Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by ....Mitigating the Severity of Level Crossing Accidents and Derailments. Ongoing increases in the number of level crossings and heavy road vehicles cause more frequent and severe level crossing accidents and derailments. Despite the use of active warning systems, each year, on average, 100 level crossing accidents occur in Australia. With a view to mitigating these crashes, this research aims to formulate theories for reduction in crash energy and effective wheel constraints to prevent derailment by modifying the levels of road and rail crossings and providing guard rails in the recesses of these modified level crossings. The theories are intended be developed using nonlinear dynamic computational methods and laboratory experiments. The outcomes are expected to enable reduction in the severity of level crossing accidents and hence save lives and costs of derailment.Read moreRead less
Transport and productivity, a study on Australia's largest trading partner. This project aims to study how transport infrastructure supports innovations, productivity gains, and industrial development. This project will study the effects of this development on productivity and resource allocation in the manufacturing sector, output and efficiency growth, and the spatial allocation of capital and labour inputs. The project expects to build a geospatial database covering China's full transportatio ....Transport and productivity, a study on Australia's largest trading partner. This project aims to study how transport infrastructure supports innovations, productivity gains, and industrial development. This project will study the effects of this development on productivity and resource allocation in the manufacturing sector, output and efficiency growth, and the spatial allocation of capital and labour inputs. The project expects to build a geospatial database covering China's full transportation network from 1993-2014, merge this database with manufacturing plants’ longitudinal data, and apply (quasi)-natural experiments for analyses. Knowledge derived from this project will be significant for Australia because China’s productivity, resource allocation, and competitive advantage directly impact Australia’s industrial development, employment and sustainable economic growth.Read moreRead less
Incentivised strategic traffic assignment: bi-level transport optimisation. This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge base and methodological modelling capacity related to traffic network assignment representing complex incentive structures such as network pricing, behavioural shift inducement, dynamic speed control and information-provision. Expected outcomes include new equilibrium formulations characterising traveller responses to, and interactions with, incentive structures whil ....Incentivised strategic traffic assignment: bi-level transport optimisation. This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge base and methodological modelling capacity related to traffic network assignment representing complex incentive structures such as network pricing, behavioural shift inducement, dynamic speed control and information-provision. Expected outcomes include new equilibrium formulations characterising traveller responses to, and interactions with, incentive structures while maintaining complex stochastic adaptive behaviours from previous research, new network routing algorithms, and a novel bi-level optimisation approach for seeking optimal incentive policies. The project will provide a scientific basis for the quantified network evaluation of incentivisation strategies that will support enhanced transport planning thereby improving mobility across society.Read moreRead less
Optimising throughput and Delay in network coded systems. This project addresses one main disadvantage of network coding: decoding delay. By solving this issue, we will unlock the true potential of network coding: delivery of high data rates in wireless and wireline networks. This will make network coding an attractive choice for live video streaming and mission-critical delay-sensitive applications.
Modelling and distributed control of large infrastructure networks. The main outcome of this project will be the capability to study systematically basic questions on the operation of large infrastructure systems. Methodologies for control of larger systems and security issues will be developed. Application of the techniques to several applications areas will include power grids and traffic networks.
Stress Evaluation with Non-Linear Guided Waves. This project plans to investigate a novel approach for in situ measurement of stress in structures based on an internal resonance phenomenon for nonlinear guided waves. Monitoring the stress level of critical structural components is important to ensure structural safety. The project plans to derive the requirements for this internal resonance and its dependence on stress analytically and verify them experimentally for both simple waveguides and mo ....Stress Evaluation with Non-Linear Guided Waves. This project plans to investigate a novel approach for in situ measurement of stress in structures based on an internal resonance phenomenon for nonlinear guided waves. Monitoring the stress level of critical structural components is important to ensure structural safety. The project plans to derive the requirements for this internal resonance and its dependence on stress analytically and verify them experimentally for both simple waveguides and more realistic structures. The expected outcome is the demonstration of the feasibility of a new inexpensive method for continuous monitoring of applied or thermally-induced stresses, which is of great importance in several engineering contexts, such as modern railway track rails, pipelines or pre-stressed strands in concrete structures.Read moreRead less
Optimum cross-layer design in wireless communication systems with channel uncertainty. For wireless communications to be part of Australia's information delivery infrastructure, including the National Broadband Network, requires improvements in reliability, speed and cost effectiveness over current technologies. The assembled world class research team has the objective to develop advanced design techniques to meet this challenge.
Signal Processing for Reconfigurable Antennas – a Multidisciplinary Approach for Next Generation Wireless Communications. To satisfy the enormous demand for wireless applications with scarce radio spectrum, new technologies must be researched, developed, and then employed. Reconfigurable antennas, through morphing their physical structures with various switches, can adapt to the radio propagation environment, thereby increasing spectrum efficiency and power efficiency of wireless communications. ....Signal Processing for Reconfigurable Antennas – a Multidisciplinary Approach for Next Generation Wireless Communications. To satisfy the enormous demand for wireless applications with scarce radio spectrum, new technologies must be researched, developed, and then employed. Reconfigurable antennas, through morphing their physical structures with various switches, can adapt to the radio propagation environment, thereby increasing spectrum efficiency and power efficiency of wireless communications. This project aims to design signal processing algorithms for achieving all the benefits that reconfigurable antennas can provide for wireless communications. An important outcome of this research is sound channel models validated by extensive field measurement data.Read moreRead less
Realizable Synchronization Techniques: Unlocking the Potential of Future Wireless Networks. Wireless networks are undergoing an exciting paradigm shift from carefully planned cellular networks to heterogeneous networks (coexistence of a multitude of base stations of different types), where users may also be equipped with wireless energy harvesting capability. A fundamental requirement of these next generation technologies is the need to achieve synchronisation among the different base stations a ....Realizable Synchronization Techniques: Unlocking the Potential of Future Wireless Networks. Wireless networks are undergoing an exciting paradigm shift from carefully planned cellular networks to heterogeneous networks (coexistence of a multitude of base stations of different types), where users may also be equipped with wireless energy harvesting capability. A fundamental requirement of these next generation technologies is the need to achieve synchronisation among the different base stations and mobile users. This project will develop the fundamental theory and advanced synchronisation techniques for future wireless networks. The expected outcomes will enable wireless networks to meet the increasing demand for higher data rates and extend the battery life of mobile users, benefitting the consumers and the Australian economy.Read moreRead less
Physical Layer Security for Wireless Machine-Type Communications. This project aims to provide new understanding and design guidelines to secure wireless communications among low-cost resource-constrained devices. This is achieved by advancing the fundamental theory of an emerging security paradigm named physical layer security. Expected outcomes of this project include a communication-theoretic framework to characterise the secrecy performance of communications over wireless networks, followed ....Physical Layer Security for Wireless Machine-Type Communications. This project aims to provide new understanding and design guidelines to secure wireless communications among low-cost resource-constrained devices. This is achieved by advancing the fundamental theory of an emerging security paradigm named physical layer security. Expected outcomes of this project include a communication-theoretic framework to characterise the secrecy performance of communications over wireless networks, followed by novel signal processing and transmission designs. The research outcomes should provide innovative solutions to safeguard commercial and industry Internet of Things networks, benefiting Australia's digital transformation.Read moreRead less