Research Report - 2001
Associated Research
| Software Verification Research Centre - SVRC Director: Prof John Staples svrc.it.uq.edu.au Email: svrc@svrc.uq.edu.au Tel: 3365 3184 |
Centre for Magnetic Resonance - CMR Contact: Dr Stuart Crozier www.cmr.uq.edu.au stuart.crozier@cmr.uq.edu.au Tel: 3365 7098 |
Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing - CDMC Contact: A/Prof George Havas www.it.uq.edu.au/~havas/ cdmc.html Email: havas@csee.uq.edu.au Tel: 3365 2904 |
| Advanced
Computational Modelling Centre - A C M C Director: Prof Kevin Burrage www.acmc.uq.edu.au Email: joannem@csee.uq.edu.au Tel: 3365 2382 |
CRC for Distributed Systems Technology - D S T C CEO: Mr David Barbagallo www.dstc.edu.au Email: enquiries@dstc.edu.au Tel: 3365 4310 |
SRC for Functional and Applied Genomics Director: Prof John Mattick www.cmcb.uq.edu.au/cmcb secretary@cmcb.uq.edu.au Tel: 3365 4446 |
Software Verification Research Centre - SVRC
The Software Verification Research Centre (SVRC) is a Special Research Centre of the Australian Research Council (ARC), established in January 1991. The Centre employs 20 full-time research staff and four administrative staff. In addition, six ITEE academics and 16 research students are associated with its research programme.
The SVRC aims to improve assurance of integrity for software-dependent systems. Major aspects are verification and validation. Verification produces assurance that the system as built meets the stated requirements. Validation is the broader issue of assuring that the resulting system will be fit for its intended purpose.
A particular interest is to improve verification by following the example of more mature branches of engineering, using scientific theories to specify and to predict key properties of the system under development. Such theories formalise relevant properties of the components used in the design, and of the environment in which the system operates. They also provide as strong basis for test design.
The SVRC pursues its aims via interrelated programmes of strategic research, professional training and industrial consultancy.
A brief overview of the Centre's activities since July 1998 follows.
The SVRC's overall research programme currently includes four strategic projects funded from core funds, ten projects funded by project-specific grants and contracts from the ARC, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the Defence Acquisition Organisation, and 16 student projects undertaken in pursuit of PhD and MSc degrees. The projects span the following areas:
- Methods and tools for formal development of software, including specification, refinement, reasoning and testing,
- Methods and tools for development of specification and design of real-time systems,including specification and refinement of time-critical systems,
- Timing analysis of program code and compiler support for such analysis,
- Software safety engineering, including safety analysis, safety-case construction and maintenance, requirements traceability, fine-grained configuration management and versioning of software documents, and
- Application of these methods and tools on specific problems faced by the SVRC's industrial collaborators.
Since July 1998, five SVRC research students have graduated with PhD degrees, and some 52 papers resulting from SVRC research activities have been published in journals or at refereed conferences. The applicability of SVRC research to industry problems is reflected by two significant developments in 1999:
An ARC SPIRT grant for 1999-2001 has been awarded to the SVRC for collaboration with Foxboro Australia on automated support for verification and validation (V&V) of high-integrity control systems and software.
A major contract was signed in January 1999 with the Defence Acquisition Organisation, for the improvement, application and promulgation of the recently developed standard for safety-critical defence systems Def(Aust) 5679 `The Procurement of Computer-Based Safety Critical Systems'.
Advanced Computational Modelling Centre - ACMC
The ACMC has been created to foster interaction between science and industry in the use of advanced technologies such as high performance computers (HPC), scientific visualisation of complex data sets, advanced informatics, computer simulation and modelling, and parallel numerical algorithms.
Centre for Magnetic Resonance - CMR
CMR houses the most comprehensive range of magnetic resonance instrumentation in the Southern Hemisphere. The Centre also contains a highly sophisticated and modern workshop, manufacturing specialised equipment for sale internationally, in addition to manufacturing prototypes for the Centre's own research purposes. Staff at the Centre currently supervise or co-supervise about 25 postgraduate students working in a diverse range of disciplines, such as Child Health, Medicine, Veterinary Science, Psychology, Engineering, Mathematics, Information Technology and the Biological and Chemical Sciences. The Centre receives about 30% of its funding from the University. The balance is raised through commercial sales, patent royalties, Australian research grants, and international collaborative research. The facilities of the Centre are available for use by researchers and there is an annual membership fee to assist in defraying the costs of running the equipment. Researchers may wish to involve themselves in collaborative research with scientists within the Centre, or use the facilities to aid their own research. Seventy percent of all new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines installed in hospitals world- wide contain technology developed at CMR. Postgraduate opportunities exist to continue this work using Engineering/Physics skills to improve health care. In MRI, research areas include the development of new superconducting magnet systems, analysis and design of radiofrequency elements and a number of topics in electromagnetics and signal processing. Other research areas include physiological monitoring developments and image processing.
Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing- CDMC
The Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing was established in 1997, combining together the Centre for Combinatorics (within the Department of Mathematics) and the Algorithms Group (within the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering).
Its aim is to carry out and promote research and teaching in discrete mathematics and computing, and to facilitate collaborative research with groups working in related areas in Australia and overseas. The Centre publishes the Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, acts as a national base for an international body, the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications, and as regional base for the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia.
CRC for Distributed Systems Technology - DSTC
The DSTC is a joint venture supported Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program and over 24 participating organisations developing the technical infrastructure for tomorrow's enterprise. DSTC conducts world class research, develops software, and provides training and professional consulting services. Key technology areas for DSTC include Workflow, CORBAŽ, JavaTM, XML, Distributed Object Middleware, Internet Systems, Knowledge Management, Metadata, Collaborative Computing, GroupWare, Security and Network infrastructure. DSTC is directed towards solving the complex issues that will enable organisations to harness the full potential of the growing information economy. Our programme enables organisations to maximise productivity resulting in innovative ways to do business and communicate.
Our research, training and technology transfer programmes have grown significantly in both scope and quality over the past six years. Government and Industry have demanded high quality, internationally recognised research and development as a critical input to a productive, expanding and export orientated economy. Information Technology and telecommunications is a key element to this equation. As the network economy has matured, enterprises and government have generated new demands for global, interoperating and information rich business and communications systems. DSTC is positioned to meet these new demands and targets the needs of six key industry groups. The groups are:
- Government Online Services
- Defence
- Health
- Education
- Telecommunications
- Finance
The challenges these groups face in exploiting the information economy form the core business drivers of the research and development programme of DSTC. Such groups require access to pervasive network resources and the capacity to deliver reliable and innovative services and information. Secure, robust information systems that leverage existing investments in business systems are critical to the growth, service capacity and competitive position of the enterprise and government agencies.
DSTC is researching and developing the key technologies required to support organisations in this new and confronting business environment. These include:
- Knowledge and Digital Resource Management
- Organisational systems and security
- Workflow and collaboration
- Enterprise modeling
- Component software and system engineering.
The research vision is both timely and comprehensive. It recognises the need to develop technologies required in three to five years whilst addressing the immediate needs of industry through training and technology transfer programmes.
SRC for Functional and Applied Genomics
This special research centre will provide Australia's only integrated environment for functional and applied genomics. It will be located in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, which in turn will be part of the nationa's newest and largest biological research complex. The SRC will train up to fifty PhD students and postdoctoral fellows at any time, focussing not just on research in functional and applied genomics, but also on its subsequent development and commercialisation. <%-- end content --%>
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