Compositional determination of liquefied petroleum gas: Improving engine cold start performance in multipoint LPG-injected engines. Unlike gasoline, the composition of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is subject to change depending on a variety of factors including reservoir location and local market pricing. During normal automotive multipoint injection engine operation, closed loop feedback from engine sensors allows the effects of the compositional variations to be overcome and the engine to ope ....Compositional determination of liquefied petroleum gas: Improving engine cold start performance in multipoint LPG-injected engines. Unlike gasoline, the composition of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is subject to change depending on a variety of factors including reservoir location and local market pricing. During normal automotive multipoint injection engine operation, closed loop feedback from engine sensors allows the effects of the compositional variations to be overcome and the engine to operate close to optimal levels. However during cold start, the feedback sensors are not operational, and engine performance may deteriorate due to unknown fuel composition - in the worst case the engine may not start at all. This project aims to develop unique methods of estimating the composition of LPG based on existing sensor information to improve performance during cold start.Read moreRead less
Data Fusion Techniques for Electro-Mechanical Braking Systems. The main focus of this project is to develop data fusion techniques for clamp force estimation and optimum utilisation of redundant information in a brake-by-wire system. Efficient integration of redundant information in an EMB system is expected to significantly improve the reliability and fault tolerance of such systems. The need for costly and complicated clamp force measurement sensors in electric callipers will also be eliminate ....Data Fusion Techniques for Electro-Mechanical Braking Systems. The main focus of this project is to develop data fusion techniques for clamp force estimation and optimum utilisation of redundant information in a brake-by-wire system. Efficient integration of redundant information in an EMB system is expected to significantly improve the reliability and fault tolerance of such systems. The need for costly and complicated clamp force measurement sensors in electric callipers will also be eliminated by accurate estimation of the clamp force signal, through fusion of more readily available measurements. Development of the proposed data fusion techniques influences the design of future EMBs and enhances the functionality of existing brake-by-wire systems.Read moreRead less
Autonomous Cooking: Sensing, Estimation and Control. This work aims to create the world's first truly intelligent oven, with sensing, estimation and control of the changes occurring within food as it is cooked. Consumer insight suggests that a product of this kind would be very successful in the market. The success of this project would result in significant economic benefit to Electrolux and the Australian economy through its 3,150 Australian employees, its many local subcontractors and through ....Autonomous Cooking: Sensing, Estimation and Control. This work aims to create the world's first truly intelligent oven, with sensing, estimation and control of the changes occurring within food as it is cooked. Consumer insight suggests that a product of this kind would be very successful in the market. The success of this project would result in significant economic benefit to Electrolux and the Australian economy through its 3,150 Australian employees, its many local subcontractors and through the thousands of consumers who will one day enjoy using a product of this kind.Read moreRead less
Development of an Intelligent Perception System for Electric Brakes. Electric braking is a vital component of the drive by-wire systems whose development is currently being supported worldwide by many automobile manufacturers. The aim of this project is to contribute to the development of an efficient fully functional electrically operated braking system. The main focus is on development of the intelligent perceptual sensors required for optimum performance of a by-wire braking system (to be com ....Development of an Intelligent Perception System for Electric Brakes. Electric braking is a vital component of the drive by-wire systems whose development is currently being supported worldwide by many automobile manufacturers. The aim of this project is to contribute to the development of an efficient fully functional electrically operated braking system. The main focus is on development of the intelligent perceptual sensors required for optimum performance of a by-wire braking system (to be commercialised by 2007). This project will also facilitate the development of professional courses for by-wire technology. Such courses will play a crucial role in maintaining the competitiveness of the Australian car component industry as by-wire technology emerges.Read moreRead less
A Novel Inline High-Efficiency Motor/Pump System. Around 19% of the world’s and 30% of the Australia’s electric energy is consumed by pump technologies. Significant energy savings are possible if the major components of pump systems, including inverter, motor and pump, operate at their maximum possible efficiency under varying loads. A novel pump design in this project accommodates integrated electronics in a submersible housing. A seal-less design helps mitigate several aspects of pump failure ....A Novel Inline High-Efficiency Motor/Pump System. Around 19% of the world’s and 30% of the Australia’s electric energy is consumed by pump technologies. Significant energy savings are possible if the major components of pump systems, including inverter, motor and pump, operate at their maximum possible efficiency under varying loads. A novel pump design in this project accommodates integrated electronics in a submersible housing. A seal-less design helps mitigate several aspects of pump failure and its in-line structure reduces assembly cost. Accurately measured efficiency maps will be utilised to demonstrate the non-linear relationship between motor and pump quantities as well as developing models for indirectly estimating feedback quantities and achieving the highest system efficiency.Read moreRead less
