Project Database

ENGG4802,METR4901,ENGG7804 - Engineering Thesis (mid-year)
Commencing Semester 2 2009
Coordinator: Adam Postula (adam@itee.uq.edu.au)

Project List

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Industry projects may also be available - see the CEED website for details.

David Ball

Office: 47-307
Phone: 54275
Email: dball@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Semi-autonomous video conference robot

Supervisor:	David Ball	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Robotics	Num. students signed up:	0
Description:	Conventional video conferencing systems exist that allow people to communicate with each other over large distances. Our 5 DOF video conference robot allows tele-embodiment of the user's state of mind and gestures. This project will explore using aural and visual cues to search for and track local active participants autonomously while still allowing the remote user overriding control.

2 - Rodent head attachable nanolitre injection system

Supervisor:	David Ball	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Robotics	Num. students signed up:	0
Description:	The ability to deliver nanolitre volumes of chemicals to freely moving rodents’ brains will help studying behavioural functions. Through Thinking Systems we collaborate with the Queensland Brain Institute on rodent navigation. This project will explore the potential solutions for a small mechatronic device that can accurately inject nanolitres of chemicals.

3 - Omni directional drive mobile robot

Supervisor:	David Ball	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	5
Discipline(s):	Robotics	Num. students signed up:	0
Description:	This project aims to design and build a new mobile research platform able to handle office environments and be suitable for mass production. Features will include omni-directional drive, embedded PC, WiFi, Cameras, and other local sensors. Potential topics within this project include, drive systems, battery management, sensor (visual and proximity) selection, docking system, general mechanical and electrical design dependent on the number of students and their skills.

Ramesh Bansal

Office: 47-212
Phone: 53394
Email: bansal@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Wind Power Systems

Supervisor:	Ramesh Bansal	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1

2 - Reactive Power/voltage control in power systems

Supervisor:	Ramesh Bansal	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

3 - control system for thermal power plants

Supervisor:	Ramesh Bansal	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

4 - Steady State Analysis of Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS)

Supervisor:	Ramesh Bansal	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1

Marek Bialkowski

Office: 78-527
Phone: 53563
Email: meb@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Microwave couplers in coplanar-waveguide technology for wideband applications

Supervisor:	Marek Bialkowski	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	BROADBAND microwave directional couplers are a very important category of passive microwave circuits. They are used to combine or divide signals with appropriate phase of 90 degrees, and are commonly used in microwave subsystems such as balanced mixers, modulators, and antenna beam-forming network. In addition, they are essential for developing the cost-effective measurement equipment. Our particular interest in these devices is with respect to developing an ultra-wideband (UWB) microwave imaging system. In these and many other applications, the required couplers are often required to be accomplished in planar (stripline or microstrip) technology. In order to achieve their broadband operation, the approach of coupled transmission lines can be employed. The inherent feature of this approach is that matching and directivity is perfect, and independent of frequency, at least under ideal conditions. However, the challenge is to obtain a tight coupling in the range of 3–6 dB. Using coupled microstrip lines, the tight coupling can be accomplished using the Lange or tandem coupler configurations [8]–[10]. However, their design faces challenges. For example, the Lange coupler features narrow strips, which create additional manufacturing problems due to the requirement for strict etching tolerances. In turn, the broadband tandem coupler may require wiggles or serpentines to equalize even- and odd-mode phase velocities when realized in microstrip technology. In order to avoid these problems, this project looks at the design of 3dB coupler in coplanar waveguide technology. This coupler will be designed using CST Microwave Studio. Next it will be manufactured and experimentally tested. These tasks will be accomplished using computing, manufacturing and testing facilities available in the ITEE School.

Mikael Boden

Office: IMB
Phone: 52035
Email: mikael@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Algorithms for discovering molecular signatures

Supervisor:	Mikael Boden	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Programming skills, data structures and algorithms, and an interest in artificial intelligence/machine learning
Description:	My research group uses machine learning algorithms to make biological discoveries from large data sets resulting from genomic sequencing and wet-lab experiments. This project will look at the use of "molecular signatures" from proteins, to identify interactions between them. Molecular signatures can incorporate essential structural properties and make them accessible to state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms (e.g. support-vector machines). You will focus on the implementation of a "signature" function and use our implementation of a support-vector machine (java), to evaluate the approach on some scientifically interesting protein interaction data.

2 - Pairing interacting proteins using sequence alignment

Supervisor:	Mikael Boden	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Interest in data structures and algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning
Description:	This project will develop and explore a basic sequence alignment method for identifying the protein sub-sequences (of amino acids) that physically interact. First, we collect stats for amino acids that pair up in experimentally confirmed structures. The statistic is then used to create amino acid scoring matrices. The scoring matrices are used to find alignments between pairs of sequences, indirectly illustrating where on the sequences interactions are likely to be found. Finally, the method is evaluated by using it to predict interfaces on proteins for which experimental validation is available. The outcome thus includes a novel method that assists biological research to uncover underlying sequence features of large-scale molecular interaction networks.

3 - Classifying post-translational modifications of proteins using short probabilistic "sequence motifs"

Supervisor:	Mikael Boden	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Interest in data structures and algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning
Description:	Protein sequence motifs are short descriptors (often expressed as position-specific probabilities of amino acids) that can be used to "scan" novel proteins for sites that enable some biological function. We are interested in finding sites of one particular modification--the attachment of a specific substrate (SUMO). Recent ideas in machine learning leads us to hypothesize that by supplying both positive examples (sites known to be modified) as well as negative examples (sites believed not to be modified) will enable the construction of improved motifs.

David Carrington

Office: 78-323
Phone: 53310
Email: davec@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Phoenix Executive Dashboard

Supervisor:	David Carrington	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Information Systems Software	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Matlab programming, ability or willingness to learn how to interface Matlab to a web browser (Matlab builder for NE and Matlab compiler toolboxes are available).
Description:	Phoenix is an Environment Data Visualisation, Analysis and Management System that was developed by Alex Pudmenzky & Laurence Rossato (CMLR). It runs on Windows XP and is written entirely in Matlab. Several modular projects are being offered to expand its functionality. This project will require a creative student to develop an interface between environmental monitoring data stored in a .mat file (the Phoenix data repository) and a web browser (IE). Since Phoenix is used by many end-users, the data in the repository is dynamic. The web front-end developed by the student should be able to graph values and be able to handle alert situations. An alert is triggered if a pre-defined value exceeds a trigger limit. Alerts should cause one or more user-definable actions: email messages send to selected users, synthesised voice notification, visual notification. A detailed log of all pending and acknowledged alerts should be maintained as well. Further information: http://cmlr.uq.edu.au/a_pudmenzky.htm http://phoenix.cmlr.uq.edu.au http://www.mathworks.com.au/products/netbuilder/

