Revealing the beneficial effects of acoustic stimulation on the human brain. This project aims to provide greater understanding of the neural mechanisms by which initiation of motor responses can be improved by unexpected auditory stimulation. Initiating motor actions appears natural and effortless, but is underpinned by complex neural mechanisms that are not well understood. Using novel brain stimulation techniques, the project aims to assess the potential for properly timed strong sensory stim ....Revealing the beneficial effects of acoustic stimulation on the human brain. This project aims to provide greater understanding of the neural mechanisms by which initiation of motor responses can be improved by unexpected auditory stimulation. Initiating motor actions appears natural and effortless, but is underpinned by complex neural mechanisms that are not well understood. Using novel brain stimulation techniques, the project aims to assess the potential for properly timed strong sensory stimulation during movement preparation to induce neural plasticity and motor learning. This knowledge would have important implications across a number of fields, including neuroscience, sports science, and applied ergonomics.Read moreRead less
Coordination control of underactuated ocean vehicles for ocean forecasting. Australia is surrounded by oceans. Ocean forecasting is essential for effective and efficient operations on and within the ocean for a number of applications such as coastal zone management, military operations and scientific research. The successful completion of this project promises to put Australia in a leading position in this area. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this project, the project development will a ....Coordination control of underactuated ocean vehicles for ocean forecasting. Australia is surrounded by oceans. Ocean forecasting is essential for effective and efficient operations on and within the ocean for a number of applications such as coastal zone management, military operations and scientific research. The successful completion of this project promises to put Australia in a leading position in this area. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this project, the project development will also stimulate the development in many other areas such as new ocean vehicles, sensors and actuators, electronics and control.Read moreRead less
The genetic and diagnostic relationship between motor control and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often have comorbid Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This project will utilise the expertise of leading researchers in Australia and the Netherlands to investigate the genetic and diagnostic relationship between these two disorders utilising a large sample of twins and their siblings. We will examine the neuropsych ....The genetic and diagnostic relationship between motor control and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often have comorbid Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This project will utilise the expertise of leading researchers in Australia and the Netherlands to investigate the genetic and diagnostic relationship between these two disorders utilising a large sample of twins and their siblings. We will examine the neuropsychological functioning in these groups of children in order to gain a better understanding of their genetic relationship. These findings will provide insight into the current DSM-IV classification of these disorders compared with other models used to investigate the relationship between poor motor coordination and ADHD.Read moreRead less
Designing an Intelligent Process Operation Management System. The complexity and sophistication of current generation of industrial processes, and the growing need for autonomous agents that control physical systems, motivate the need for the development of an intelligent process operation management system. In this project, the innovative integration of theories from different scientific fields (computer systems, process engineering, systems and control engineering) provides an excellent platfo ....Designing an Intelligent Process Operation Management System. The complexity and sophistication of current generation of industrial processes, and the growing need for autonomous agents that control physical systems, motivate the need for the development of an intelligent process operation management system. In this project, the innovative integration of theories from different scientific fields (computer systems, process engineering, systems and control engineering) provides an excellent platform for development of a smart data management tool, to oversee the major operational tasks within the plant and help the operators and engineers to make more informed decisions. Direct application of the techniques developed in this study to a pilot case study, could be used as a benchmark to show the potential benefits that can be gained through smart information use and data management.Read moreRead less
The Acoustic, Control and Aerodynamic Aspects of the Entecho Hoverpod. The development of small aerial vehicles, both manned and unmanned is a growing market in the aviation industry. This market sector has the potential to provide cheap, environmentally friendly transport solutions for the defence purposes, law enforcement agencies and emergency and recreational vehicles. This project serves to enhance Australia's position in this market by helping a local company develop its technology in a ....The Acoustic, Control and Aerodynamic Aspects of the Entecho Hoverpod. The development of small aerial vehicles, both manned and unmanned is a growing market in the aviation industry. This market sector has the potential to provide cheap, environmentally friendly transport solutions for the defence purposes, law enforcement agencies and emergency and recreational vehicles. This project serves to enhance Australia's position in this market by helping a local company develop its technology in a cost effective and timely manner. The progress made in the three research aspects will also advance areas of science and technology with practical applications other than aerial vehicles.Read moreRead less
DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NONLINEAR CONTROLLERS FOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING AND PATH-FOLLOWING OF UNDERACTUATED OCEAN VEHICLES. Trajectory tracking control and path-following of underactuated ocean vehicles are not only of theoretical challenging but also important practice. This project is firstly to develop methodologies to design full-state feedback controllers to force the underactuated ocean vehicles including surface ships and underwater vehicles with off-diagonal terms in their system matrices to tr ....DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NONLINEAR CONTROLLERS FOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING AND PATH-FOLLOWING OF UNDERACTUATED OCEAN VEHICLES. Trajectory tracking control and path-following of underactuated ocean vehicles are not only of theoretical challenging but also important practice. This project is firstly to develop methodologies to design full-state feedback controllers to force the underactuated ocean vehicles including surface ships and underwater vehicles with off-diagonal terms in their system matrices to track reference trajectories generated by virtual vehicles, and to follow a predefined path with a desired forward speed. Secondly, we develop methods to design observers to estimate the unmeasured states (velocities) of the vehicles and incorporate with the full-state feedback controllers to have output-feedback observer-based controllers. Lastly, the proposed control design methods are extended to a certain class of underactuated mechanical systems.Read moreRead less
How human vision separately determines object and scene motion. This project aims to enhance understanding of how people process visual scenes containing multiple moving objects of interest. The project intends to measure human visual performance to determine how the brain processes multiple motion signals simultaneously. Expected outcomes include an increased understanding of how we are able to use an evolving visual scene to distinguish between changes due to self-motion and those due to the m ....How human vision separately determines object and scene motion. This project aims to enhance understanding of how people process visual scenes containing multiple moving objects of interest. The project intends to measure human visual performance to determine how the brain processes multiple motion signals simultaneously. Expected outcomes include an increased understanding of how we are able to use an evolving visual scene to distinguish between changes due to self-motion and those due to the motion of multiple moving objects such as crowded city footpaths and busy roads. The results will improve our understanding of failures to see moving objects in challenging viewing conditions (for example, high density traffic), and inform work in the design of autonomous driving and augmented reality display systems.Read moreRead less
Modelling and estimation methods for discrete multi-dimensional systems. Multi-dimensional signal processing plays a role in a variety of application areas, ranging from remote sensing for environmental monitoring and geological mapping, to medical imaging and the automatic control of industrial processes. The success of the project will provide mathematical tools for the advancement of the state-of-the-art in these broad areas.
A geometric theory for modern optimisation problems in control and estimation. Linear-quadratic and spectral factorisation problems play a crucial role in system and control theory as well as many important application areas. The success of the project will represent a significant advancement of state-of-the-art in these broad areas.
Improving transient performance for systems with multiple inputs/outputs. This project aims to develop and test new mathematical techniques for the improvement of transient performance in tracking control systems. The fundamental problem to be addressed will be the design of controllers to rapidly track constant and time varying target reference signals without overshooting or undershooting for multiple-input multiple-output systems/plants. These new methods aim to offer improved accuracy and sp ....Improving transient performance for systems with multiple inputs/outputs. This project aims to develop and test new mathematical techniques for the improvement of transient performance in tracking control systems. The fundamental problem to be addressed will be the design of controllers to rapidly track constant and time varying target reference signals without overshooting or undershooting for multiple-input multiple-output systems/plants. These new methods aim to offer improved accuracy and speed in many engineering applications.Read moreRead less