Optimising the spring in your step to enhance footwear design. This project aims to examine how the nervous system adjusts the mechanical function of our feet across a spectrum of speeds, from slow running through to maximal effort sprinting. The proposed research will explore how the nervous system controls the function of the foot to meet the ever-varying demands of locomotion in the real-world. Expected outcomes of this project are to determine if running shoes help or hinder the natural spri ....Optimising the spring in your step to enhance footwear design. This project aims to examine how the nervous system adjusts the mechanical function of our feet across a spectrum of speeds, from slow running through to maximal effort sprinting. The proposed research will explore how the nervous system controls the function of the foot to meet the ever-varying demands of locomotion in the real-world. Expected outcomes of this project are to determine if running shoes help or hinder the natural spring-like function of the foot. It will explain a conceptually novel design allowing shoes to support our feet, whilst harnessing the energetic benefits of the foot's spring-like function. This research has the potential to revolutionise athletic footwear design and has direct implications for enhanced performance in running athletes.Read moreRead less
Control and state estimation in the next-generation interconnected systems. This project aims to develop a systematic and efficient approach to address fundamental challenges in control and secure state estimation in the next-generation interconnected systems. Control and state estimation in high-tech systems is an emerging area of control engineering. The importance of this area is quickly increasing due to the growing use of the next-generation interconnected systems, in which physical and hig ....Control and state estimation in the next-generation interconnected systems. This project aims to develop a systematic and efficient approach to address fundamental challenges in control and secure state estimation in the next-generation interconnected systems. Control and state estimation in high-tech systems is an emerging area of control engineering. The importance of this area is quickly increasing due to the growing use of the next-generation interconnected systems, in which physical and high-tech components are interacting in complex networks. The project is expected to have direct applications in the management of energy networks, and in industrial control and secure state estimation problems in the defence, communications, and automobile industries.Read moreRead less
Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade ....Non-contact Integrity Assessment of Façade Panels of High-rise Buildings. Disintegration of the external façade (with tiles, plates, etc.) of high-rise buildings presents a great challenge and a threat to community. This project develops fundamental knowledge and algorithms that underpin the deployment of a new technique for fast and automated quantitative integrity assessment of façade units of high-rise buildings, integrating mechanisms of directional acoustic waves, vibro-acoustics of façade tiles or panels, laser sensing technology, deep learning algorithms and drone technology. Outcomes of this project are critical for implementing the new technology for enhanced safety to community and the development of new procedures for driving down maintenance costs of the external façade of high-rise buildings.Read moreRead less
Cooperative control of networked systems with constraints. This project aims to address the challenge of networked systems in deploying teams of robotic agents. Control of the networked system is extremely difficult due to real world constraints imposed on each agent. This project will focus on motion constraints, equipment/capability constraints, and spatial constraints. In addition to theoretical advances, the wider scientific community will benefit directly, because the control algorithms dev ....Cooperative control of networked systems with constraints. This project aims to address the challenge of networked systems in deploying teams of robotic agents. Control of the networked system is extremely difficult due to real world constraints imposed on each agent. This project will focus on motion constraints, equipment/capability constraints, and spatial constraints. In addition to theoretical advances, the wider scientific community will benefit directly, because the control algorithms developed are expected to allow straightforward deployment of robotic teams. There are myriad applications for cooperative robotic agents, ranging from surveillance, to environmental monitoring using underwater and aerial drone formations – with an array of benefits and impacts including economic, commercial and societal. The results are intended to ensure and cement Australia’s front-line position in the current technological revolution known as “Industry 4.0”.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101527
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,000.00
Summary
Real-time control with safety guarantees: theory and applications . Modern network control systems, such as transport systems with self-driving cars, are becoming bigger, more complex and human-involved. The systems are usually equipped with intelligent devices, such as numerous sensing, fast processors and communication components. To adapt to this change and to benefit from these new intelligent devices, efficient algorithms for control and management need to be developed. This project aims to ....Real-time control with safety guarantees: theory and applications . Modern network control systems, such as transport systems with self-driving cars, are becoming bigger, more complex and human-involved. The systems are usually equipped with intelligent devices, such as numerous sensing, fast processors and communication components. To adapt to this change and to benefit from these new intelligent devices, efficient algorithms for control and management need to be developed. This project aims to develop novel optimisation-based control techniques, as well as efficient optimisation algorithms, for future control systems with an emphasis on distributed implementations, taking safety and real-time constraints such as limited computation and communication resources into consideration. Read moreRead less