2 - Phoenix Reporter

Supervisor:	David Carrington	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Information Systems Software	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Ability or willingness to learn Matlab builder for NE programming, some MS-Word VB scripting.
Description:	Phoenix is an Environment Data Visualisation, Analysis and Management System that was developed by Alex Pudmenzky & Laurence Rossato (CMLR). It runs on Windows XP and is written entirely in Matlab. Several modular projects are being offered to expand its functionality. This project will require a creative student to develop an interface between environmental monitoring data stored in a .mat file (the Phoenix data repository) and Microsoft Word. Since Phoenix is used by many end-users, the data in the repository is dynamic and needs to be extracted for inclusion into written reports. The application created by the student should be able to generate dynamic reports that contain plain text, graphs, tables, media (photos and videos) based on the data in the .mat file. The student will construct the interface from a VB script (stored in a Word .dot file) that recognises command tokens in the document and a Phoenix (Matlab) background server process returning the data to the foreground VB process which is inserting it into the report. The .dot report template should so be able to be used to run regular reports extracting current data from the Phoenix repository. Further information: http://cmlr.uq.edu.au/a_pudmenzky.htm http://phoenix.cmlr.uq.edu.au http://www.mathworks.com.au/products/netbuilder/

Vaughan Clarkson

Office: 78-540
Phone: 58834
Email: vaughan@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Automatic birdsong recognition

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3600
Description:	Many Australian birds have quite distinctive songs. From a database of songs, such as the ABC’s Wildsound Archive, and using signal processing techniques developed for the music industry, the aim is to produce a robust device that could automatically recognise and catalogue the bird species in a particular area. It is expected that this could be of considerable benefit to ornithologists and conservationists.
Further Information:	http://abc.net.au/archives/av/birds.htm

2 - Real-time acquisition of the beat in a live musical performance

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3600, knowledge of musical theory
Description:	The idea is to investigate and implement a sort of 'phase-locked loop' for a live musical performance. Most of us humans can pick up the beat of a piece of music without thinking about it, but for a computer to do this some carefully considered signal processing is required. As a goal for this project, a DSP system is envisaged with an audio input (microphone) and output (earphone). The user would sing or play music into the input and the system would 'join in' by tapping out the beat in time on the output.

3 - CEED Projects

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	4
Discipline(s):	Communications Microwaves and Radar Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Description:	I'm willing to consider supervising CEED projects where they fall within my area of expertise.
Further Information:	http://www.corptech.com.au

4 - Software-defined radio

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Communications	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	COMS3100, coreq: COMS4100
Description:	To quote the 1st paragraph of the referenced article: "Software-defined radio is one of those promising but elusive ideas that’s been anticipated for quite some time. The concept is elegantly simple: get rid of the specialized electronics used to process radio signals and instead do everything with software. The result, we’ve been promised, will be a universal wireless device that can seamlessly handle a range of frequencies, modulation techniques, and encoding schemes. Just as the personal computer replaced the typewriter, the adding machine, and even the telephone, so too will a software radio one day replace your cellphone, Blackberry, and any other wireless device you may happen to use." This project explores various avenues for implementing software-defined radio on recently acquired hardware, on a PC, on a DSP, and/or on an FPGA.
Further Information:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2007.273037

5 - Software-defined radar

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Microwaves and Radar	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	COMS3100 or ELEC3600
Description:	The aim of this project is to implement a simple radar using techniques and equipment for software-defined radio.

6 - A software-defined DSL testbed

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	6
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3600 &/or COMS4100
Description:	Using the Ettus Research USRP modules, implement the first stage of a software-defined testbed for digital subscriber line (DSL) techniques. The project involves real-time implementation in software of the baseband physical-layer processing of discrete multi-tone (DMT) and simulation of realistic DSL channels.

7 - Radar Signal Processing Using Illuminators of Opportunity

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	7
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Microwaves and Radar Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC2004 + further 'signals & systems' course (COMS3100, ELEC3600 or METR3200)
Description:	A key problem with traditional so-called ‘monostatic’ military radars (radars which have transmitter and receiver collocated) is that the transmissions of the radar give away its position. In metropolitan areas, the advent of broadcast digital television has provided a useful ‘illuminator of opportunity’ for radar receivers. The TV broadcast essentially illuminates the whole metropolitan area, so the radar receiver can remain inconspicuous. This project will look at the signal processing necessary to obtain high-resolution images in this scenario. There will be some collaboration with the Defence Science & Technology Organisation (DSTO).

8 - Automatic miniature faking

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	8
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3600 (ELEC4600 a very useful companion)
Description:	'Miniature faking' is a technique in digital photography to create the illusion that the subject of the photograph is a miniature model, when in fact the subject is full size. Two image processing operations are key for effective miniature faking. The first is simulation of the very shallow depth of field often found in photographs of miniatures as a result of using a macro lens. The second is modification of contrast and saturation to simulate the lighting and colour schemes often observed in miniature models. Currently, miniature faking is only a semi-automated process. This project aims to produce a fully automated miniature faking process. For more information on miniature faking, see the wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_miniature_faking and some excellent (video) examples at http://www.vimeo.com/keithloutit

9 - iPhone 3D UQ campus model

Supervisor:	Vaughan Clarkson	Project ID:	9
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Description:	In this project, the aim is to produce software for the iPhone 3GS that is able to determine the user’s position and orientation, using the iPhone's in-built GPS and digital compass, and to render an image on the screen that is a faithful 3D representation of what the user should be able see from that perspective. Such a system could be used to replace the traditional 2D ‘scrolling map’ interface, which many people ﬁnd difficult to interpret, for navigation from one point to another. The project builds upon an existing 3D model for the St. Lucia campus.

Stuart Crozier

Office: 78-521
Phone: 57098
Email: stuart@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Compressed sensing in MRI

Supervisor:	Stuart Crozier	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Matlab/programming skills (c/c++)
Description:	The objective of this project is to develop imaging protocol using compressed sensing theory, which is adaptable to MRI hardware settings in the Biomedical Engineering Research Group (ITEE). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging modality and used extensively in radiological practice, that requires exquisite tissue contrast. Yet, imaging speed, which is essential to many of the MRI applications, remains a major challenge. MRI scanners sequentially sample lines within “k-space” (the spatial Fourier domain of the image). Each line sample takes time and injects energy into the patient. As MRI technology has advanced, there has been an increasing desire to use higher field strengths (better SNR but increased radio–frequency exposure) and to analyse larger data sets, such as dynamic imaging and 3D brain imaging. However, rapid acquisition of MRI sequences is limited by physical (e.g. gradient strength and slew rate) and physiological (e.g. nerve stimulation) constraints. Compressed sensing is a new rapidly growing research field, which investigates ways in which we can sample signals at roughly the “information rate” rather than the Nyquist rate. There are a growing number of applications across a range of disciplines, including medical imaging, seismic imaging, distributed and remote sensing, and analogue to digital conversion, etc. One of the most promising application areas for compressed sensing is in reduced rate sampling for MRI. It is potentially a very disruptive technology and provides a new way of thinking about how to acquire and code signals in the most efficient manner.

2 - Development of an automated image analysis system for (sports) thigh injuries

Supervisor:	Stuart Crozier	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Programming skills (c/c++)
Description:	Injuries of the thigh musculature (groin and hamstring tears) in popular sports such as soccer, which has approximately 200,000 professional and 240 million amateur players, are commonly incapacitating conditions. The high recurrence rate of thigh injuries in soccer players and many athletes noted in the research literature are often attributed to muscle imbalances (strength “deficits” / volume “asymmetries”) and represents a significant clinical problem in the management and rehabilitation of these widespread injuries. For clinically realistic investigations into thigh muscle “asymmetries” using routine radiological (MRI) techniques, the development of a rapid, automated image analysis system, as opposed to the time- and expertise-intensive manual segmentation systems used in research studies, offers a promising instrument to advance the treatment and rehabilitation of recalcitrant (chronic) thigh injuries. The research project(s) will form part of an image processing collaboration between CSIRO and the Biomedical Engineering Research Group (ITEE). The objective of this project is to develop automated image analysis system for MR investigations of thigh muscle asymmetry using advanced GPU programming techniques, based on developed image processing and analysis algorithms (e.g., specialized bias-field / normalization algorithms; image registration using iterative non-rigid and rigid transformations; robust probability atlases with concomitant 3D statistical shape modelling for segmentation of the thigh musculature to provide data on muscle asymmetries).

