A new approach to structural design that incorporates the effect of non-structural components. The construction industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy. Each year billions of dollars are spent erecting new high rise buildings. Further, Australian engineering firms bid on major construction projects throughout the world, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. The research described here promises to deliver economies to the Australian construction industry as well as e ....A new approach to structural design that incorporates the effect of non-structural components. The construction industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy. Each year billions of dollars are spent erecting new high rise buildings. Further, Australian engineering firms bid on major construction projects throughout the world, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. The research described here promises to deliver economies to the Australian construction industry as well as equipping local firms involved in structural design to better compete for offshore work .
Community benefits will take the form of reduced construction costs and the capacity for a more complete and up to date knowledge of the structural performance and risk of aging assets, thereby increasing community confidence and safety.Read moreRead less
Reforming the procurement of construction and financing of Australian infrastructure: Advancing capacity, competition and investment. The project will significantly assist Federal and State governments in delivering value for money in the provision of a substantial infrastructure pipeline. The project will promote the transformation of the domestic construction industry in Australia, in terms of saving unnecessary transaction costs, promoting productivity, advancing training and accessing the wo ....Reforming the procurement of construction and financing of Australian infrastructure: Advancing capacity, competition and investment. The project will significantly assist Federal and State governments in delivering value for money in the provision of a substantial infrastructure pipeline. The project will promote the transformation of the domestic construction industry in Australia, in terms of saving unnecessary transaction costs, promoting productivity, advancing training and accessing the world's best knowledge and skills. In total, the project will help ensure that new infrastructure contributes to Australia's economic growth and counters inflationary pressures. Finally, the transferable knowledge outcomes of this project have potential to capture global attention and promote Australia as a leading nation in the provision of infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Full-Waveform Lidar Remote Sensing for Forest Inventory. Australia has the sixth largest forest area in the world, consisting of 164 million hectares covering 21% of the continent. The Australian government has invested in research for management of forests by construction of forest database and detection of forest change. The successful application of full-waveform lidar data for the extraction of plot statistics such as percentile tree counts, stem measurement, canopy cover and leaf area inde ....Full-Waveform Lidar Remote Sensing for Forest Inventory. Australia has the sixth largest forest area in the world, consisting of 164 million hectares covering 21% of the continent. The Australian government has invested in research for management of forests by construction of forest database and detection of forest change. The successful application of full-waveform lidar data for the extraction of plot statistics such as percentile tree counts, stem measurement, canopy cover and leaf area index, will contribute to forest resource management and analysis. Significantly, this research will be of benefit to Forests New South Wales as well as the many industries that require reliable forest resource data, such as land care, national defence, emergency services, and fire fighting authorities.Read moreRead less
Innovative procurement theories to optimise education per cost of school. Innovative procurement theories to optimise education per cost of school. This project aims to develop a whole-of-life procurement decision-making framework so schools can make delivering better education more cost effective. This framework—which draws on state-of-the-art and Nobel prize-winning theories and a new theory the project will develop—will be used in government and private schools. The effectiveness of this fram ....Innovative procurement theories to optimise education per cost of school. Innovative procurement theories to optimise education per cost of school. This project aims to develop a whole-of-life procurement decision-making framework so schools can make delivering better education more cost effective. This framework—which draws on state-of-the-art and Nobel prize-winning theories and a new theory the project will develop—will be used in government and private schools. The effectiveness of this framework in improving schools will be shown using a new approach to make school facilities deliver educational outcomes and account for their total production and transaction costs. This research is expected to deliver more efficient ways to future-proof schools to create a well performing school system and more resilient infrastructure vital to Australia’s future prosperity.Read moreRead less
Open-plan Office Concepts Determine Effective Facilities Space Management. Open-plan layout is the most predominant work-setting and office designs are changing substantially towards this style. This research addresses the question, "How do open-plan attributes affect effective facilities space management." While this layout is increasingly adopted, no research has definitively answered this question or evaluated open-plan design for its usefulness. This research therefore aims to respond to thi ....Open-plan Office Concepts Determine Effective Facilities Space Management. Open-plan layout is the most predominant work-setting and office designs are changing substantially towards this style. This research addresses the question, "How do open-plan attributes affect effective facilities space management." While this layout is increasingly adopted, no research has definitively answered this question or evaluated open-plan design for its usefulness. This research therefore aims to respond to this question and establish reliable criteria for effective management and re-engineering of offices with open-plans. This research is novel and timely since it endeavours to develop new models and objective criteria to better exploit this concept for greater office performance and productivity.Read moreRead less
