Technologies for advanced optical fibre sensors. This project is to create a significantly better technology for exploration of oil and gas reserves under the ocean. Based on lasers and fibre optics, it leverages Australia's prodigious photonics expertise and couples it with Australia's established and well-regarded resource industry. Successful completion will enable better utilization of this country's natural resources, in particular oil and gas reserves, whilst also creating a high technolog ....Technologies for advanced optical fibre sensors. This project is to create a significantly better technology for exploration of oil and gas reserves under the ocean. Based on lasers and fibre optics, it leverages Australia's prodigious photonics expertise and couples it with Australia's established and well-regarded resource industry. Successful completion will enable better utilization of this country's natural resources, in particular oil and gas reserves, whilst also creating a high technology export, given the size of the world marine survey market (US$4 billion). Better energy exploration technologies are vital to Australia and, indeed the world, as energy supply dwindles and the increased energy costs begin to impact negatively on economic growth.Read moreRead less
Molecular Fingerprinting: Forensic Spectroscopy of Trace Gases. Safeguarding Australia from terrorism, crime and invasive diseases is essential to securing our national infrastructure. This project will develop national capabilities in anticipating and responding to critical threats to society. The scientific instrumentation developed from this effort will enhance Australia's potential aid for early detection of explosive and chemical weaponry and also in the analysis of crime scenes. This rese ....Molecular Fingerprinting: Forensic Spectroscopy of Trace Gases. Safeguarding Australia from terrorism, crime and invasive diseases is essential to securing our national infrastructure. This project will develop national capabilities in anticipating and responding to critical threats to society. The scientific instrumentation developed from this effort will enhance Australia's potential aid for early detection of explosive and chemical weaponry and also in the analysis of crime scenes. This research will significantly improve our abilities to maintain the operational advantage of Australia's security agencies through superior capabilities in threat detection.Read moreRead less
Unlocking the potential of quantitative x-ray micro-tomography. This project aims to build on two new ideas in data acquisition and 3D image reconstruction to bring 3D X-ray microscopy or computed tomography (CT) into advanced research use as well as common industrial applications. In the past 10 years, CT has improved our understanding in areas ranging from the evolution of life and osteoporosis to composite material failure and oil recovery. However, the full potential of CT remains unrealised ....Unlocking the potential of quantitative x-ray micro-tomography. This project aims to build on two new ideas in data acquisition and 3D image reconstruction to bring 3D X-ray microscopy or computed tomography (CT) into advanced research use as well as common industrial applications. In the past 10 years, CT has improved our understanding in areas ranging from the evolution of life and osteoporosis to composite material failure and oil recovery. However, the full potential of CT remains unrealised because crucial features in structure and composition are overlooked by simplistic algorithms. Users cannot directly capture quantities of interest such as key compositional variation or defects, and workflows are poorly adapted for large-scale use in industrial fabrication or phenomics. This project aims to address these shortcomings using advanced mathematics and algorithms.Read moreRead less
A miniaturised laser manipulator for ultra-precise and pain-free dentistry. This project aims to develop a miniaturized high-precision laser robotic device that can fit comfortably in the mouth to perform pain-free, vibration-free dental operations by utilising silicon-carbide on silicon technology to create a millimetre-sized two-axis controllable, highly-reflective mirror robust to high-power ultra-short laser pulses. This project expects to generate new knowledge in micro-mirror control using ....A miniaturised laser manipulator for ultra-precise and pain-free dentistry. This project aims to develop a miniaturized high-precision laser robotic device that can fit comfortably in the mouth to perform pain-free, vibration-free dental operations by utilising silicon-carbide on silicon technology to create a millimetre-sized two-axis controllable, highly-reflective mirror robust to high-power ultra-short laser pulses. This project expects to generate new knowledge in micro-mirror control using optically excited piezo-resistive sensors, and cold femtosecond laser ablation of hard dental tissue. Expected outcomes include a working prototype for laser removal of tooth materials at speeds exceeding dental drills, providing benefits in miniaturized laser devices and ultimately removing pain from dental procedures. Read moreRead less
Noise-free Cryogenic Wavefront Sensing. This project aims to optimise the prototype adaptive optics technology for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) by leveraging past investment in adaptive optics instrumentation and shortwave infrared detector systems. This project expects to generate significant improvements in GMT performance, with ten times greater image resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope and current estimates of >90% sky coverage, compared with ~50% coverage for current technology ....Noise-free Cryogenic Wavefront Sensing. This project aims to optimise the prototype adaptive optics technology for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) by leveraging past investment in adaptive optics instrumentation and shortwave infrared detector systems. This project expects to generate significant improvements in GMT performance, with ten times greater image resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope and current estimates of >90% sky coverage, compared with ~50% coverage for current technology. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of a highly trained workforce and continued international collaboration in the field of high-technology sensor systems. This contribution to the GMT will provide significant benefits—it will change the way we view the Universe.Read moreRead less
Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for Electronic Structure Calculations on Clusters of Non-Uniform Memory Access Parallel Processors. In recent years Australian academia has invested heavily in high performance computing systems. A significant fraction of these resources are devoted to performing computational chemistry studies, such as those used in drug design. This project links Australian researchers with the company responsible for a particularly widely used computational chemistr ....Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for Electronic Structure Calculations on Clusters of Non-Uniform Memory Access Parallel Processors. In recent years Australian academia has invested heavily in high performance computing systems. A significant fraction of these resources are devoted to performing computational chemistry studies, such as those used in drug design. This project links Australian researchers with the company responsible for a particularly widely used computational chemistry application package, and also with a major international computer company. Our aim is to substantially improve the performance of this code on cluster based compute systems. This, as well as our generic performance evaluation tools, would be of substantial benefit to the Australian research community. The project will forge links with researchers in Singapore, Japan and the USA.Read moreRead less
Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for the Spectral Solution of the Electronic Schroedinger Equation on Non-Uniform Memory Parallel Processors. We propose to develop software tools and methods that are appropriate for current and future generations of large scale shared memory computer systems. Our purpose is to enable a more productive utilization of these architectures for scientific computation. We will focus on algorithms for solving differential equations appropriate to quantum che ....Programming Paradigms, Tools and Algorithms for the Spectral Solution of the Electronic Schroedinger Equation on Non-Uniform Memory Parallel Processors. We propose to develop software tools and methods that are appropriate for current and future generations of large scale shared memory computer systems. Our purpose is to enable a more productive utilization of these architectures for scientific computation. We will focus on algorithms for solving differential equations appropriate to quantum chemistry. In particular an exciting new class of methods whose computational cost scales linearly with system size. Our goal is to develop scalable parallel implementations of these methods. If realized this will revolutionize computation, enabling first principles calculations on truly nanoscale systems, such as enzymes and molecular electronic devices.Read moreRead less
Residential Air Conditioning, Comfort and Demand Response in Australia. Rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership will potentially undermine national energy efficiency and greenhouse reduction targets. Furthermore, residential AC is placing a strain on the national electricity system, especially during heat waves when electricity demand peaks. These AC-driven peak loads occur occasionally each summer, but increasing grid capacity to meet them represents a grossly inefficient in ....Residential Air Conditioning, Comfort and Demand Response in Australia. Rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership will potentially undermine national energy efficiency and greenhouse reduction targets. Furthermore, residential AC is placing a strain on the national electricity system, especially during heat waves when electricity demand peaks. These AC-driven peak loads occur occasionally each summer, but increasing grid capacity to meet them represents a grossly inefficient infrastructure investment. This project will generate Australia's most comprehensive data set on exactly how, when, where, and why residential AC systems are being used. The outcomes will provide a solid platform on which national electricity demand management and AC greenhouse-gas mitigation strategies can be designed.Read moreRead less
Accurate Performance Modelling and Prediction of Cluster Computers. The tools, methodologies and data produced by this project will assist
Australian academic and industrial organisations in choosing the most
cost-effective cluster configurations for their specific high
performance computing requirements. It will also help an Australian
company to compete with increasing strength against the major
multinationals. The project will also draw together and promote future
research links between ....Accurate Performance Modelling and Prediction of Cluster Computers. The tools, methodologies and data produced by this project will assist
Australian academic and industrial organisations in choosing the most
cost-effective cluster configurations for their specific high
performance computing requirements. It will also help an Australian
company to compete with increasing strength against the major
multinationals. The project will also draw together and promote future
research links between two major academic institutions in this field.
Finally, the project will provide high-level training in research,
with industrial grounding, in the high performance computing industry.
Read moreRead less
Haemodynamic investigation of flow diverter stents for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. This project will explore the engineering of a flow diverter, an endovascular device for the treatment of brain aneurysms. The project will determine the optimal design of new types of flow diverters, which in turn could improve the effectiveness of treatments, thus reducing the associated costs of cerebral haemorrhage and stroke.