3 - The Analysis of Deformed RF Shielding for MRI RF Coils

Supervisor:	Stuart Crozier	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Strong in Electromagnetics and/or circuits
Description:	RF shielding, which usually conform to a fixed shape, for example a cylindrical shape, is incorporated into a transmit/receive MRI RF system to reduce radiation losses. However, it has been shown that by deforming the shape, it can be used to minimize the inductive couplings between coil elements of a MRI RF coil array system. Therefore, there is potential to investigate other advantages that can be obtained from deforming the RF shielding, such as whether it is possible to gain increased RF penetration depth or even alter the direction of the RF field. Both computer simulation and experimental measurement will be carried out in this project to study these possibilities. The student will have a chance to learn to use electromagnetic software for modelling the deformed RF shield before prototype is constructed and experimentally tested in an existing MRI system in Centre for Magnetic Resonance of UQ.

Matthew D'Souza

Office: CSIRO/QCAT
Phone: 33274444
Email: matt.d'souza@csiro.au

1 - Localisation and Tracking using Wireless Contact Logging

Supervisor:	Matthew D'Souza	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Computer Network Programming, Wireless Communications, Embedded Systems Programming (e.g. C or C++)
Description:	This aim of this project is to localise and track the position of humans or animals using a combination GPS and wireless sensor networks. Due to the high power usage of GPS, localising with a low powered wireless sensor network in conjunction with GPS will be used to maintain track of a person's position, while reducing the power consumption and increasing the operational lifetime of tracking nodes. This project involves designing a navigation system for a tracking node that uses GPS, inertial and heading sensors and is based on the CSIRO Fleck embedded computing platform. This project will be supervised by researchers from the CSIRO Sensor Networks research group, based at QCAT.
Further Information:	http://research.ict.csiro.au/research/laboratories/autonomous-systems/research/sensor-networks/sensor-networks

2 - IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LowPan)

Supervisor:	Matthew D'Souza	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Communications Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Computer Network Programming, Wireless Communications, Embedded Systems Programming (e.g. C or C++)
Description:	This aim of this project is to achieve IPv6 in low power IEEE802.15.4 based wireless personal area networks. Internet Protocol (IP) is used in the largest computer networks (e.g., the Internet) in existence, and supported by almost every personal computer. Due to universal accessibilities of IP, 6LowPan could create seamless communications between the Internet and personal area networks, and make computing truly pervasive. However, IP is a general purpose protocol, and it is very challenging to use IP in low cost, low power personal area network nodes. This project involves designing and implementing efficient algorithms to achieve IPv6 ob the resource limited wireless sensor nodes. This project will be supervised by researchers from the CSIRO Sensor Networks research group, based at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT).
Further Information:	http://research.ict.csiro.au/research/laboratories/autonomous-systems/research/sensor-networks/sensor-networks

3 - Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks for Species Detection

Supervisor:	Matthew D'Souza	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Signal and Image Processing, Embedded Systems Programming (e.g. C or C++), Matlab experience
Description:	Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are rapidly evolving to include complex sensing capabilities such as audio and video. These Wireless Multi-media Sensor Networks (WMSNs) open up many new and exciting opportunities but still have many challenges to be overcome. This project involves the development of a species detection and recognition system through the fusing of audio, image and passive infra-red modalities. As a first step this will require the development of efficient algorithms to enable this to work effectively with many other opportunities for the advanced student. The nodes that the algorithms will be implemented on have panning capabilities (using a high-speed servo-mechanism) for increased probability of detection. This capability adds an exciting dimension to these devices as well as to the challenges in their effective implementation. his project will be supervised by researchers from the CSIRO Sensor Networks research group, based at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT).
Further Information:	http://research.ict.csiro.au/research/laboratories/autonomous-systems/research/sensor-networks/sensor-networks

4 - Energy Scaverging for Wireless Sensor Networks

Supervisor:	Matthew D'Souza	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Electronics Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Electronic Circuits, Embedded Systems Programming (e.g. C or C++)
Description:	Energy consumption is a big issue for wireless sensor networks as it defines how long a node can operate for. This project aims to investigate and implement energy scaverging using solar, heat and vibration sources. This project involves designing electronic circuitry such as a 'charge pump' for a small wireless sensor platform used for temperature, acceleration and methane monitoring applications. This project will be supervised by researchers from the CSIRO Sensor Networks research group, based at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT).
Further Information:	http://research.ict.csiro.au/research/laboratories/autonomous-systems/research/sensor-networks/sensor-networks

5 - Network Simulation for Wireless Sensor Networks

Supervisor:	Matthew D'Souza	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	CSIRO Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Computer Network Programming, Wireless Communications, Embedded Systems Programming (e.g. C or C++)
Description:	Wireless Sensor networks are growing rapidly both in terms of technology and network size. Scalability is a major issue that needs to be addressed appropriately if large networks are to be implementable. At CSIRO we are currently deploying an environmental sensor network which will ultimately consist of 200 nodes. The questions that surround this and other deployments are numerous and it would be of major benefit to have a detailed simulation that could be used to help answer them. A number of possible simulators exist such as ns-2, OMNeT++, TOSSIM, Matlab etc. and the best one for our needs at CSIRO is currently a question we would like answered. We require a motivated student to carry out research into all the available simulators and, upon choosing the best one for our needs, to begin the development of a simulation that can be used to help highlight possible network implementation issues and answer questions our network designers may have. This project will be supervised by researchers from the CSIRO Sensor Networks research group, based at the Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies (QCAT).
Further Information:	http://research.ict.csiro.au/research/laboratories/autonomous-systems/research/sensor-networks/sensor-networks

Miguel Fuentes

Office: 78-529
Phone: 58304
Email: miguel@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Magnetometer for MRI Materials Testing

Supervisor:	Miguel Fuentes	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering Electronics Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3400; ELEC3401;
Description:	Manufacturers and designers of Magnetic Resonance Imaging devices are required to use non-magnetic electronics parts and materials in their devices due to the specialized environment that they design to. Unfortunately many of the integrated circuit and electronic component manufacturers do not state the magnetivity of their products in their datasheets and one often finds that the product specification in relation to magnetic materials can vary for any given product from batch to batch. This necessitates in house testing of all parts and materials before assembling into the final product. It is therefore useful to have a magnetometer that quickly and reliably measures a vast array of different parts and materials for magnetivity. Magnetometers are widely available but are generally expensive and impractical. Therefore the aim of this project is to build an inexpensive, reliable and practical magnetometer. Students interested in this project can contact me through email. Project deliverables: working hardware that is capable of Measurement of material permeabilities in the range μ = 1.001 to 2.000 in order to detect ferromagnetic inclusions in materials.