Development of Internet-based Kinematic GPS Solutions for Local and Regional Positioning Services. This interdisciplinary project develops a highly novel total network strategy for real-time kinematic GPS positioning services using the Internet communication protocols for data transmission. The proposed system is technically superior to existing network-based differential GPS (DGPS) systems, by providing positioning services at different accuracy levels (metre to centimetre) with reduced operati ....Development of Internet-based Kinematic GPS Solutions for Local and Regional Positioning Services. This interdisciplinary project develops a highly novel total network strategy for real-time kinematic GPS positioning services using the Internet communication protocols for data transmission. The proposed system is technically superior to existing network-based differential GPS (DGPS) systems, by providing positioning services at different accuracy levels (metre to centimetre) with reduced operational cost to users. The research focuses on improved network operations and processing, along with developing user-specific algorithms. The outcomes are expected to provide significant opportunities for both real time and near-real-time kinematic positioning applications and commercialisations of such services, in urban and regional areas of Australia.Read moreRead less
Real-time atmospheric modelling for centimetre-level positioning based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) continuously operating reference station networks. Many applications of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, such as surveying, mapping and precise navigation, require real-time positioning accuracies to centimetre levels. To support these applications, many countries are establishing dense networks of continuously operating reference stations, positioned typicall ....Real-time atmospheric modelling for centimetre-level positioning based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) continuously operating reference station networks. Many applications of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, such as surveying, mapping and precise navigation, require real-time positioning accuracies to centimetre levels. To support these applications, many countries are establishing dense networks of continuously operating reference stations, positioned typically less than 40 km apart. However, for Australia with its large and sparsely populated regions, these dense networks cannot be justified economically. Our project will investigate appropriate enhancement of sparse networks to maintain the same level of accuracy. It will focus on a better understanding of atmospheric conditions, currently a major limitation in the development of sparse networks.Read moreRead less
Economic, environmental and social psychological evaluation of independent senior living alternatives in Australia. Retirement village accommodation in Australia is expected to grow by as many as 115,000 units over the next twenty years, a tripling of the current industry. Stimson et al. (2002) identified the significant push-pull factors, but little or no work has been undertaken to identify spillover impacts to the broader community. This study investigates the economic, social, psychological ....Economic, environmental and social psychological evaluation of independent senior living alternatives in Australia. Retirement village accommodation in Australia is expected to grow by as many as 115,000 units over the next twenty years, a tripling of the current industry. Stimson et al. (2002) identified the significant push-pull factors, but little or no work has been undertaken to identify spillover impacts to the broader community. This study investigates the economic, social, psychological and environmental impacts that accrue to a range of stakeholders. Topics under investigation include cost savings to government funded assistance and infrastructure, psychological and social benefits to residents and their families, project and asset management efficiency, and turnover of housing stock.Read moreRead less
Network Design and Management for a Pseudolite and GPS Based Ubiquitous Positioning System. The Locata positioning technology uses a network of terrestrial based signal transmitters (pseudolites) and GPS satellites, to provide ubiquitous positioning (indoors and outdoors) in difficult environments. This research student project will focus on the intelligence associated with the pseudolite network such as: autonomous network installation, network integrity, and quality control. The implementati ....Network Design and Management for a Pseudolite and GPS Based Ubiquitous Positioning System. The Locata positioning technology uses a network of terrestrial based signal transmitters (pseudolites) and GPS satellites, to provide ubiquitous positioning (indoors and outdoors) in difficult environments. This research student project will focus on the intelligence associated with the pseudolite network such as: autonomous network installation, network integrity, and quality control. The implementation of innovative algorithms and methodologies developed in this research, will allow a robust, reliable and accurate positioning system for challenging indoor and outdoor environments, where current systems cannot work satisfactorily.Read moreRead less
Integration of GPS/Pseudolites/INS to Geo-Reference Airborne Surveying and Mapping Sensors. This project aims to develop and test an innovative geo-referencing system for airborne surveying and mapping sensors. The proposed new system will be based on the deep integration of measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and Pseudo-satellites (Pseudolites). This new system design can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of the existing syste ....Integration of GPS/Pseudolites/INS to Geo-Reference Airborne Surveying and Mapping Sensors. This project aims to develop and test an innovative geo-referencing system for airborne surveying and mapping sensors. The proposed new system will be based on the deep integration of measurements from Global Positioning System (GPS), Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and Pseudo-satellites (Pseudolites). This new system design can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of the existing systems. This research will include theoretical analysis, algorithm development, system implementation, and performance evaluation, towards an operational geo-referencing system addressing ever-increasing demand for rapid acquisition of high quality spatial data from airborne sensors.Read moreRead less