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Surveying & Spatial Information Systems Projects
| Project Title: |
“Cell ID” WiFi Algorithms for Location |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Andrew Dempster |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
a.dempster@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Binghao Li |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
b.li@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Computer Science & Engineering
Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
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| Abstract: |
A number of different, highly sophisticated algorithms have been used to try and position clients in 802.11 wireless LAN (WiFi) networks. These methods include statistical techniques and “fingerprinting”. There seems to be no perfect algorithm and the sophisticated algorithms seem not to deliver the accuracy their sophistication promises. This project aims to employ much simpler algorithms, starting with the simple “cell ID” algorithm used in mobile phone positioning, and building up more accurate algorithms using the same idea.
The work will be both practical and theoretical. Initially, a literature survey will identify any algorithms existing of this type, and the relevant algorithms to compare results with. An experiment will be designed to gather the data required to test the cell ID algorithms. Different layers of complexity can be added to the algorithms and the advantages analysed.
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| Research Environment: |
The School has many different devices and software for measuring WiFi signal strength. These are looked after by researcher Dr Binghao Li, who will guide the student on a day-to-day basis. The WiFi positioning team is quite small, led by A/Prof Dempster, and including Dr Li and a PhD student, all of whom are available to help the scholar. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
The team is established as one of the world’s best in the area of fingerprinting. The new algorithms will be compared to these results to see what they have to offer. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The expected outcome is a series of algorithms that are both simple and accurate in locating a WiFi device. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
B Li papers downloadable from http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/about/publications_author.htm |
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| Project Title: |
A Simulator of Global Navigation Satellite Systems |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Dr. Samsung Lim |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
s.lim@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Dr. Binghao Li |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
binghao.li@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
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| Abstract: |
GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Compass are the currently known four Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Also there are several augmentation satellite systems and Regional Navigation Satellite Systems such as WAAS, EGNOS and QZSS. Some of these systems have been fully developed and some of them are under development. To study the benefit of having all these systems, a simulator is necessary. For example, if all four GNSS are in operation, how many satellites can be seen in Sydney? How good the geometry of satellites (or less dilution of precision) can be obtained when a user is in CBD area?
The work will be both practical and theoretical. An initial study of all navigation satellite systems and previous work on simulators will define the requirements of the simulator, followed by the development of the software. Matlab will most likely be used for the development.
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| Research Environment: |
Led by Prof Chris Rizos and Dr. Samsung Lim, the Geodetic Infrastructure and Analysis group consists of six researchers and about ten postgraduate students. Dr. Samsung Lim and Dr. Binghao Li will guide the student on a day-to-day basis. The previous work on GNSS simulator will be completely open to the student and all the members of this group are available to help. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
The group has carried out intensive study in the infrastructure and software of satellite navigation and positioning. The simulator will be an important part of the high level research of GNSS. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The expected outcome is a software package has a user friendly GUI to chose different combination of satellite systems and generate the global and local result of the satellite visibility, dilution of precision, Rinex observation file etc. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
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| Project Title: |
Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Yong Li |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
yong.li@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Shahzad Ahmad Malik |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
shahzadm@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Computer Science & Engineering
Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
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| Abstract: |
The Global Positioning System (GPS) can get you from your home to your friend’s place for that party you would never want to miss. But can GPS guide robotics or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)… to deliver Pizzas? This project aims to ultimately build such a system, which will be a guidance and control platform for a UAV helicopter using GPS and micro-electro-mechanical inertial sensors. This platform would stabilise the helicopter’s pitch and roll and yaw during flight and bring it back safely without any control from the ground. Such a prototype system could also be used in a range of applications such as aerial photography, terrain mapping and imaging.
A compact UAV development platform will be used in the project comprising a dsPIC30F4011 microcontroller with a clock speed up to 120MHz, an MMA7260 triple-axis accelerometer, 3 LISY300AL single-axe gyros and a connection for the 20-Channel EM-406A SiRF III GPS Receiver with a built-in patch antenna, as well as pins for servos and radio control. It comes with self-testing firmware that serves as a starting point for developing custom control and navigation firmware.