2 - Fetal ECG Monitor for MRI

Supervisor:	Miguel Fuentes	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering Electronics Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3400; ELEC3401;
Description:	Fetal ECG is usually extracted by use of surface electrodes placed in the abdomen of the mother. The fetal ECG (fECG) can then be subsequently extracted from the mother’s ECG (mECG) by a number of signal processing techniques. In order to facilitate imaging of the fetal heart it would be desirable to obtain the fetal ECG and extract the fetal QRS waveform in order to synchronise the image acquisition to the fetal cardiac rhythm. In the MRI environment however, the ECG biosignals can be exposed to large, spurious, non-deterministic noise that can momentarily saturate amplifiers, damage circuitry, produce large DC shifts and otherwise corrupt the biosignal. This project will involve designing a method of biosignal acquisition where little or no hardware amplification is required and where the biosignal is digitized through a high speed differential sigma delta ADC with large dynamic range. The ADC will be interfaced to an MCU where the fetal QRS can be extracted and presented to the MR system in “real time” and subsequent signal processing can be performed to separate fECG from mECG. Students interested in this project can contact me through email.

Tara Hamilton

Office: 47-302
Phone: 53988
Email: tara@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)

Supervisor:	Tara Hamilton	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Complex and Intelligent Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Electronics Power	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	Electronic speed controllers are used to control the speed of three phase DC motors based on a control signal in PWM format. The ESC interprets the PWM control signal to vary the switching rate of a network of FETs. They can also be used to control the direction and perform dynamic breaking. The power to the ESCs is supplied by Lithium-ion polymer multi-cell batteries. The off the shelf ESCs available can only take the control signal at 50Hz which means that they are not adequate for fast moving vehicles as the control system is not able to change the speed fast enough. This project aims at making an ESC for UAVs which will be able to handle a control signal of 500Hz. The final product will be powered by 2 to 5 cell lithium-ion polymer batteries. The output current of the ESC will also be adjustable with a maximum current output of 100 Amperes. The controller for generating the switching signal for FETs will be based on FPGA technology.

Ian Hayes

Office: 78-326
Phone: 52386
Email: ianh@itee.uq.edu.au

Software engineering; specification of computing systems; software development based on mathematical principles; real-time systems; fault-tolerant systems; concurrent systems. Research projects: * Description of real-time systems using time bands * Teleo-reactive programming real-time systems * Generation and analysis of fault-tolerant real-time systems * Real-time specification and refinement * Timing path analysis of real-time programs

Additional information: http://itee.uq.edu.au/~ianh

1 - Compiler code generator generator

Supervisor:	Ian Hayes	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	COMP4403 (possibly as co-requisite)
Description:	Compilers are required to generate machine code for a range of machines, each with its own idiosyncratic instruction set. One approach to code generation is to use pattern matching to select instructions that are appropriate to implement a language construct. We'll start small with a simple programming language and a simple machine instruction set. This project will require advanced programming skills and preferably a knowledge of compilers, or at least you should be doing COMP4403 as a co-requisite.

2 - Static program analysis

Supervisor:	Ian Hayes	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	COMP4403 (possibly as co-requisite)
Description:	Static program analysis is concerned with finding bugs or security loop holes in programs by analysing the code, e.g., to find potential references through a null pointer. It is closely related to program verification. This project will form part of a larger project with Sun Labs. For more details see the associated web page.
Further Information:	http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~ianh/Static_Analysis_Project.html

3 - Advanced programming for reactive/robotic systems

Supervisor:	Ian Hayes	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	Teleo-reactive programming takes a higher-level approach to real-time programming than standard languages. This allows quite complex systems that reactive to evolving environments to be programmed in a more straightforward manner. The project will develop some case studies in teleo-reactive programming along with animation of their behaviour, and techniques for implementing teleo-reactive programs efficiently.
Further Information:	http://itee.uq.edu.au/~tftr

David Mason

Office: 78-523
Phone: 51181
Email: mason@itee.uq.edu.au

Drug infusion systems

Additional information: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mason

1 - Build A Model-based Infusion System for Anaesthesia

Supervisor:	David Mason	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	computer programming
Description:	Interface a syringe infusion pump to a PC and build a pharmacokinetic model-based infusion system for delivery of anaesthetic or analgesic agents. The user interface is important for clinical interaction. This is a safety critical system which must appropriately accommodate error conditions.
Further Information:	http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mason

2 - Multiple Infusions Advisory System for ICU Circulatory Management

Supervisor:	David Mason	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	computer programming; physiology
Description:	Patients in intensive care units (ICU) often require the concurrent administration of multiple drug infusions. Build an advisory system based on novel decoupling algorithms for blood pressure and flow to assist clinical staff in co-ordinating the adjustment of fluid, vasoactive and positive inotropic agents. A simplified circulatory model can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of this novel approach compared to alternative approaches.
Further Information:	http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mason

3 - Physiological Control of Rotary Heart Assist Pumps

Supervisor:	David Mason	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	computer programming
Description:	Blood pumps need controllers to mimic heart function and vary flow according to differing levels of physical activity. Build a pulsatile cardiovascular model so that you can investigate alternative control strategies for rotary blood heart pumps.
Further Information:	http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~mason

Nadarajah Mithulananthan

Office: 47-402
Phone: 54194
Email: mithulan@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Understanding Static Voltage Stability in Power Systems

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Power System Analysis,
Description:	Static voltage stability has been the main reasons for many of major power system blackout incidents. The aim of the project is to understand the phenomena, look for reasons why voltage collapse happened and device corrective measures to overcome that.

2 - Investigation of Loss Reduction Potential in Large Buildings

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Power System
Description:	Loss reduction has been research well and implemented in transmission and distribution systems. Customer facilities beyond the energy meter have been ignored though there could be potentials for loss reduction by simple means. This project will investigate the potential for loss reduction in few selected buildings. The work could include study of daily energy consumption of the building, the types and power factor of the loads used in the building etc and the potential energy saving by loss reduction.

3 - Study of Harmonics in Selected Buildings in UQ, St Lucia Campus

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Power System Analysis, Power Quality
Description:	As the University is embarking on investment on 1 MW solar panel in St. Lucia campus the power quality, especially level of harmonics could become higher. This project aims at investigating the existing harmonics levels in selected buildings to see whether the measurements are well within the standards. It is suspected that as there are many computer loads in the campus harmonic levels may be significant already.

4 - Renewable Energy in the Australian Electricity Market: Status, Potential and Issues

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

5 - Wind power generation in competitive power markets

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

6 - PV - wind hybrid power system in remote area: integration, management and storage of energy

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	6
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Power	Num. students signed up:	1

7 - Impact of Large Scale PV Generation on Static Voltage Stability of Distribution System

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	7
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

8 - A Study of PV Panel Design and Overall Performance for Large Scale Application

Supervisor:	Nadarajah Mithulananthan	Project ID:	8
Research Group:	Power and Energy Systems	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1

Michael Poole

Office: 78-529
Phone: 58304
Email: michael@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Circuit Scanner

Supervisor:	Michael Poole	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering Electronics Robotics	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Sensor electronics, control, matlab
Description:	In this project, you will produce the necessary electronics and controlled scanning platform to map the magnetic field above unknown circuits and thereby calculate the currents flowing in the circuit. Electric currents flowing in a circuit produce a characteristic magnetic field above the circuit. The field will be sensed with a new type of magnetic field sensor (a magnetic tunnel junction or MTJ) capable of registering magnetic fields smaller than one 10,000th of the strength of the Earth’s. A student may build the sensor electronics, scanning stage and/or a matlab front end.

