unsw.engineers issue 19/june 2009 19issue 19 ......unsw.engineers issue 19/june 2009 3unsw.engineers...

UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009 119ISS

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Engineering solutions for a better world

School snapshots

Graduate profile: Dr John Baxter

Engineering for the Environment

Engineering for Safety

Engineering for Health

2 UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009More than big projects...

With over 9,000 employees and over $8 billion of work in hand, our business is stronger than ever. As we grow and evolve, it’s our values that drive our culture and make our people unique.Leighton Contractors. More than you’d imagine. www.leightoncontractors.com.au/careers

We’re big on our people.(All 9,000 in fact).

UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009 3UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009 3

UNSW Engineers is published by the Faculty of Engineering, UNSW.Phone +61 2 9385 4023Fax + 61 9385 5456Email [email protected]

EditorBen AllenLayout and ProductionFox Owens Creative

Printed byRostone Print

ISSN 1442-8849

contents4 News

7 Achievements

8 Engineering solutions for a better world

13 Graduate profile: Dr John Baxter

14 School snapshots

21 Blast from the past

22 Alumni in brief Obituary

UNSWENGINEERS

From the Dean’s desk ...Engineers at UNSW are passionate about research. Many of our academics are known to burn the candle at both ends as they strive to prove their hypotheses and achieve flawless research outcomes. But that’s not to say they do research for research’s sake – every calculation, experiment and project has a real and distinct purpose beyond the lab. UNSW

research also directly informs our teaching programs to ensure students are kept at the forefront of advances in their disciplines.

In my first year as Dean of Engineering at UNSW I’ve seen an extraordinary range of exciting research projects across the Faculty’s ten Engineering Schools. While much of this work is geared towards the development of new systems and technologies to manage the complexities of modern life, many activities aim to tackle the world’s problems and help those in need: from biomedical innovations for overcoming disease to investigations into natural disasters with a view to preventing further destruction in the future. Then of course, there’s the vast amount of multidisciplinary research conducted throughout the Faculty that aims to minimise environmental damage through the development of renewable energy technologies and strategies for reducing carbon emissions.

This issue’s feature article, “Engineering solutions for a better world”, explores a few of our research projects that seek to improve quality of life by making humans healthier and safer and preserving our natural environment. Throughout the magazine we also showcase the achievements of some of our finest researchers including Scientia Professor Stuart Wenham, who recently won the inaugural NSi Inventor of the Year Award for his innovative solar technologies, and Scientia Professors Rose Amal and Neil Foster, who have both been honoured for their ongoing pursuit of research excellence in chemical engineering. I would also like to extend my congratulations to the next generation of engineering heroes who are already making names for themselves in industry and the broader research community, like Google wunderkind Ori Allon and early-career researchers Jacquie Thomas and Nicole Kuepper.

As UNSW celebrates its 60th year we can reflect on how far society has come during this era, thanks in no small part to advances in engineering. UNSW engineers have played a significant role in many of these developments and I look forward to our enviable track record continuing in the years to come.

Professor Graham DaviesDean, Faculty of Engineering

4 UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009

NEWSUNSW leads the wayThe latest round of the Australian Government’s Learning and Teaching Performance Fund, which rewards excellence and improvement in learning and teaching, has shown UNSW to be the clear national leader in engineering and related disciplines. Engineering and Computing at UNSW achieved the top ranking in both the teaching excellence and teaching improvement categories.

New Head of EE&TProfessor Eliathamby Ambikairajah has been appointed Head of the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications. Professor Ambikairajah’s research includes the fields of speech and speaker recognition, biomedical signal processing and engineering education. Former Head of School, Associate Professor Tim Hesketh, will continue with research and the supervision of research students.

Facilities at the forefrontProgress is continuing on the state-of-the-art multidisciplinary Faculty Design Studio, which will be located on the fifth floor of the Mechanical Engineering Building. With funding from the Vice-Chancellor, Faculty contributions and external sponsorship, completion of the project is expected in November.