Reliable bi-directional machine-type communications for smart agriculture. This project aims to develop innovative solutions for agricultural machine-type communications to provide robust and bi-directional coverage for remote agriculture areas with difficult terrain, by leveraging smart-sensor-enabled, energy-efficient uplink transmissions and ultra-reliable downlink transmissions. Machine-type communications have been recognised as a key enabler for the future smart agriculture and smart farms ....Reliable bi-directional machine-type communications for smart agriculture. This project aims to develop innovative solutions for agricultural machine-type communications to provide robust and bi-directional coverage for remote agriculture areas with difficult terrain, by leveraging smart-sensor-enabled, energy-efficient uplink transmissions and ultra-reliable downlink transmissions. Machine-type communications have been recognised as a key enabler for the future smart agriculture and smart farms. The project will use novel agricultural machine-type communication theories and develop test-beds to enable the smart agricultural applications. This is expected to contribute to the crucial communication infrastructures for smart farms, which will lead to higher agricultural productivity and national economy.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Scheduling and Stochastic Control for Sensor Networks. Sensor networks are rapidly becoming important in applications from environmental monitoring, navigation to border surveillance. However, due to bandwidth constraints, even very simple networks have proven to be very complex to properly control. It is now necessary to efficiently allocate the 'limited available bandwidth' to sensors in order to share the most valuable data over the network. Therefore, this project proposes new techn ....Dynamic Scheduling and Stochastic Control for Sensor Networks. Sensor networks are rapidly becoming important in applications from environmental monitoring, navigation to border surveillance. However, due to bandwidth constraints, even very simple networks have proven to be very complex to properly control. It is now necessary to efficiently allocate the 'limited available bandwidth' to sensors in order to share the most valuable data over the network. Therefore, this project proposes new techniques using concepts of dynamic sensor scheduling and stochastic control to provide computationally feasible and near optimal solutions to the limited and varying bandwidth problem. This work will greatly enhance the operational performance of distributed sensor networks.Read moreRead less
Improving Signal Detection Range of Active Seismic Monitoring in Mines. This project will develop a new generation of sensors that will process incoming seismic waves from an active source to accurately estimate the properties of underground rock mass in real time. This will lead to safer mining operations that will decrease the number of injuries and deaths. A probability graph model will be used to fuse measurements from different sensors to produce more accurate estimates of the rock mass. A ....Improving Signal Detection Range of Active Seismic Monitoring in Mines. This project will develop a new generation of sensors that will process incoming seismic waves from an active source to accurately estimate the properties of underground rock mass in real time. This will lead to safer mining operations that will decrease the number of injuries and deaths. A probability graph model will be used to fuse measurements from different sensors to produce more accurate estimates of the rock mass. A new low-cost seismic source will excite large areas of rock mass for continuous monitoring of the changes in stress and fracture density caused by mining. This will lead to methodologies that will significantly improve mining operations and increase Australia’s productivity in the mining sector.Read moreRead less
Spatial sound control for testing multi-channel audio devices. Spatial sound control for testing multi-channel audio devices. This project aims to test Alternative Listening Devices/Personal Sound Amplification Devices (PSAPs), multi-input audio devices fast replacing hearing aids due to their affordability and easy accessibility. With more consumers choosing PSAPs, proper testing is needed to assess the devices’ safety and benefit in real-life acoustic situations. This project will test PSAPs i ....Spatial sound control for testing multi-channel audio devices. Spatial sound control for testing multi-channel audio devices. This project aims to test Alternative Listening Devices/Personal Sound Amplification Devices (PSAPs), multi-input audio devices fast replacing hearing aids due to their affordability and easy accessibility. With more consumers choosing PSAPs, proper testing is needed to assess the devices’ safety and benefit in real-life acoustic situations. This project will test PSAPs in laboratory setups that use spatial audio processing techniques to mimic realistic acoustic environments, and develop theoretical frameworks to overcome existing limitations to accurate spatial sound reproduction. This research is expected to provide innovative solutions to safeguard Australia's future hearing health.Read moreRead less
Localization of a wireless transponder in a vehicular environment. This project aims to accurately localise passenger wireless devices, in particular the key fob, to improve theft security, passenger safety and user functionality. The objective of the project is to develop a communications band localisation system in a vehicular environment with 10-centimetre accuracy, both inside the vehicle cabin and near to the exterior of the vehicle. Accurate localisation of passenger wireless devices poses ....Localization of a wireless transponder in a vehicular environment. This project aims to accurately localise passenger wireless devices, in particular the key fob, to improve theft security, passenger safety and user functionality. The objective of the project is to develop a communications band localisation system in a vehicular environment with 10-centimetre accuracy, both inside the vehicle cabin and near to the exterior of the vehicle. Accurate localisation of passenger wireless devices poses a challenging research problem because of the severe multipath environment. An innovative solution based on time-difference-of-arrival methodologies, data fusion, sophisticated recursive filtering techniques and illumination scheduling will be investigated. The outcome is potentially applicable to other localisation scenarios degraded by multipath.Read moreRead less