2 - Temperature sensor array

Supervisor:	Michael Poole	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Electronics	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	electronics
Description:	You will be required to make a temperature sensor array. Automatic temporal data recording from 100 sensor channels is preferred. Using this sensor array we will be able to map the heat distribution of equipment that has been designed to have reduced maximum temperature.

Marius Portmann

Office: 78-616
Phone: 58356
Email: marius@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Multi-hop Video on Google Android Phone

Supervisor:	Marius Portmann	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Communications Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good networking background (coms3200, coms4200) and very good programming and Linux skills.
Description:	The goal of this project is to implement and evaluate wireless multi-hop video transmission using Google Android phones. The idea is to trasmit a video stream captured on a device via multiple IEEE 802.11 enabled devices, and to display the video on destination devices. For this an an-hoc routing protocol needs to be implemented/deployed/modified and the performance of the solution needs to be evaluated for various deployment scenarios. The project will be done in collaboration with NICTA, which provides a scholarship opportunity. The requirement for applicants is a very good GPA. Please contact me for more details (marius@itee.uq.edu.au.)

2 - Dynamic Fragmentation in 802.11

Supervisor:	Marius Portmann	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Communications Software Systems Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Solid Networking background, good programming and Linux skills
Description:	The goal of this project is to evaluate how the dynamic selection of the frame fragmentation threshold in 802.11-based wireless mesh networks can be used to increase the reliability and performance of wireless links. The project involves the design and implementation of new adaptation strategies and the evaluation via test-bed measurements. The project will be done in collaboration with NICTA, which provides a scholarship opportunity. The requirement for applicants is a very good GPA. Please contact me for more details: marius@itee.uq.edu.au

3 - Interference mitigation in Wireless Mesh Networks

Supervisor:	Marius Portmann	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Very good networking background
Description:	Due to the fact that most wireless mesh networks operate in unlicensed frequency bands, interference from external sources is a major problem. The aim of this project is to investigate methods that can minimise the negative effects of inteference on the performance of wireless mesh networks. For example, this can involve the design of new strategies for dynamic allocation of channels to interfaces or "channel hopping". The focus will be on solutions that can be implemented at layers 2 and 3. The project will be done in collaboration with NICTA, which provides a scholarship opportunity. The requirement for applicants is a very good GPA. Please contact me for more details: marius@itee.uq.edu.au

Adam Postula

Office: 78-604
Phone: 53746
Email: adam@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - UAV project

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	4
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	good grasp of digital electronics and programming
Description:	We build Unmanned Aerial Vehicles powered by electrical and fuel motors. The vehicles require advanced sensing and control based on microcontrollers and programmable logic (FPGAs). UAV is a fantastic object to learn embedded system design. Depending on your knowledge, interests and skills your thesis will be defined as a part of this larger project.

2 - UAV Outback Challenge 2009

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	4
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good team work skills
Description:	The outback challenge is going to be held in September and it is sponsored by Queensland Government, QUT, CSIRO and ARCAA. The task is to build an auto piloted UAV. The UAV will take off and fly to a 3 km by 3 km search area where it will search for a 50 Watt energy source representing a stranded human being. Then it will send the GPS location of the source to the base station where it will be checked by the judges. Upon receiving the confirmation from the judges the UAV will fly over this location and drop a 1 kg first aid kit. The last step will be to fly back to the starting point and automatically land. Students from the following fields are required • Mechanical / Mechatronics • Electronics / Electrical • Wireless Communication • Control systems • Software Engineering o Embedded programming o Image processing The project will include designing and developing a fixed-wing UAV, an auto pilot system and an aircraft controller. There will be onboard sensors for getting the orientation, velocity and altitude information. The auto pilot will use this information to plot a flight plan. The aircraft controller will use this flight plan to generate actuator signals.

3 - UAV engine/fuel management system

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Embedded programming experience, basic fluid dynamics and combustion theory.
Description:	This topic involves the development and implementation of an engine/fuel management system for a gas two stroke model aircraft engine. This topic will require analysis of optimal (Stoichiometric) air/fuel ratios for changing atmospheric conditions through the use of a microcontroller, and appropriate sensors and actuators. The engine/fuel management system will be used in a fixed winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and will have a maximum cruising altitude of approximately 2000ft.

4 - Vision based inertial measurement unit (IMU)

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Matlab and C programming experience and good knowledge of image processing.
Description:	The task for this project will be to develop a vision based inertial measurement system. At present we are using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising of accelerometers, gyros and magnetometers. The data from these IMUs is very noisy mostly because of the vibrations of the vehicle. In the vision based system a camera will be fixed on the UAV. The programme will need to detect objects in every frame. As the UAV moves the objects location will change from frame to frame. This movement will then need to be translated into roll, pitch and yaw rotations.

5 - UAV Quad Rotor controller

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Good skills in VHDL and C programming
Description:	We are currently developing a Quad Rotor UAV. The control system for it is divided into three parts namely aircraft controller, data acquisition system and the autopilot system. The aircraft controller and data acquisition system are implemented on FPGA and the Autopilot system is being developed using Gumstix which has an embedded processor running Linux on it. The first task in this thesis project is to partition an FPGA and use one partition to put the existing aircraft controller and data acquisition system and putting a virtual processor on the other one. The second task is to transform the autopilot system software to a suitable form so that it can be run on the virtual processor.

6 - UAV control model

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	6
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):		Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Matlab experience and basic fluid dynamics.
Description:	We are currently developing a Quad Rotor UAV. It has 30 ampere three phase DC motors as actuators and 10 x 7 propellers. The task for this thesis project will be to develop a mathematical model for this UAV which can be used for developing control system for it. The model will be implemented in Matlab. Different controllers will be tested with this model to find out which one will best suit our needs.

7 - obstacle recognition and avoidance for UAV

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	7
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	good grasp of digital electronics and programming, some knowledge of image processing
Description:	Obstacle avoidance for Unamanned Flying Vehicles is a challenge in signal processing since calculations must be performed on line and preferably on the oboard computer which is a low end machine. Some ideas in using various sensors and moving soem parts of computations to hardware haev been developed in our UAV project. Your task is to check viability of the proposed approach and develop a proof of concept hardware/software implementation. You will be working independently but in close conatct with the rest of UAV project team.

8 - wireless mesh as a communication infrastructure for UAVs

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	8
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	good programming skills, understanding of wireless networking
Description:	This project investigates use of a mesh of ground wireless tranceivers for facilitating long distance communication with UAVs. You are to investigate different aspects of such infrastructure and built a proof of concept system to communicate with UAV developed in another project. You are to work independently but in close contact with other members of UAV team.

9 - Pentor - a new type of rotor driven UAV

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	9
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	solid mechatronics background, good understanding of mechanical design and dynamics
Description:	We are building a new type of rotor driven UAV with mixed electrical and fuel drives. The concept design is already developed; your task is to analyse it, contribute with ideas, and build a flying prototype. Much of control electronics can be reused from other UAVs built in our lab.