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| Research Environment: |
This is an opportunity to work with researchers in the Satellite Navigation and Positioning (SNAP) Lab at SSIS. There are a range of GPS receivers, INS and software tools in the SNAP Lab to help in getting you started in this project. The multisensor integration team has successfully built a FPGA-based GPS/INS system for land vehicle navigation and aerial mapping applications. We also have developed software packages to support multisensor integration. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) have been widely used in aircraft guidance and control systems. The expensive cost and heavy weight of an INS is the major barrier to limit its use for civil applications. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are increasingly transforming the technology landscape by providing a range of sensors that are very small, consume a fraction of the power and cost orders of magnitude less than their predecessors. These advances have made it easier to integrate INS with GPS to develop UAV controllers for fixed wing (plane, biplane) or rotary wing (helicopter) aircrafts. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The outcome of the project is a guidance and control platform for a UAV helicopter using GPS and MEMS inertial sensors which can stabilise the UAV during flight and land it safely. The work includes the following tasks;
1. Embedded development with Microchip’s 16-bit dsPIC “digital signal controllers”.
2. Interface embedded GPS modules and MEMS sensors with a microcontroller.
3. Development of the custom control and navigation firmware.
4. Test the platform with a scale-model RC helicopter.
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| Reference Material Links: |
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| Project Title: |
Next Generation of GNSS Reference Interface Protocol |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Dr. Binghao Li |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
binghao.li@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Dr. Samsung Lim |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
s.lim@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
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| Abstract: |
Assisted-Global Navigation Satellite Systems (AGNSS), or Assisted-Global Positioning Systems (AGPS) in particular, are now commonly accepted as an effective way for indoor positioning. The Open Source GNSS Reference Server (OSGRS) developed by the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems (SSIS) is an open source Java application that can generate the assistance. The protocol used is called The GNSS Reference Interface Protocol (GRIP), based on extensible markup language (XML). OSGRS is the only open source AGPS server in operation and the GRIP has a great potential to be a future standard. However, currently GRIP only fully supports GPS. As new GNSSs are under development, it is time to develop the next generation of GRIP to support the emerge systems such as Galileo and Compass, even the GLONASS which will transmit CDMA signal.
The work will be both practical and theoretical. Initially, a literature survey of the existing protocols will identify the assistance messages which are essential for the AGNSS receiver, followed by defining several XML Schemas which are the core of the protocol. And then a new version of OSGRS based on the new GRIP will be developed.
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| Research Environment: |
Led by Prof Chris Rizos and Dr. Samsung Lim, the Geodetic Infrastructure and Analysis group consists of six researchers and about ten postgraduate students. Dr. Binghao Li and Dr. Samsung Lim will guide the student on a day-to-day basis. Also the hardware group led by A/Prof Andrew Dempster will be available to help. It is an excellent environment to carry out the research in satellite navigation and positioning. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
SSIS has been working on AGPS for several years and have done experiments with some of the industry leaders such as Andrew Corporation (based in Wollongong). At the moment, the OSGRS is the only open source AGPS server in operation which has been used for an AGPS clock. The next generation of GRIP will support the application of the future AGNSS. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The expected outcome is a new version of GRIP and a new version of OSGRS which utilize the new GRIP. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
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| Project Title: |
Open-Source Assisted GPS Client |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Andrew Dempster |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
a.dempster@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Binghao Li |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
b.li@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Computer Science & Engineering
Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
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| Abstract: |
Mobile phones need assistance to work out their location using GPS when indoors. The school of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems (SSIS) has developed an open-source GPS/GNSS server (OSGRS) that can provide this assistance. This project is to create the software client to enable a standard mobile platform (iPhone, gPhone, Nokia) to accept and use this assistance. The client software will also be open-source.
The work will be both practical and theoretical. An initial study will define the requirements for the client, followed by implementation.
