Automated vision-based aircraft collision warning technologies. Australia is a sparsely populated country with a number of unique airspace features. This project will investigate novel vision-based collision warning systems that can improve safety for piloted aircraft and also help achieve integration of UASs (Uninhabited Aerial Systems) into national airspace. The benefits of UAS technologies are particularly relevant to Australia, as governments and industry struggle to cope with providing equ ....Automated vision-based aircraft collision warning technologies. Australia is a sparsely populated country with a number of unique airspace features. This project will investigate novel vision-based collision warning systems that can improve safety for piloted aircraft and also help achieve integration of UASs (Uninhabited Aerial Systems) into national airspace. The benefits of UAS technologies are particularly relevant to Australia, as governments and industry struggle to cope with providing equivalent levels of service to remote communities over vast distances (or border protection of vast regions). The population base of Australia requires that cost-effective solutions are sought to meet this end. Read moreRead less
Co-design and dynamic mission optimisation of hypersonic flight vehicles. This project aims to deliver fundamental knowledge by integrating the modelling and control with the design of next generation hypersonic platforms. In an era where Australia's national security reliance on geographic isolation and support from allied forces are being challenged, the research outcomes of this project will play an important role in understanding the capabilities of hypersonic systems. The project will also ....Co-design and dynamic mission optimisation of hypersonic flight vehicles. This project aims to deliver fundamental knowledge by integrating the modelling and control with the design of next generation hypersonic platforms. In an era where Australia's national security reliance on geographic isolation and support from allied forces are being challenged, the research outcomes of this project will play an important role in understanding the capabilities of hypersonic systems. The project will also have significant spillover benefits into other complex system domains, where computational tools can be used to aid in design leading to high embedded-IP products for Australian industry. Furthermore, the proposal encompasses a strong research training aspect, with graduates exposed to leading edge industry and academia.Read moreRead less
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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Vision Based Guidance, Navigation and Control of a Tail-Sitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The development of a high precision visual guidance system for vertical takeoff and landing UAVs will significantly enhance their operational effectiveness by allowing them to land accurately on the back of small vessels or in confined clearings. Together with the extra navigation-system redundancy vis-a-vis GPS system failure and the ability to self-identify reasonable emergency landing sites, the proposed v ....Vision Based Guidance, Navigation and Control of a Tail-Sitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The development of a high precision visual guidance system for vertical takeoff and landing UAVs will significantly enhance their operational effectiveness by allowing them to land accurately on the back of small vessels or in confined clearings. Together with the extra navigation-system redundancy vis-a-vis GPS system failure and the ability to self-identify reasonable emergency landing sites, the proposed vision-based system represents a significant capability improvement over what is currently available. It will thus enhance the ability of defence and civil-defence units to patrol Australian borders effectively and to react to threats. It will also have significant export potential to allied nations.Read moreRead less
Locating Interference to GPS: Protecting the World's Aircraft Landing Systems. GRAS is an enormous initiative that is expected to generate billions of dollars in exports for Australia. The equipment developed in this project will protect the system from radio frequency interference. It thus protects these exports, and creates a new exportable product. By protecting this system, it makes air travel safer both in Australia and in the countries that buy this Australian technology.
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
Fork safely: improving safety of ordinary forklifts by automating task-specific operations. Forklift trucks are used for goods handling extensively in all sectors of industry. However, statistics show high figures of forklift accidents, with an average of 250 serious injuries per year in Victoria alone. This project will seek to address the operational safety of forklifts by automating the execution of typical forklift tasks.
Improving the operation of large-scale irrigation networks through automation. Channel networks for irrigation are critical infrastructure. Efficient operation is important in terms of sustainability and food security. This project aims to deliver automatic control techniques for improving system-wide performance. The research outcomes will secure Australia's place at the forefront of irrigation network automation technology.
Control and safety monitoring systems for large scale irrigation networks. The water losses in irrigation channels in Australia are large, but they can be substantially reduced by employing advanced control and monitoring systems, leading to significant environmental benefits. Due to the large size of the irrigation networks, design of control and monitoring systems represents technical challenges for which there are currently no good methodologies. In this project we will develop design methodo ....Control and safety monitoring systems for large scale irrigation networks. The water losses in irrigation channels in Australia are large, but they can be substantially reduced by employing advanced control and monitoring systems, leading to significant environmental benefits. Due to the large size of the irrigation networks, design of control and monitoring systems represents technical challenges for which there are currently no good methodologies. In this project we will develop design methodologies, and in particular we will focus on issues relating to the communication constraints arising since data are transmitted over a radio network and the trade off between robustness and performance in centralised and decentralised designs.Read moreRead less
Supervised autonomy for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) using limited bandwidth communication channels. The project aims to improve the feedback link between an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and an operator by developing novel acoustic communication schemes that exploit developments in machine learning, network, and communication theory and represents a step towards truly autonomous and intelligent surveying using AUV systems.