Systems and Control
Our Systems and Control research group is concerned with modelling, analysing, designing and building innovative, reliable and predictable computer-controlled systems.
Our research expertise spans:
- control signal and image processing
- sensory embedded systems
- autonomous vehicles and robotics
- vision-dependable software-intensive systems
- machine learning
- game theory
- hybrid system design and analysis.
Our Systems and Control research group’s work is applied throughout society to enhance things like public safety, transport, agriculture, firefighting and surveillance. It also plays an integral role in the defence sector, helping to boost sovereign capability in:
- countering improvised threats in urban and contested environments
- autonomous strikes and shields
- surveillance and situational awareness
- intelligent multi-agent coordination and learning
- protection of critical infrastructure.
Research impact
We are focused on developing innovative, integrable solutions that provide great potential for technology transfer. Some of our key funded projects involve:
- ‘fuzzy’ approaches to networked control system analysis
- decentralised reinforcement learning for coordinating systems
- distributed control for multi-vehicle systems
- intelligent formation control for swarm strikes
- distributed genetic fuzzy decision-making for coordinating systems
- robotic testbeds for comparing localisation algorithms
- multi-agent systems and formation control
- neural networks, fuzzy sets and systems
- complex hybrid dynamical system modelling, analysis and design.
Our group’s research is globally renowned. Group member Professor Peng Shi has been recognised as one of the world’s most highly cited researchers in engineering and computer science by ISI Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics. The group in 2017-18 we received funding support of over $1.5M. This included from:
- the Australia Next Generation Technologies Fund
- two Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group Competitive Evaluation Research Agreements
- four DST Group Research Agreements
- an Australian Research Council Discovery Projects grant.
Our Systems and Control research group also contributed strongly to the University of Adelaide’s 2018 world-ranking achievements in engineering. In the Academic Ranking of World Universities the University was ranked:
- 25th for Automation and Control
- 36th for Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- 43rd for Computer Science and Engineering.
Consulting services
We consult to government and industry. Some of our current collaborative research agreements are focused on:
- autonomous systems
- multi-agent formation control
- distributed reinforcement learning
- fuzzy networked control
- genetic-fuzzy-tree-based autonomous decision-making.
Our researchers
We have expertise across a wide range of areas. Many of our researchers are available to assist with research project supervision for Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy students.
| Research team | Expertise |
|---|---|
| Professor Peng Shi | Multi-robot systems; Networked control systems; Complex hybrid dynamical system modelling, analysis and design |
| Professor Cheng-Chew Lim | Distributed real-time control; Trusted autonomous multi-agent systems; Reinforcement and machine learning |
| Professor Langford White | Sensor signal processing; stochastic control; optimisation; game theory |
| Dr Hong Gunn Chew | Machine learning including deep learning; Data network cyber security; Autonomous multi-agent systems |
| Dr Hongjun Yu | Intelligence formation for multi-agent systems; Genetic fuzzy tree autonomous decision-making algorithms |
| Dr Duong Duc Nguyen | Decentralised reinforcement learning for autonomous systems |
Collaborations
We collaborate with various industry and government organisations, including:
- Beijing Institute of Technology (China)
- Cyber Security CRC
- Dalian University of Technology (China)
- Deakin University
- Defence CRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems
- Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group
- DefendTex
- Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (Korea)
- Harbin Institute of Technology (China)
- Korea University, Seoul (Korea)
- Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (China)
- Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy)
- University of Melbourne
- Washington University (USA)
- Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (China)
- IMT-Atlantique (France)
Higher degrees by research
Whether you intend to work in research or industry, a higher degree by research can give you a competitive edge throughout your career. Find out more about studying a Master of Philosophy or Doctor of Philosophy.