UNSW has also been granted $75 million by the Australian Government

towards the construction of a new Energy Technologies Building (ETB). The ETB will showcase carbon-neutral design and support research and teaching in key energy areas including photovoltaics, carbon capture and storage, oil and gas reservoir characterisation, nanomaterials and policy and market analysis. Completion of the facility is expected in early 2012. See page 19 for more information about UNSW’s new photovoltaic research facilities.

Ori’s Google success

The work of a former UNSW Computing PhD student is now helping millions of people conduct more useful and relevant searches on the web. Ori Allon, now an employee of Google working at the company’s California headquarters, developed the Orion search engine tool as part of his PhD research at the School of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) in 2005.

Google was so impressed that it bought the rights to Orion through NewSouth Innovations in 2006 and hired Dr Allon. This March the company announced the implementation of the software in its market-leading

search engine. Orion makes web searching easier by offering related search terms that the user may find useful and displaying expanded text extracts in results for longer search-term inquiries.

Dr Allon, who returned to UNSW in April to receive his PhD, described the advantage delivered by the related search terms function as giving “an expert search without having an expert’s knowledge”.

Prestigious visits to SSISChina’s Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Zhang Junsai, visited UNSW in February as researchers in the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems (SSIS) were working with colleagues in China to conduct satellite monitoring of the Victorian bushfires.

During the visit, Associate Professor Linlin Ge made a presentation of his work on joint Chinese–Australian satellite radar monitoring of the fire zones. The Chinese Embassy played a key role in Associate Professor Ge and his team gaining urgent access to Chinese satellite imagery of the fires, and last year UNSW researchers provided vital analysis of satellite images to Chinese authorities following the devastating Sichuan earthquake. Ambassador Zhang welcomed Associate Professor Ge’s proposal for future collaboration on rapid-response coverage of natural disasters.

In April SSIS was also visited by Federal Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett,

Professor Eliathamby Ambikairajah

Dr Ori Allon

UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009 5

NEWSwho received a briefing on the latest satellite ground displace-ment measuring technology developed by the School. The technology has applications in mine-subsidence monitoring and is being commercialised with NewSouth Innovations.

See page 11 for further details of the School’s disaster-monitoring efforts.

Taking the Lions ChairThe School of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) has appointed Professor Gernot Heiser to the inaugural John Lions Chair in Computer Science. The Chair was established as a result of a seven-year campaign by CSE alumni to commemorate the remarkable career contributions of the late Associate Professor Lions to computing around the world. A UNSW Computer Science lecturer from 1972 to 1995, in 1970 John Lions wrote a book on the UNIX computer code that became internationally recognised as the “technical bible” for computer students and professionals, and contributed greatly to the development of Open Source software.

Professor Heiser, a specialist in operating systems for embedded computer systems at CSE, is also the Chief Technical Officer of embedded software spin-off company Open Kernel Labs. As the Chair’s first occupant, Professor Heiser will focus on research in embedded operating systems for devices such as mobile phones. CSE will also benefit from

his considerable links with industry.

To make a donation to support the John Lions Chair, visit www.cse.unsw.edu.au/JohnLions.

2009 Engineering Scholarships On 24 April, the 2009 Faculty of Engineering Scholarships were presented by Professor Graham Davies, Dean of Engineering, and scholarship donors. This year 190 undergraduate engineering students received scholarships, over 80 percent of which are sponsored by the Faculty’s industry partners and private donors.

Scholarship donors include Xstrata and Leighton Holdings, who provided eight and four scholarships respectively, with further scholarships funded by organisations including Mitsubishi, Parsons Brinckerhoff, NSK, RioTinto, BMA, Belfinger Berger Services and the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority.

The Faculty is grateful to everyone who contributes to its scholarship program, particularly the Faculty Schools, UNSW’s residential colleges and private and industry donors.