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| Research Environment: |
The School has several different devices (mobile phones and GPS receivers) that support assisted-GPS (AGPS). These are looked after by researcher Dr Binghao Li, who will guide the student on a day-to-day basis. The indoor positioning team is led by A/Prof Dempster, and including Dr Li, Mr. Peter Mumford and PhD students, all of whom are available to help the scholar. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
The team has been working on AGPS for several years and have done experiments with some of the industry leaders such as Andrew Corporation (based in Wollongong). At the moment, the SSIS OSGRS is the only open source AGPS server in operation and the client software will also be the first of its kind. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The expected outcome is a working system that allows GPS to operate indoors using a system that is available for free to anyone willing to operate the server and relevant clients. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
B Li papers downloadable from http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/about/publications_author.htm |
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Projects offered by other Engineering Schools that may be of interest are:
| Project Title: |
Software for Advanced Patent Analysis |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Vladimir Tosic |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
vtosic@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Mark Staples |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Mark.Staples@nicta.com.au |
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| School: |
School of Computer Science and Engineering |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
NICTA Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Management |
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| School Research Area: |
Miscellaneous |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Sciences and Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering
Mining Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
Sciences – Maths, Physics, Chemistry
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| Abstract: |
To protect its intellectual property, it is often necessary for a company to patent its inventions. Patents are legally enforceable rights for exclusive commercial exploitation of inventions. Before patenting, patent search and analysis can uncover important facts relevant for strategic decisions about company’s intellectual property and research and development activities in general. Various software tools support patent search and analysis, from relatively simple free tools and Web sites to more powerful commercial products (e.g., for determining and visualizing various dependencies).
In this research project, students will help develop novel software for advanced patent analysis, based on a new patent analysis methodology. The methodology is currently supported by software that manages patent information in Excel and uses macros for processing and visualization of patent analyses. The first aspect of this project is to support querying and analysis of patent information stored in a relational database. The second aspect of the project is to implement additional advanced patent analysis procedures. The third aspect of this project involves search and analysis of a number of real patents, determining their characteristics, and storing and managing this information using the developed software tool, to evaluate the tool’s correctness and usefulness. |
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| Research Environment: |
The students will work closely with researchers at NICTA (http://www.nicta.com.au) in a friendly mixed-gender and multicultural environment comprised of senior researchers and postgraduate students. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
The main novelty is the support for a unique and new patent analysis methodology. Since some aspects of the new patent procedures have not been implemented previously in other systems, non-trivial research questions (e.g., how to categorize patents in terms of relevance for company’s business strategy) will have to be considered. These patent analysis procedures will enable better decision making about a company’s patent portfolio. Another contribution is the testing process, which will result in conclusions about real patents from one market area (e.g., implant systems, business-driven IT systems management, or another area of mutual interest). |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
- Architecture of a software system that stores patent information, processes this information (e.g., to determine various dependencies), and visualizes results.
- Detailed design of modules of this software architecture.
- Design of database for storing patent information.
- Original patent analysis procedures, which query and process the stored patent information.
- Implementation of the above-mentioned designs.
- Design and implementation of a simple (possibly Web) interface into the system.
- Population of the database with patent information for a number of real patents from the same scientific area.
- Experiments evaluating correctness and usefulness of the implemented software. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
- http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/what_index.shtml
- http://www.google.com/patents
- http://www.patentlawlinks.com/patsearc.htm
- http://www.infovis.net/printMag.php?lang=2&num=167
- D. Hunt, L. Nguyen, M. Rodgers (Eds.) “Patent Searching: Tools & Techniques”, Wiley, 2007
- J.L. Davis, S.S. Harrison “Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets”, Wiley, 2001
- Course COMP9311 “Database Systems” (http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9311)
- http://www.edumax.com/database-basics-chapter-2-the-er-model-and-database-design.html
- http://www.w3schools.com/SQl/default.asp
- Course COMP9321 “Web Applications Engineering” (http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs9321)
- For further information, email Dr. Vladimir Tosic (‘vtosic’ at the CSE e-mail system) with Subject line “UNSW Summer Scholars”. |
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| Project Title: |
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION - BEACH EROSION RESPONSE TO SEA LEVEL RISE AND WAVE CLIMATE |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Ron Cox |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
r.cox@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
James Carley |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
james.carley@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Water and Wastewater Engineering |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
With predicted sea level rise, coastal shorelines are expected to move landward. Changes in storm wave climate (wave height, wave period, wave direction and storm frequency) although not well quantified are possible. Various models to predict shoreline change and beach profile adjustment with sea level rise and storm exposure are to be reviewed.
The SBEACH model developed by US Army Corps of Engineers is to be used to examine changes in beach erosion for design storm wave events between present day and likely climate change affected beach systems of the future. Other models may also be established and used subject to student/research progress.
The implications for coastal management adaptive response to climate change are to be discussed.