10 - Automatic book page turner

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	10
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	some understanding of machanical design, knowledge of motor control, microcontroller based design
Description:	Turning pages of a book is considered a trivial task for an average person. It can be a hurdle or simply impossible for disabled. Automatic page turners are available on the market, but those properly working are very expensive. Can we design page turner with different principles to those available and make it cheaper and more affordable ? Your task is to investigate, invent new and improve previous mechanical, electrical and control solutions made by thesis students.

12 - Demonstrator of UAV collaborative behaviour

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	12
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	This project goal is developing a simple prototype demostrator to study collaborative behaviour of UAVs.

13 - Base station development for UAV

Supervisor:	Adam Postula	Project ID:	13
Research Group:	Embedded Systems Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	Development of UAV base station software

Aleksandar Rakic

Office: 78-547
Phone: 53569
Email: rakic@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Relative Intensity Noise of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers for Gigabit Ethernet applications: measurement and parameter extraction

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Desirable companion course is Photonics COMS4103 or equivalent.
Description:	Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are the most commonly used light source for high-speed data communications over multimode optical fiber including Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Ethernet. An important consideration for such applications is the measurement of relative intensity noise (RIN) in the laser as it becomes the factor limiting the bit-error-ratio and the maximum signalling rate. In this project you will: (1) Investigate techniques for RIN measurements on VCSELs. (2) Characterise several VCSELs manufactured in the same technology and differing only in the resonator diameter. (3) Use standard RIN models to determine relaxation oscillation frequency and damping frequency and their dependence on bias current. (4) Extract model parameters using global optimising procedures and compare simulation against measurements. (5) Draw conclusions related to effect of resonator diameter on modal, spectral and temporal response of the device.

2 - Modelling the Self-Mixing Effect in VCSELs

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3400, ability to design and make electronic circuits
Description:	This is a continuation of an extremely successful project. The aim is to improve the performance of a novel and compact laser range finder which is using a semiconductor laser both as a transmitter and a sensor. If you take this project you will be working in our research labs with a small group of motivated postgraduate students. Each student will have his/her well defined part of the project.

3 - Electronic hardware interface for an Optical Spectrum Analyser

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	elec3400 or similar
Description:	The aim of the project is to redesign the front end for an optical spectrum analyser. This is mainly an electronic design project focusing on teh design of a sensitive small signal amplifier

4 - Integrated distance sensor for robot sensing

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3400, a desirable companion course would be Photonics COMS4103
Description:	The aim of the project is to design and implement of a compact laser range finder/ displacement sensor which is using a semiconductor laser both as a transmitter and a detector. If you take this project you will be working in our research labs with a small group of motivated postgraduate students. Design requirements are as follows  Low power (frequently used CCD sensors draw 30 mA – this sensor has to use an order of magnitude less current)  Range of 0 – 1m  Analogue distance output  Small, self-contained unit that operates on 3 – 5V.  Works with certain specified surfaces e.g. glass, black surface etc.  Refresh rate of 10 Hz.

5 - Microwave Measurements of Properties of Composite Aircraft Materials

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3100
Description:	This project is being run in collaboration with Phantom Works Boeing Australia. For more information contact Dr Aleksandar Rakic or Mr Bruce Piper, bruce.r.piper@boeing.com. The Radar Cross Section (RCS), vulnerability to lightning strikes, EMC, antenna radiation patterns etc on aircraft rely heavily on the composite material the aircraft is made from. These composites are predominately made for their structural integrity with no consideration to the RF electrical properties (Conductivity, Permittivity, Permeability etc). Measurement of the RF electrical properties of composites relies on the composite being relatively thick. Often this is not the case and microwave measurement techniques need to be developed that can accurately measure thin aircraft composites. This project will develop algorithms for extracting microwave properties of composites from measured data. It will offer the student theoretical and practical experience in microwave measurements as well as working on a problem that is current and relevant to the aircraft industry.

6 - Study of the Effect of Inversion Layer Mobility on the Cut-off Frequency of RF Silicon-on-Sapphire MOSFET’s

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	6
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Photonics and Optical Communications	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	basic semiconductor theory
Description:	(co-supervised with Prof Y.T.Yeow) Silicon-on-sapphire MOSFET’s enable monolithic integration for a broad range of mixed-signal RF integrated circuits. The revolutionary performance of this technology is changing the way RF ICs are currently designed. The choice of SOS technology is mainly based on the fact that SOS MOSFET’s have inherently lower inter-electrode capacitances which leads to higher transistor cut-off frequency when compared with the traditional bulk MOSFET’s. However another transistor parameter affecting the cut-off frequency of MOSFET’s is transconductance of the transistor. Transconductance, for a given transistor gate width to gate length ratio, is in turn dependent on the inversion carrier transport i.e. carrier mobility. Currently it is known that the quality of the thin film silicon grown on sapphire used to fabricate SOS transistors have poorer crystallinity compared to the CZ silicon used to faricate bulk silicon MOSFET’s and hence a lower inversion carrier mobility can be expected for SOS MOSFET’s. This study is aimed at evaluating the effect of degradation of the inversion mobility in SOS thin film silicon on the RF characteristics, particularly the cut-off frequency of RF SOS transistors. The study uses standard silicon device simulator (Silvaco Atlas) to determine the variation of relevant small-signal transistor parameter set for a typical SOS RF transistor as a function of inversion layer mobility. The obtained parameter set is then used to calculate the RF characteristics of the transistor using standard RF simulator (Agilent ADS).

7 - A Numerical Study of the Accuracy of SOS MOSFET 2-D Dopant Profile Extraction by Inverse Modelling of Small-signal RF Parameters

Supervisor:	Aleksandar Rakic	Project ID:	7
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Microwaves and Radar	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	basic semiconductor theory
Description:	(co-supervision with prof Y. T. Yeow) Silicon-on-sapphire MOSFET’s enable monolithic integration for a broad range of mixed-signal RF integrated circuits. The revolutionary performance of this technology is changing the way RF ICs are currently designed. The performance of modern day MOSFET’s is very much controlled by the channel dopant profile in the direction perpendicular to the silicon-to-silicon dioxide interface. This channel dopant profile in any modern silicon MOSFET is the combination of a large number of device fabrication steps. To directly measure the actual dopant profile in deep sub-micron transistors by direct chemical or physical means is not possible due to the small size of the transistor. Often some form of indirect measurement is necessary. One well known approach is by inverse modelling process using the measured inter-electrode capacitances as a function of bias applied to the four terminals, source, drain, gate and substrate of a bulk MOSFET. With SOS MOSFET, there is no access to the thin film silicon forming the substrate of the transistor, reducing the number of measured capacitances available for use in inverse modelling. The capacitances between the accessible terminals (source, drain and gate) are also smaller compared to those between these terminals and the substrate, making measurement of the capacitances less accurate at the standard measurement frequencies of a few hundred kHz when a LCR meter is used. This study aims to evaluate the suitability of using RF measurements at 1 to 2 GHz which would yield more accurate capacitances for dopant profile extraction and to determine an inverse modelling process for two-dimension (along the channel length and perpendicular to the oxide-silicon interface) dopant profile extraction. The approach is to use a device simulator and RF circuit simulator to model the experiment of RF measurement of a SOS MOSFET with an assumed structure and then to explore the process of extracting the relevant capacitances from the “measured” S parameters and then to develop an inverse modelling procedure to extract the dopant profile, which should be theoretically that was assumed in the SOS MOSFET structure. The study will also sensitivity study of the inverse modelling process on the accuracy of the various S parameters

Peter Robinson

Office: 78-316
Phone: 53461
Email: pjr@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - iDash

Supervisor:	Peter Robinson	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	Real-time reports generated from legacy information and output in the form of “dashboards” (web interfaces). This is a CEED project.

