehicle guidance (eg helicopter landing), as well as natural locomotion and route planning. The research is possible because of innovative equipment designed to allow for fast changes in remote targets.
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The perception and recognition of surfaces and objects: Segmentation and completion. One of the most difficult problems in visual processing involves recovering the structure of objects when multiple objects are present. Near objects can partially occlude distant objects; distant objects can partially camouflage near objects; and objects can become 'mixed' in conditions of transparency. The proposed work will provide fundamental knowledge about how humans extract object structure in conditions ....The perception and recognition of surfaces and objects: Segmentation and completion. One of the most difficult problems in visual processing involves recovering the structure of objects when multiple objects are present. Near objects can partially occlude distant objects; distant objects can partially camouflage near objects; and objects can become 'mixed' in conditions of transparency. The proposed work will provide fundamental knowledge about how humans extract object structure in conditions that are pervasive in images used for both medical and security diagnosis (such as x-rays). The proposed research will provide critical insight into how the human visual system extracts the structure of objects and surfaces that can inform both the design of imaging devices and automated detection systems.Read moreRead less
The perception of surfaces and materials. Our visual experience of the objects that populate our world arises from the interaction of light with surfaces. The way in which light is structured allows us to determine the material properties of objects. The appearance of surfaces allows us to determine whether the materials of which objects are composed are hard, soft, slippery, wet, pliable, brittle, or rough (to name just a few). The proposed work will seek to determine how the visual system co ....The perception of surfaces and materials. Our visual experience of the objects that populate our world arises from the interaction of light with surfaces. The way in which light is structured allows us to determine the material properties of objects. The appearance of surfaces allows us to determine whether the materials of which objects are composed are hard, soft, slippery, wet, pliable, brittle, or rough (to name just a few). The proposed work will seek to determine how the visual system computes complex surface properties from images, which can be broadly applied to the development of automated systems to determine the material properties of objects.Read moreRead less
Audiovisual interactions in human perception: exploring the temporal dimension and the role of attention. The proposed studies provide an extensive research program into audiovisual interactions that occur in human perception of the external world. These two senses are commonly co-activated when an external event produces patterns of both light and sound (e.g., human speech; traffic). The project's main aim is to explore how timing differences and other temporal factors affect audiovisual integr ....Audiovisual interactions in human perception: exploring the temporal dimension and the role of attention. The proposed studies provide an extensive research program into audiovisual interactions that occur in human perception of the external world. These two senses are commonly co-activated when an external event produces patterns of both light and sound (e.g., human speech; traffic). The project's main aim is to explore how timing differences and other temporal factors affect audiovisual integration. The will benefit basic science by furthering our knowledge of multisensory integration in the human brain. This knowledge has potential for practical applications ranging from AV synching in streaming and video to AV virtual realities.Read moreRead less