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| Research Environment: |
More than 90% of Australians live on the Coast. Sea level rise and/or altered wave climate with climate change have been identified as creating major impacts on our beaches, estuaries and shorelines. It is critical that we be better able to predict these impacts.identified as change |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Existing models for shoreline change are known to be simplistic - this project will allow alternative more sophisticated deterministic models to be assessed. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
Establishment of alternative models (especially SBEACH), application to sea level rise and altered wave climate with assessment of likely climate change impacts on shoreline erosion. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Various conference papers, reports and Theses |
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| Project Title: |
Evaluating the hydrological cycle from space |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Matthew McCabe |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
mmccabe@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Jason Evans |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
jason.evans@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
This project will assess estimates of the hydrological cycle derived from satellite remote sensing - including soil moisture, rainfall, evaporation and atmospheric water vapor - for their hydrological consistency. That is, the project will determine the extent to which independent observations of water cycle components reflect the expectations of the natural water cycle (i.e. if it rains, does the soil moisture increase - if the soil moisture increases, does evaporation respond etc..). The level of agreement in these data will be explored using novel statistical techniques and comparison with land surface output. |
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| Research Environment: |
The research will be undertaken within a group of young researchers and academics undertaking investigations into hydro-climate related projects. See http://www.civeng.unsw.edu.au/staff/matthew_mccabe/ for further details.
There may also be an opportunity for field work in regional NSW where in-situ measurements of hydrological variables can be used for remote sensing validation.
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Examining the degree of closure within the hydrological cycle as observed from satellite observations is an emerging field of research. Combining these exciting and innovative approaches with existing land surface model output, we will be able to identify water cycle behavior in unprecedented detail. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
An analysis of the hydrological cycle at continental scales, potentially examining the degree of water balance closure. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/water-and-energy-cycle |
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| Project Title: |
Financial Planning for Road Pavement Management |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Chen Cai |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
chen.cai@nicta.com.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| School: |
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Structural Engineering, Structures |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Computer Science & Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
Sciences – Maths, Physics, Chemistry
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| Abstract: |
This project will develop a financial planning tool for road pavement management at aggregated level. Road pavement as a major transport infrastructure has its life cycle. Condition of pavement deteriorates gradually, and the rate of deterioration is affected by climate condition, structural properties and intensity of road traffic. Managing road pavement is a multi-million dollar enterprise in large urban area. In the metropolitan area of London, annual budget for maintaining strategic road network (2,500 km) alone reaches 40 - 50 million pounds. Today, in the context of increasing strain on public finance coupled with steady growth in road traffic, good financial planning is vital to public interest. The first financial planning system for road pavement management was seen in 1980s. The Arizona Department of Transportation developed a pavement management system to produce optimal maintenance policies for the 7,400-mile network of highways. During the first year of implementation, the system saved 14 million dollars. This project develops the model to address issues at aggregated level.
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| Research Environment: |
Selected students will work with researchers at NICTA, Australia’s national information and communication centre of excellence, and may coordinate with faculty members from Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Previous studies assume detailed survey of road pavement conditions is available, and consistently updated. In reality, many road authorities only have partial data at aggregated level. This project modifies and extends the mathematically model to work with aggregated data sets. This project aims to encourage students to take multi-disciplinary research, and develop essential skills for engineering consultancy. The contents of the project are extracted from real cases with strong and practical implication to engineering. It provides knowledge in transport infrastructure, financial planning, and operations research. Project work include analysing empirical data, solving problems in stochastic process, computer programming, and commercial reporting. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The results will show that using the planning tool engineering targets are met, whilst financial expenditure is minimised and other constraints satisfied. Risk of the project is low, as data are available, methodology mature and prototype software ready for exercise. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Medda, F., Cai, C.(2008) Priority financial optimal programming of rehabilitation and maintenance of the London strategic roads, Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting. |
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| Project Title: |
Measuring Australia's Water Use from Space |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Matthew McCabe |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
mmccabe@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| School: |
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Water and Wastewater Engineering |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
Evapotranspiration is one of the key variables of interest in water cycle studies, providing information on catchment scale water use, water demand and assessment of irrigation based applications. It is of major interest to the Australian Government, who are investing significant resources to develop techniques to quantify its spatial and temporal variability. Satellite observations provide an ideal tool to allow spatial and temporal patterns of evapotranspiration to be predicted – something that is not able to be achieved using in-situ measurements alone. This project will use data from a number of satellite platforms to estimate evapotranspiration over continental Australia. To assess the satellite based estimates, output from land surface models and simplified techniques such as the Penman-Monteith or Priestley-Taylor will be used as methods for comparison.