Penny Sanderson

Office: 78-333/24A-122
Phone: 57196
Email: psanderson@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Cognitive work analysis and the smart house

Supervisor:	Penny Sanderson	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Interaction Design Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Human Computer Interaction	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	Prior u/g study in human factors and/or HCI
Description:	There is much current excitement and research activity relating to the technical potential for smart houses. However, there is less analysis of where houses need to be smarter than they are. In this project we will focus on analysing where houses need to be smarter and will perform a small technical demonstration based on our analysis.

Mark Schulz

Office: 78-417
Phone: 59132
Email: marks@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - iLabs: Interactive Laboratory Experiments over the Internet

Supervisor:	Mark Schulz	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems Human Computer Interaction Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good programming skills; Familiarity with LabVIEW a definite bonus; good lab skills
Description:	This project is part of the MIT-UQ iCampus collaboration. In the project, we expect a student to work with a National Instruments ELVIS (Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite - www.ni.com/academic/ni_elvis/ ) platform and the iLabs software developed at MIT. Programming will be done using Java, C#, Microsoft .NET, and the graphical programming language from national Instruments LabVIEW (www.ni.com/labview/). Support for the student allocated this project will also come from the Electronics Instrumentation Workshop in mechanical engineering and from the iLabs programming team at MIT. National Instruments (Oceania) have been approached to award a prize to the project which makes the best use of LabVIEW and NI products - this would be a contender for that award.
Further Information:	http://icampus.mit.edu/ilabs

2 - Measurement of Coastal Wave Heights via Remote Instrumentation

Supervisor:	Mark Schulz	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology	Max. students:	2
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good programming skills; Familiarity with LabVIEW a bonus; good lab skills; interest in building a complete and working system
Description:	This project is taken in conjunction with the Coastal Engineering group in Civil Engineering, the Electronics Instrumentation Workshop in Mechanical Engineering, the iLabs team at UQ and the iLabs programming team at MIT. The aim of this project is to collect water level information from manometer tubes at the Southport Spit. These tubes measure water pressure (and thus wave height) out to 500 metres from the beach. The aim is to use a web cam to capture images of the water levels and to image process these pictures to determine the water height readings. This is done in a station buried 3 meters under the sand dunes. The data is then to be transmitted back to the sand pumping station at The Spit, Southport, intergrated with local weather information and a live video feed of the beach waves, and transmitted via broadband back to UQ. The project will proceed in small stages as we investigate the various possible approaches. Programming skills and system integration skills will figure prominently. Much of the data acquistion, data processing and data display must be done in National Instruments graphical programming language LabVIEW (www.ni.com/labview/). This experiment will not only form part of the research activities of the civil engineering coastal research unit, but will also be used as a live demonstration in lectures.

3 - Tree power: energy delivery for ultralow-power sensors

Supervisor:	Mark Schulz	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	A practicval interest in embedded systems and electronics.
Description:	Researchers at MIT have discovered that the imbalance in pH between the inside of a tree and the soil in which it is potted generates voltage of around 59 millivolts for every step of mismatch in pH. Your project is to design and implement a small power source, measure its performance, and use it to power a small, remote sensor. A particular interest is to look at the performance in salt rich environments, i.e., islands located around the Great Barrier Reef, as the is ongoing research to implement sensor networks linking these islands to the reef environment by scientists at UQ.
Further Information:	http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002963

4 - Applications for a Computerized Pen

Supervisor:	Mark Schulz	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology	Max. students:	5
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good Java Programming skills
Description:	Livescibe released the SmartPen in 2008. It is a pen with a builtin camera. The pen is used with special paper covered in a dot pattern that enables the pen to determine its location on any of 1600 pages. The pen also has inbuilt stereo recording and playback capabilities. Thus, then pen is able to replay any audio associated with any pen mark on any page, making this a very useful notetaking tool. The pen has 2 Gb of flash memory built in, and runs under Java. The contents of the pen are uploaded to a web-based desktop via a USB connection. CEIT are interested in developing a number of small applications to run with the pen. Livescribe have recently released a SDK for developers. A starting project would be to develop a local web/desktop to which Pen memory can be dumped, displayed and interacted with. (Currently the pen data is uploaded to a public website, not something we might want to do with some UQ courses). An extension on this project would be to allow users to tag content so that digital searches could be made of the content. One application we are interested in is to have students replay a solution to a problem along with the verbal explanation from the lecturer/tutor. Clciking anywhere in the screen would then allow students to get an explanation starting at that precise part of the explanation. Another small project might be to link the system with a handwriting tool to convert handwriting to text. We would welcome student ideas for projects as well.
Further Information:	http://www.livescribe.com

5 - iLabs: Subscription Protocols and gathering operational statistics of remote experiments

Supervisor:	Mark Schulz	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Embedded Systems Information Systems Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Good programming skills (Java great, C# useful), knowledge of network protocols
Description:	CEIT researchers collaborate with the Centre for Educational Computing Initiative (CECI) at MIT (in Cambridge, MA) on the development of remote laboratories (the iLabs project). iLabs is a collection of well defined services for running remote experiments. One area of interest that is being led out of UQ is the lead developer for a new service that will allow statistics on the operation of various components of the iLab system, and maybe to even provide remote maintenance of experiments. This project is to design and implement a simple XML producer-consumer protocol that allows geo-tagged operational statistics from an iLab experiment to be collected from around the planet. We are interested in the development of a client for the visualization of this data. The students working on this project will be working with the research staff in the Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (CEIT), located in GP South. The URL gives a link to the home of the project. Come and talk with me about more details of this project if you are interested.
Further Information:	http://icampus.mit.edu/ilabs/

Nicholas Shuley

Office: 78-535
Phone: 53997
Email: shuley@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Polarimetric signatures in the time domain

Supervisor:	Nicholas Shuley	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Microwave and Optical Communications	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Microwaves and Radar	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	ELEC3100 and preferably ELEC3600
Description:	Polarization is essentially a frequency domain concept. This project is concerned with how to best represent polarization in the time domain for a transient signature. The project will look at the various physical target scattering mechanisms and evaluate them in a polarimetric context. The results will be used to determine a feture set from which a target may be identified.

Graeme Smith

Office: 78-315
Phone: 51625
Email: smith@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Generalised cellular automata for analysing mobile agent systems

Supervisor:	Graeme Smith	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Systems and Software Engineering Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Software	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	strong programming skills
Description:	Cellular automata such as Conway's Game of Life (http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife) allow complex behaviour to be captured in terms of simple rules. In Game of Life the cells are laid out uniformly in a grid, each with 8 neighbours, and are either off or on (which is represented by them being one of two colours). By generalising the way the cells are connected, the ways they interact and the number of colours they can have, we are able to represent (and hence analyse the behaviour of) mobile agent systems. In this project, you will build a software tool which allows users, through a language and/or user interface you design, to set up and experiment with generalised cellular automata.

