ECMS researchers secure 4 ARC Discovery grants

Congratulations to the four ECMS researchers for successfully securing ARC funding totalling nearly $1.8m for their 2021 discovery proposals.

ARC Discovery projects offers funding for research projects undertaken by research teams or individual researchers.

The scheme objectives are to support excellent basic and applied research training by individuals and teams, support national and international research collaboration and enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian government priority areas.

Yuval and team

Dr Yuval Yarom
(Lead CI with Chitchanok Chuengsatiansup, Markus Wagner, Jason Xue)
School of Computer Science
Intelligent Technologies for Smart Cryptography – $480,000

This project aims to improve cybersecurity by automating the process of generating cryptographic software for smart devices.

The expected outcomes are tools that automatically produce efficient cryptographic software that resists attacks.

The main benefit of this project is to reduce the amount of expert labour required when developing secure software.

Professor Martin Lambert
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering
Smart Pipe Condition Assessment in Water Distribution Systems – $447,000

The project aims to develop an urgently needed smart pipe fault diagnosis, characterisation and prognosis system. Analysis techniques will be used for the detailed mapping of buried pipe condition between access points using micro-sized transient pressure waves. Water assets are critical infrastructure and they consist of a network of pipes that are often old and deteriorating. The annual maintenance costs exceeds $1b per year in Australia. The outcome will be a next-generation tool that allows water utilities to move from reactive emergency repairs to proactive repair and predictive replacement. This will enable performance-driven asset management, extending asset life and replacing deteriorated high-risk pipe sections in a timely manner.

Alex Ng in a suit

A/Prof Alex Ng
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering
Next generation nondestructive inspection using guided-wave mixing – $440,624

Next generation nondestructive inspection using guided-wave mixing. This project aims to develop a novel approach for early damage detection. It relies on a systematic experimental investigation of nonlinear ultrasonic interaction between different input wave modes in the presence of damage, so as to identify optimal mode selections and operating parameters that will maximise the sensitivity to particular forms of structural damage. The effects of in-service loading on wave-mixing response, and non-contact detection suitable for hard-to-inspect surface conditions, will also be investigated. The new developments will help transform existing schedule-based maintenance practice to a condition-based maintenance paradigm, to achieve significant cost savings in maintenance.

Lewis Mitchell

Dr Lewis Mitchell
School of Mathematical Sciences
Mathematical modelling of information flow in social networks – $390,000

This proposal aims to develop new mathematical and statistical methods to understand information flow in social networks. By using novel information theoretic techniques, it will create new methods to characterise social information flow in social networks. These tools will allow derivation of fundamental limits of predictability for AI methods applied to digital data. New mathematics of information flow will produce insights into social influence in online social networks. Benefits include: better understanding of how echo chambers may form in social networks, predictive models for how misinformation can spread online such as during an emergency, and a framework for intercomparison of AI methods applied to digital data on individuals.

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