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| Research Environment: |
The student will work with a strong group of researchers engaged in developing remote sensing observations and land surface modelling solutions for hydro-climate related studies. See www.civeng.unsw.edu.au/staff/matthew_mccabe for more details.
There may also be an opportunity for field work in regional NSW where in-situ measurements of hydrological variables can be used for remote sensing validation.
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Will provide some of the first satellite based estimates of these hydrological variables over Australia |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
Maps of water use for irrigated regions - development of a climatology of evaporation over the Australian mainland. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/water-and-energy-cycle
http://www.civeng.unsw.edu.au/staff/matthew_mccabe/
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| Project Title: |
Nutrient impacts in environmental assessment of products |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Greg Peters |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
g.peters@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
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| School: |
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Spatial Information Systems and Positioning |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
This Scholarship will enable the students to work with a small team on campus and find out what a career in research could be like. The student could improve the way Australians assess whether one product is better for the environment than another.
Nitrogen and phosphorus emissions can cause impacts on aquatic environments – these impacts are collectively called “eutrophication”. If an engineer is deciding whether to select one technology or another, such impacts can be important, so environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) often includes an assessment of eutrophication potential. Unfortunately, approaches to doing this assessment in Australia are relatively primitive. We basically rely on a consideration of the average ratio of nutrients in organic matter. Overseas researchers have combined this with a simple transport model to produce more sophisticated potential impact assessment factors for overseas conditions. We need this in Australia.
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| Research Environment: |
Simple air pollution dispersion models might significantly improve Australian eutrophication equivalence factors. Preliminary work on this topic has already been completed by an honours student. The scholar will update a review of international approaches to eutrophication in LCA, and work in a GIS environment to enhance modelling to suit Australian environmental conditions and emission sources. This project will suit a student with good maths and computer skills.
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Simple air pollution dispersion models might significantly improve Australian eutrophication equivalence factors. Preliminary work on this topic has already been completed by an honours student. The scholar will update a review of international approaches to eutrophication in LCA, and work on enhancing the modelling to suit Australian environmental conditions and emission sources. This project will suit a student with good maths and computer skills.
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| Expected Outcomes: |
the results will be a set of geographically specific characterisation factors for environmental assessment of products. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Norris G. A., 2003, ‘Impact characterization in the tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts: Methods for acidification, eutrophication, and ozone formation’, Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 6, no. 3-4, pp. 79-101.
Seppala J., Posch M., Johansson M., Hettelingh J., 2006, ‘Country-dependent characterization factors for acidification and terrestrial eutrophication based on accumulated exceedance as an impact category indicator’, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 403-416.
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| Project Title: |
Integrating mashp technologies with Web-based social network applications |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Jenny Liu |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
jenny.liu@nicta.com.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Liming Zhu |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
liming.zhu@nicta.com.au |
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| School: |
School of Computer Science and Engineering |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
NICTA Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
eResearch (Knowledge and Services Engineering) |
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| School Research Area: |
Software Engineering |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
Mashup provides a way of forming new applications
from existing Web content using APIs provided by different
Web sites. Such a nature makes mashup a promising
technology to deliver Web based social network application
with rich information of various themes, such as participants' distribution, the categories of their preferences/information and etc. However, most mashup app only cover a single theme with a simple source of data format. Social network applications can contain large amount of information with complex connections with each individual. It is a challenging issue to present multiple themes of social applications. This project aims to deliver an integration solution to smartly retrieve and mashup information from different types of social network applications. |
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| Research Environment: |
TOR scholars will participate in NICTA's use-inspired research activities. The main and associated supervisors are quite experienced researchers with TOR projects. Since 2004, we have supervised two TOR projects every year. In 2008, one project won the best project award at NICTA ATP Laboratory. Students also have the opportunities in publishing outstanding research results out of the TOR project. We have several successful stories that TOR scholars published their work at top international conferences/journals and followed it up in their thesis projects.
