From Universal Induction to Intelligent Systems. The dream of creating artificial devices that (out)reach human intelligence is an old one. What makes this challenge so interesting? A solution would have enormous implications for our society, and there are arguments that the AI problem might be solved within a couple of decades. Specialized intelligent systems are actually already pervasive (finger print, handwriting, speech, and face recognition; spam filtering; search engines; computer chess; ....From Universal Induction to Intelligent Systems. The dream of creating artificial devices that (out)reach human intelligence is an old one. What makes this challenge so interesting? A solution would have enormous implications for our society, and there are arguments that the AI problem might be solved within a couple of decades. Specialized intelligent systems are actually already pervasive (finger print, handwriting, speech, and face recognition; spam filtering; search engines; computer chess; robots). This decade the first presumably complete mathematical theory of AI has been proposed. By working out this theory, this project will significantly contribute to the foundations of inductive inference and AI, and ultimately lead to smarter software and intelligent systems.Read moreRead less
3D Image segmentation and shape characterisation driven by topological persistence. Tomographic imaging is emerging as a new tool to help tackle a remarkable array of scientific challenges. What distinguishes healthy bone from that of osteoporosis sufferers? How does groundwater contamination spread? Why is a macadamia nut so hard to crack? What causes the iridescence in a butterfly wing? These are just a few of the questions being answered at tomographic facilities in Australia alone. By co ....3D Image segmentation and shape characterisation driven by topological persistence. Tomographic imaging is emerging as a new tool to help tackle a remarkable array of scientific challenges. What distinguishes healthy bone from that of osteoporosis sufferers? How does groundwater contamination spread? Why is a macadamia nut so hard to crack? What causes the iridescence in a butterfly wing? These are just a few of the questions being answered at tomographic facilities in Australia alone. By combining sophisticated mathematics with cutting edge image-processing algorithms, this project will yield a new class of topology driven image analysis techniques that will improve the accuracy and reliability of predictions made from tomographic images.Read moreRead less
Large Scale Complex Multiagent Systems : Control Methodologies and Information Architectures. Future military operations are likely to involve increasing use of unmanned vehicles, airborne, underwater or on land. In some cases there will be very large formations. This research will develop methodologies which allow formations of unmanned vehicles to be configured. Much of the same methodology is applicable to the construction and operation of large scale sensor networks, identified by some comm ....Large Scale Complex Multiagent Systems : Control Methodologies and Information Architectures. Future military operations are likely to involve increasing use of unmanned vehicles, airborne, underwater or on land. In some cases there will be very large formations. This research will develop methodologies which allow formations of unmanned vehicles to be configured. Much of the same methodology is applicable to the construction and operation of large scale sensor networks, identified by some commentators as one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. They comprise large numbers of low cost networked sensors and will increasingly find application in security, agricultural and environmental monitoring.Read moreRead less
Development of robust adaptive and nonlinear control methodologies. Techniques will be developed that will allow industrial plants to operate with lower direct or environmental cost, and airborne vehicles to operate more efficiently or more safely.