Peter Sutton

Office: 78-628
Phone: 54854
Email: p.sutton@itee.uq.edu.au

My major research interests are in the areas of embedded system development (in particular, design tools and software frameworks to support the development of reconfigurable computers and embedded systems) and technology to support teaching.

I'm willing to supervise projects in areas including FPGAs, Embedded systems, CAD Algorithms and remotely accessible online laboratories (iLabs). Please contact me if you have ideas for projects of your own.

1 - Java-based logic analyser interface

Supervisor:	Peter Sutton	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Embedded Systems Systems Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Strong Java skills, Knowledge of Logic Analysers, Network protocol knowledge (COMS3200)
Description:	The aim is to develop a lightweight (i.e. small) but powerful Java-based logic analyser interface that can be deployed as part of the user interface for embedded-systems based iLabs. The project will also involve development of an appropriate protocol to send such information over the network to the Java UI.

2 - Java-based oscilloscope interface

Supervisor:	Peter Sutton	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Embedded Systems Systems Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Strong Java skills, Knowledge of Oscilloscopes, Network protocol knowledge (COMS3200)
Description:	The aim is to develop a lightweight (i.e. small) but powerful Java-based oscilloscope interface that can be deployed as part of the user interface for embedded-systems based iLabs. The project will also involve development of an appropriate protocol to send such information over the network to the Java UI.

3 - Remotely accessible embedded development systems (iLab)

Supervisor:	Peter Sutton	Project ID:	3
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Embedded Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	Strong background in Embedded Systems, experience with networks
Description:	This project involves the design of an embedded development system that can be remotely accessed and programmed (for educational purposes). A remote user (student) should be able to upload a new program to the development board and test/debug it remotely (e.g. via network/web interface).

4 - Implementation of ATA services and device drivers in OpenBSD

Supervisor:	Peter Sutton	Project ID:	4
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	COMP3301 (Operating Systems) + strong C skills
Description:	(Co-supervised with David Gwynne) The OpenBSD kernel currently has two separate software stacks for providing access to ATA devices. The first is a legacy implementation comprised of four device drivers: wdc, pciide, wd, and atapiscsi. Despite the wide variety of ATA controllers available today, the large majority of them conform to a common register and programming interface for their general operation, with specific chips having specific exceptions or additions to this interface to workaround bugs or add features. Because of the large number of devices, the wdc/ pciide/wd/atapiscsi drivers have become unwieldy and hard to manage. The pciide driver in particular is now one of the large drivers in the OpenBSD kernel. Recently an alternative stack was implemented to support ATA controllers which did not comply to the generic ATA hardware interface. This stack, called atascsi, was built under the SCSI layer in the OpenBSD kernel and translates SCSI commands into the appropriate ATA commands before handing them down to a specific device driver for these new ATA controllers. The goal of this project is to specify and implement a new ATA layer for the common chip interface under this atascsi layer, and then develop several chip specific device drivers that utilize the new ATA core layer with the eventual goal of replacing the old wdc/pciide/wd/ atapiscsi drivers. Replacing the legacy drivers for the full set of controllers that they currently support is not feasible without access to the full set of hardware, and is therefore not required by this project. However, it is hoped that support under atascsi and the new core ATA driver will be provided for the Intel PIIX and ICH PATA and SATA controllers, the JMicron PATA controllers, Marvell SATA controllers, and Silicon Image 0680 PATA and 3112 family of SATA controllers.

5 - npppd integration into OpenBSD

Supervisor:	Peter Sutton	Project ID:	5
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Software	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	COMP3301 (OS), COMS3200 (Networks) + Strong C skills
Description:	(Project co-supervised with David Gwynne.) The aim of this project is initially to port a PPP implementation developed by IIJ Labs called npppd and pipex from NetBSD into the OpenBSD source tree, therefore adding support for the l2tp and pptp protocols. The majority of the project will be then be making significant modifications to the code to make it a better fit in the OpenBSD system, specifically: 1. make pipex the default and only supported mechanism for packet handling in npppd and the kernel. 2. provide separate virtual interfaces for each PPP connection, rather than multiplexing all connections over a single interface. 3. npppd should be modified to use privilege separation and revocation, and 4. the configuration parser should be re-implemented to be based on "OpenBSD style" configuration structure.

Ben Upcroft

Phone: 68751
Email: upcroft@gmail.com

1 - Pile Driver Set Point Analyser

Supervisor:	Ben Upcroft	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Division of Mechanical Engineering	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Robotics	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	The aim of the project is to design and test an embedded vision system for measuring the vertical displacement of concrete piles as they are driven into earth. The system will use a high speed camera, FPGA and single board computer to calculate the instantaneous movement in the pile.

John Williams

Office: 78-613
Phone: 52185
Email: jwilliams@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Software Emulator for MicroBlaze System-on-Chip

Supervisor:	John Williams	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Electronics Embedded Systems Systems Engineering	Num. students signed up:	0
Prerequisite(s):	C Programming
Description:	MicroBlaze is a 32-bit embedded MicroProcessor implemented in programmable FPGA logic. System-onChip design tools permit the creation of complete embedded systems containing the CPU, peripheral and memory buses, IO controllers as well as custom processing hardware. QEMU is an open source CPU / system virtualisation and emulation system. It can be used to create virtual machines on an i386 host. Among the emulated architectures in QEMU is the MIPS CPU, which is architecturally similar to the MicroBlaze. The goal of this project is to add MicroBlaze as a supported CPU architecture in QEMU. At a minimum, the CPU itself should be emulated, as well as a basic collection of system-on-chip components such as a memory controller and simple serial port (UART). If the core project is succesfully completed, there are many possible extensions, such as creating interfaces to allow connection between the QEMU emulation and hardware simulation tools such as ModelSim. This would permit hybrid hardware/software simulation.

2 - Digital Signal Processing on GPGPU

Supervisor:	John Williams	Project ID:	2
Research Group:	Ubiquitous Computing	Max. students:	3
Discipline(s):	Computer Systems Embedded Systems Signal and Image Processing	Num. students signed up:	1
Prerequisite(s):	C programming
Description:	Architecturally, modern Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) from vendors such as NVIDIA are highly parallelised multiprocessing machines. NVIDA has released the CUDA programming environment that provides a C-like programming model to write custom processing applications to run on the graphics accelerator. This kind of computing is known as GPGPU (General Purpose Processing on GPU). This is an open-ended project, with final goals dependent upon the skills and interestes of the students involved. After completing an initial exploration and familiarisation with the CUDA programming suite, an interesting application will be deciedd. One possibility is speech recognition, or some other signal or image processing algorithm.

Stephen Wilson

Office: 78-539
Phone: 54449
Email: wilson@itee.uq.edu.au

1 - Ultrasound Guided Access to the Epidural Space

Supervisor:	Stephen Wilson	Project ID:	1
Research Group:	Electromagnetics and Imaging Group	Max. students:	1
Discipline(s):	Biomedical Engineering	Num. students signed up:	1
Description:	Administration of an epidural anaesthetic requires advanced training to access a precise anatomical space in the vertebral column of the patient. Guidance mechanisms and visualizations by ultrasound are to be explored and trialled in this project. Collaborators from RBWH will assist.

ENGG4802,METR4901,ENGG7804 - Engineering Thesis (mid-year) Commencing Semester 2 2009 Coordinator: Adam Postula (adam@itee.uq.edu.au)