This project is hosted by NICTA Managing Complexity Group at Australian Technology Park. A dedicated computing lab with a cluster of high capacity computers are available for this project. Desk, workstation and computing facilities will be provided. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Mashup and social network applications are the hottest topics on Web and service engineering. This project identifies a very challenging yet practical problem and aims to provide a novel solution for real world usage. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
A number of information retrieval and mashup techniques will be developed using social network Web API and Google mashup libraries. A demo app will be produced. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Contact supervisor |
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| Project Title: |
Software Engineering on Cloud Application Platforms |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Anna Liu |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
annaliu@cse,unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Jenny Liu |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
jenny.liu@nicta.com.au |
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| School: |
School of Computer Science and Engineering |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
School Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
eResearch (Knowledge and Services Engineering) |
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| School Research Area: |
Software Engineering |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
This project aims to examine the capabilities of the leading cloud application platforms: Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine and Amazon Web Services. We first build some sample applications on these platforms, and then evaluate the capabilities of these platform technologies in terms of performance and software engineering support. There is a good opportunity to build an innovative web 2.0 application using some of the latest technologies. |
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| Research Environment: |
The student has the option to work either at UNSW or NICTA (or both) and be supervised by senior researchers. There is also the opportunity to interact with professional engineers from Google, Microsoft and or web startups, as part of a research team at UNSW that collaborates heavily with industry partners. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
Cloud application platform is an emerging class of technologies that enables innovation on the web. The student will acquire valuable engineering skills and experience with these innovative platform technologies, and will contribute towards world class software engineering research that advances the state of practice for professional software engineers in Australia as well. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
test applications, evaluation reports, presentation and report summarising findings. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Google Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, Amazon Web Services. |
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| Project Title: |
Ultrasound-based patient tracking for the unobtrusive estimation of falls risk |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Dr. Stephen Redmond |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
s.redmond@unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Prof. Nigel Lovell |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
n.lovell@unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
School Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Health & Medical Technologies |
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| School Research Area: |
Systems & Control and Biomedical Systems |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
This project aims to develop an ultrasound-based patient tracking system to aid in the unobtrusive estimation of falls risk among the elderly community. The successful student will develop an ultrasound module to augment an existing wireless body-worn accelerometer sensor, to characterise the movements of the elderly subject and hence estimate their risk of falling in the near future. Once those at risk of falling are identified, a preventative strategy implemented by allied healthcare providers may be initiated. |
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| Research Environment: |
In 1981, Dr. Branko Celler joined the School of Electrical Engineering and soon afterwards established the Biomedical Systems Laboratory (BSL), which he still leads today with Prof. Nigel Lovell, his first PhD student, as co-Director. The BSL aims to promote at-home and free-living health assessment through the development of new technologies, which are built on a strong background in physiology, electronic instrumentation and biosignal processing. Through the use of intelligent algorithms, applied to non-invasively measured signals, we strive to determine robust indicators of health which may be incorporated into relatively low-cost systems for at-home and free-living use. Such systems can reliably provide regular monitoring of a patient in the long-term and pre-empt the onset of a deterioration in health. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
The advantage of employing wireless sensor networks in the home, or a residential care facility, is that a significantly larger population may be regularly screened, at remote locations.
While many have attempted to characterise body movement using accelerometry, and its relationship to falls risk, never before has the association between accelerometry been examined in the context of location within the environment.
The proposed methodology will provide real-time insight into the efficacy of administered interventions, in those previously identified as being at high risk of falling.
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| Expected Outcomes: |
The triaxial accelerometer (TA) device modules have been previously developed at the Biomedical Systems Laboratory, UNSW. The student will implement the technology for localisation using ultrasound. Location beacons, with unique signatures, will be placed throughout the environment. The body-worn device will infer its location by associating with the ‘loudest’ beacon. The body-worn device will capture all TA and location information using a microprocessor and return this information to a database server via a Wi-Fi connection module mounted on the sensor board, for later analysis using existing analysis software. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
http://www.bsl.unsw.edu.au/
http://www.bsl.unsw.edu.au/docs/2008/A%20Wearable%20Triaxial%20Accelerometry%20System%20for%20Longitudinal%20Assessment%20of%20Falls%20Risk%20Revision%201.pdf
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| Project Title: |
An Empirical Evaluation of RDF Stores |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Sherif Sakr |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
ssakr@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Boualem Benatallah |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
boualem@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Computer Science and Engineering |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
School Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
Programming Languages and Software Engineering |
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| School Research Area: |
Web Services, E-Commerce, and other Web Technologies |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
The vision of the Semantic Web has brought about new challenges at the intersection of web research and data management. One fundamental research issue at this intersection is the storage of the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data. The RDF data model has been designed as a flexible representation of schema-relaxable or even schema-free information. In RDF, all data items are represented in the form of (subject, predicate, object) triples, also known as (subject, property, value) triples. Several research e orts have proposed different techniques for storing and querying RDF datasets. These techniques can be broadly classi ed into two main classes: 1) Native RDF data stores 2) Relational stores for RDF data.