Control and Optimization of Distributed Multiagent Formations. The project aims to develop a conceptual framework and algorithms for handling multi-vehicle formation control. Formations of unmanned airborne vehicles are currently used by defence forces and swarms of micro-vehicles are beginning to find increasing use in defence and for civilian emergency response, largely for surveillance purposes. Vehicles must cooperate to achieve a global formation objective, while respecting constraints on s ....Control and Optimization of Distributed Multiagent Formations. The project aims to develop a conceptual framework and algorithms for handling multi-vehicle formation control. Formations of unmanned airborne vehicles are currently used by defence forces and swarms of micro-vehicles are beginning to find increasing use in defence and for civilian emergency response, largely for surveillance purposes. Vehicles must cooperate to achieve a global formation objective, while respecting constraints on sensors, energy, and general mechanical limitations. The project aims to resolve the challenges of deciding what a single vehicle should observe, what and to where it should communicate, and how it should move in relation to what it sees. The conceptual framework developed may also be relevant in guiding future defence acquisitions and civilian applications.Read moreRead less
Inerter-enhanced metastructure for structural vibration control. Meta-based technique has been proposed for vibration control recently due to its special wave filtering effect. However, the current techniques are difficult to attenuate low-frequency waves, thus not suitable for civil structural vibration control. This project proposes incorporating an inerter-based element into the unit cell of a metastructure. Due to the unique mass amplification characteristic of inerter element, manipulating ....Inerter-enhanced metastructure for structural vibration control. Meta-based technique has been proposed for vibration control recently due to its special wave filtering effect. However, the current techniques are difficult to attenuate low-frequency waves, thus not suitable for civil structural vibration control. This project proposes incorporating an inerter-based element into the unit cell of a metastructure. Due to the unique mass amplification characteristic of inerter element, manipulating low-frequency waves becomes possible. Practical designs are developed and applied to control the adverse vibrations of engineering structures induced by three typical vibration sources. Comprehensive analytical, experimental and numerical studies are carried out to examine the effectiveness of the proposed method.Read moreRead less
New mathematics for multi-extremal optimization and diffusion tensor imaging. This project aims to establish numerically certifiable mathematical theory and methods for semi-algebraic optimisation problems. Numerically certifiable optimisation principles and techniques are vital for the practical use of optimisation technologies because they can be readily implemented by common computer models and algorithms. Yet no such methodologies exist for multi-extremal, semi-algebraic optimisation problem ....New mathematics for multi-extremal optimization and diffusion tensor imaging. This project aims to establish numerically certifiable mathematical theory and methods for semi-algebraic optimisation problems. Numerically certifiable optimisation principles and techniques are vital for the practical use of optimisation technologies because they can be readily implemented by common computer models and algorithms. Yet no such methodologies exist for multi-extremal, semi-algebraic optimisation problems which are common in modern science and medicine. The expected outcomes of this project include enhanced optimisation methods for diffusion tensor imaging, an emerging technology in brain sciences.Read moreRead less
Innovations in sparse optimisation: big data nonsmooth optimisation. This project aims to produce innovative optimisation methods capable of solving a wide range of practical problems that are currently too complex to be solved. Optimisation involving huge data sets is ubiquitous. Sparse optimisation has emerged as a challenging frontier of modern optimisation because it effectively computes an optimal solution with desired low complexity structure so that a resulting solution can be efficiently ....Innovations in sparse optimisation: big data nonsmooth optimisation. This project aims to produce innovative optimisation methods capable of solving a wide range of practical problems that are currently too complex to be solved. Optimisation involving huge data sets is ubiquitous. Sparse optimisation has emerged as a challenging frontier of modern optimisation because it effectively computes an optimal solution with desired low complexity structure so that a resulting solution can be efficiently stored, implemented and utilised, and is robust to the data inexactness. This project aims at developing innovative mathematical techniques and efficient numerical schemes for solving sparse optimisation problems. The intended outcomes will have significant impact on many areas of science, medicine and engineering, where sparse optimisation is used, including cancer radiotherapy optimal planning.Read moreRead less
Microcantilevers for multifrequency atomic force microscopy. This project aims to design a microcantilever with high-performing sensors more sensitive and with better noise performance than the typical optical system used in commercial Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs). The AFM, a nanotechnology instrument, uses a microcantilever (with an extremely shape probe) to interrogate a sample surface. It has made important discoveries in nanotechnology, life sciences, nanomachining, material science and d ....Microcantilevers for multifrequency atomic force microscopy. This project aims to design a microcantilever with high-performing sensors more sensitive and with better noise performance than the typical optical system used in commercial Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs). The AFM, a nanotechnology instrument, uses a microcantilever (with an extremely shape probe) to interrogate a sample surface. It has made important discoveries in nanotechnology, life sciences, nanomachining, material science and data storage systems. Despite its success, the technique’s spatial resolution and quantitative measurements are limited. This project could lead to breakthrough technologies such as atomic force spectroscopy to study elastic modulus of nanostructures, and establish Australia's prominence in this emerging field.Read moreRead less