Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved ....Automated helicopter hover and recovery system for operations at sea. The small size and simplicity of the integrated system outlined in this project will significantly improve the effectiveness of maritime surveillance for homeland security whilst enabling substantially lower operational costs. The proposal aims to develop control and sensing techniques, enabling small rotary wing unmanned air-vehicles (UAVs) weighing less than 100 kgs to operate from small-size vessels. This will be achieved by resolving the current lack of integration between ship motion and the unmanned vehicle guidance systems. The proposed research will make substantial contributions in areas of ship motion prediction and sensing and hover control of tethered and non-tethered small helicopters.
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Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100644
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$889,472.00
Summary
Triple hybrid fuel-cell-based propulsion for long-range eVTOL operations. AMSL Aero's Vertiia is an Australian-developed electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft that will provide rapid response air ambulance and low-cost passenger transport for rural Australia. This project will optimise a fuel cell/battery/ultracapacitor triple hybrid system for Vertiia by combining dynamic energy source models, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, aero-propulsive flight mechanics models, and accel ....Triple hybrid fuel-cell-based propulsion for long-range eVTOL operations. AMSL Aero's Vertiia is an Australian-developed electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft that will provide rapid response air ambulance and low-cost passenger transport for rural Australia. This project will optimise a fuel cell/battery/ultracapacitor triple hybrid system for Vertiia by combining dynamic energy source models, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, aero-propulsive flight mechanics models, and accelerated degradation testing. The triple hybrid will extend the life of both batteries and fuel cells for eVTOL aircraft. It will allow AMSL to fast-track the improved durability needed for cost-competitive long-range eVTOL operations, giving them an up-front and industry-leading experience on hybrid systems for eVTOLs.Read moreRead less
Energy Source Durability for Electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing Aircraft. This project aims to address energy source durability for electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft by optimising a fuel cell/battery/ultracapacitor triple hybrid energy system. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of energy source durability using interdisciplinary approaches that combine energy source degradation models, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, aero-propulsive flight mechan ....Energy Source Durability for Electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing Aircraft. This project aims to address energy source durability for electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft by optimising a fuel cell/battery/ultracapacitor triple hybrid energy system. The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of energy source durability using interdisciplinary approaches that combine energy source degradation models, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, aero-propulsive flight mechanics models, and accelerated degradation testing. This should provide significant benefits, allowing to fast-track the improved longevity needed for cost-competitive long-range rapid response air ambulance eVTOL operations.Read moreRead less
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100469
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$442,327.00
Summary
Re-igniting 'artistic vibrancy' in the Australian opera ecosystem. This project aims to advance new methodologies for re-establishing 'artistic vibrancy' (a factor found to be lacking by the National Opera Review in 2014-16) within operatic practice in Australia. The project expects to generate new knowledge of vital, but hidden musical processes, using interdisciplinary approaches in order to rebalance and recalibrate the opera ecosystem. Expected outcomes include the revitalisation of operatic ....Re-igniting 'artistic vibrancy' in the Australian opera ecosystem. This project aims to advance new methodologies for re-establishing 'artistic vibrancy' (a factor found to be lacking by the National Opera Review in 2014-16) within operatic practice in Australia. The project expects to generate new knowledge of vital, but hidden musical processes, using interdisciplinary approaches in order to rebalance and recalibrate the opera ecosystem. Expected outcomes include the revitalisation of operatic practice and the establishment of clear parameters for responsible opera curation. Benefits include an enhanced awareness of artistic vibrancy within opera, and the creation of new practices, which will be of significant cultural and artistic benefit to the wider Australian community.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