The target of the project is to achieve an experimental comparison, analysis and benchmarking of the state-of-the-art of the stores. This experimental analysis could lead to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each proposed approach and identify a set of metrics which could be used as a right indicator for determining the suitable storage technique for each dataset and its query workload. |
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| Research Environment: |
The student will work in an international group of PhD students, researchers and senior researchers in the Service Oriented Computing Research Group. Some literature review will be required to learn the basics of RDF and SPARQL query processing. Experimental analysis skills will also be acquired during the project activities. Project results will have a very good chance to be published in a good venue. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
- Benchmarking the-state-of-the-art of RDF stores.
- An analysis of the strengths and weakness of the di erent techniques of RDF stores.
- Identifying a candidate set of metrics for recommending the suitable storage schema of the RDF dataset and its query workload. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
- This project will involve experimental analysis and benchmarking of the state-of-the-art of RDS query processors.
- Literature scan of RDF storing and querying bibliography. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
- RDF Processing Bibliography: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/ssakr/RDFBiblio.htm
- An introduction to RDF and SPARQL
http://www.dajobe.org/talks/200603-sparql-stanford/
http://research.talis.com/2005/rdf-intro/
http://www.rdfabout.com/quickintro.xpd |
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| Project Title: |
Flexible Modeling and Data Extraction of System Artifacts |
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| Name of Supervisor: |
Sherif Sakr |
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| Email of Supervisor: |
ssakr@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| Name of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
Boualem Benatallah |
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| Email of Joint/Co-Supervisor: |
boualem@cse.unsw.edu.au |
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| School: |
School of Computer Science and Engineering |
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| For CSE and EET Projects: |
School Project |
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| Faculty Research Area (Theme): |
eResearch (Knowledge and Services Engineering) |
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| School Research Area: |
Web Services, E-Commerce, and other Web Technologies |
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Applicable to other Engineering
schools/disciplines: |
Biomedical Engineering
Surveying & Spatial Information Systems
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| Abstract: |
Today every person has to manage a growing amount of artifacts. These data can be personal artifacts or business artifacts or combination of them. These artifacts can be: oce documents, emails, calendar data, pictures, database records, XML data,...,etc. Moreover, these data can be distributed over a huge range of storage devices like desktop computers, mobile phones, email servers, relational databases and WWW. The RDF data model has been designed as a flexible representation of schema-relaxable or even schema-free information. In RDF, all data items are represented in the form of (subject, predicate, object) triples, also known as (subject, property, value) triples.
The target of this project is to design a flexible representation of system artifacts based on the RDF data model. The output of this project will be a tool which can generate the RDF data representation of system artifacts using a collection of wrappers. Given the data model of an artifact type X, the wrapper should extract the de ned meta-data, data and relationships of artifacts of the type X and generates the RDF triples with respect to the artifact data model. The tool should be flexible enough to enable the end users to adjust these wrapper or even develop his own wrappers using a light-weight tools. |
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| Research Environment: |
The student will work in an international group of PhD students, researchers and senior researchers in the Service Oriented Computing Research Group. Some literature review will be required to learn the basics of RDF and data management of heterogenous artifacts. Data analysis skills will also be acquired during the project activities. Project results will have a very good chance to be published in a good venue. |
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| Novelty and Contribution: |
- Providing a flexible tool of de ning and managing data models of heterogeneous artifacts.
- A set of wrapper to extract the data from the system artifacts and generate RDF triples. |
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| Expected Outcomes: |
- This project will involve developing flexible wrappers to extract metadata and data from heterogenous artifacts.
- Literature scan of modeling and managing heterogonous artifacts. |
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| Reference Material Links: |
Contact supervisor |
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