Parallel and Distributed Machine Learning - Smart Data Analysis in the Multicore Era. In large data centres our research will lead to reduced energy consumption by using graphics cards which have a much better computation to power ratio than traditional processors. On desktop computers, it will make machine learning practical by enabling efficient algorithms for spam filtering and content analysis. On networked systems it will lead to distributed inference, caching and collaborative filtering ap ....Parallel and Distributed Machine Learning - Smart Data Analysis in the Multicore Era. In large data centres our research will lead to reduced energy consumption by using graphics cards which have a much better computation to power ratio than traditional processors. On desktop computers, it will make machine learning practical by enabling efficient algorithms for spam filtering and content analysis. On networked systems it will lead to distributed inference, caching and collaborative filtering applications which will both reduced the bandwidth required and make the internet safer for users. Finally, it will enable rapid deployment of sensor networks for monitoring and detection, such as for environmental monitoring and safeguarding Australia's borders.Read moreRead less
Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologi ....Foundations of Vision Based Control of Robotic Vehicles. Automated and partially automated robotic vehicles are an emerging technology in society. The safety and performance of such systems depends crucially on their sensing and control algorithms. Vision sensing is one of the few sensor modalities that has the potential to adequately represent the complexity of a real world environment. By providing simple and effective vision based control algorithms this project develops Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries by enabling a wide range of robotic vehicle applications, including aerial, submersible, and wheeled vehicles.Read moreRead less
A new generation of fractals: theory, computation, and applications particularly to digital imaging. The project develops the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of superfractals and applies these results to a number of different areas, including in particular, digital imaging. For example, the ``third generation'' of mobile communications (3G), combines wireless mobile technology with high data transmission capacities. Currently the requirement for extensive bandwidth is a problem for e ....A new generation of fractals: theory, computation, and applications particularly to digital imaging. The project develops the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of superfractals and applies these results to a number of different areas, including in particular, digital imaging. For example, the ``third generation'' of mobile communications (3G), combines wireless mobile technology with high data transmission capacities. Currently the requirement for extensive bandwidth is a problem for efficient use. Superfractals and the associated colouring algorithm could be used to develop a new system to produce synthetic content for wireless devices that would require only low bandwidth.Read moreRead less
Statistical and Mathematical Analyses of Sequence and Array Data. Development of mathematical and statistical methods and tools in bioinformation science will ensure that Australia is at the cutting-edge of modern biology. This will enhance Australia's reputation for dealing with the exponentially growing body of genomic data emerging from life sciences laboratories throughout the world. The proposed project has a broad range of potential applications in biotechnology, particularly in the medic ....Statistical and Mathematical Analyses of Sequence and Array Data. Development of mathematical and statistical methods and tools in bioinformation science will ensure that Australia is at the cutting-edge of modern biology. This will enhance Australia's reputation for dealing with the exponentially growing body of genomic data emerging from life sciences laboratories throughout the world. The proposed project has a broad range of potential applications in biotechnology, particularly in the medical and agricultural industries. Examples include improvements to livestock, in plant breeding such as drought resistance, and better genetic disease diagnosis, including earlier cancer diagnosis, and personalised treatment.Read moreRead less
Exploring the Frontiers of Feasible Computation. The project aims to delineate the boundary between feasible and infeasible computational problems. A problem is considered feasible if there is an algorithm to solve it in worst-case time bounded by a polynomial in the input size. This is probably impossible for the important class of NP-complete problems. However, typical examples of NP-complete problems can often be solved in polynomial time, because worst-case problems are rare. The project is ....Exploring the Frontiers of Feasible Computation. The project aims to delineate the boundary between feasible and infeasible computational problems. A problem is considered feasible if there is an algorithm to solve it in worst-case time bounded by a polynomial in the input size. This is probably impossible for the important class of NP-complete problems. However, typical examples of NP-complete problems can often be solved in polynomial time, because worst-case problems are rare. The project is relevant to public-key cryptography, where breaking an encryption scheme should be infeasible, and to many real-life situations where NP-complete problems need to be solved, either exactly or approximately.Read moreRead less
Multicast in Single-Hop and Multi-Hop WDM Optical Networks. The emerging Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing (WDM) optical network is a promising candidate for next-generation Internet, which provides enormous bandwidth and fast connectivity. Multicast in WDM networks is a fundamental problem which has wide applications including teleconferencing, entertainment distribution, etc. In this project we investigate the multicast and constraint multicast problems in both single-hop and multi-hop WDM netw ....Multicast in Single-Hop and Multi-Hop WDM Optical Networks. The emerging Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing (WDM) optical network is a promising candidate for next-generation Internet, which provides enormous bandwidth and fast connectivity. Multicast in WDM networks is a fundamental problem which has wide applications including teleconferencing, entertainment distribution, etc. In this project we investigate the multicast and constraint multicast problems in both single-hop and multi-hop WDM networks by studying their computational complexities and devising scalable, high-quality approximation algorithms for them. The developed algorithms significantly improve the network performance and scalability, and the innovative approaches and algorithm techniques developed in this project are also applicable to other routing problems.Read moreRead less