SPREE’s Presidential visitUNSW’s world-leading solar cell has generated interest at the highest level of the South Korean Government, with President Lee Myung-bak visiting the campus in March. Dr Richard Corkish, Head of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE), led

the President on a tour of the labs where the world’s most efficient silicon solar cells are produced. Dr Corkish applauded the President’s statement that the importance of developing clean energy solutions overrode the current economic challenges presented by the global financial crisis.

“Our research team is conscious that Korea is a rapidly emerging producer in this field and we are currently in discussions with Korean companies about new manufacturing technologies,” said Dr Corkish.

The President later told reporters he hoped the two countries can work together in developing clean energies. “Korea and Australia are in a unique position to bridge the gap between developing and developed countries on climate change,” he said.

Scientia Professors honouredSince 1997 UNSW has awarded Scientia professorships to its leading academics who have demonstrated exceptional research performance. Three outstanding researchers within the Faculty of Engineering were the latest to receive the prestigious appointments in 2009, which are awarded for a period of six years: Scientia Professor Stuart Wenham of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (re-appointed) and Professors Rose Amal and Neil Foster of the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering. See page 7 for more details of our new Scientia Professors’ recent honours.

Professor Gernot Heiser


“Where have all the wastelands gone? Where are the trams? Don’t students wear ties and carry leather briefcases anymore?” Alumnus Eric Lesleighter (Civil Engineering) highlighted just some of the changes to the UNSW campus over the past 50 years when he addressed the Golden Jubilee Luncheon of 1959 Engineering Graduates on 3 April 2009.

Mr Lesleighter was one of the 84 engineering students who had their degrees conferred at UNSW’s eighth graduation ceremony on Saturday 18 April 1959. Fifty years later, 28 of those graduates returned to the University to celebrate that day, reminisce about the past and take a look at the future.

With family members, the ‘59ers enjoyed a tour of the much-changed campus then gathered in the Tyree Room in the John Niland Scientia Building for drinks and appetisers followed by lunch and the day’s formalities.

Professor Les Field, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), echoed the graduates’ reactions when he spoke

moreNEWS

about the dramatic changes to the UNSW campus.

The Dean of Engineering, Professor Graham Davies, spoke about the development of the new Engineering Precinct, a far cry from the early facilities that existed on campus in 1959.

“What we have become would not have

been possible without you, our early graduates,” said Professor Davies. “The Faculty was progressive when you were here and we have continued in that vein. You have become our best ambassadors and we continue to be proud of you and your achievements. Thank you for setting the standard so high.”

Alumnus Ian Shearman (Electrical Engineering) told stories of students practising their aeronautical engineering in lectures by making paper planes, while Trevor Boyle (Mechanical Engineering) spoke of the diverse fields the ‘59ers came from and how most attended the University as cadets sponsored by utilities like the Water Board and Electricity Commission or large companies. From his pocket he produced two “old calculators”, his slide rules, as a reminder of how much engineering practice has changed in 50 years.

Former Dean of Engineering and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Professor Al Willis reminded us that the ‘59ers were the first to receive a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of New South Wales. “These students started with a commitment to the NSW

University of Technology and in 1958 the Act that created UNSW was passed,” he said.

Emeritus Professor Willis then presented each graduate with a pair of champagne flutes engraved with the UNSW crest.

From the smiling faces, it would seem that alumnus Norman Cowper (Civil Engineering) summed up the day accurately with the words, “This lunch is a great thing to do!”

Australian Engineering Week BreakfastThis year marks the 60th anniversary of the UNSW Faculty of Engineering and the 90th anniversary of Engineers Australia.

Come and join us during Engineering Week for an Engineering Breakfast with a senior government policy maker who will discuss “Infrastructure Decision-making for the Best National Outcomes” on Thursday 6 August 2009 from 7.30am at L’Aqua on Sydney’s Cockle Bay Wharf.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact [email protected].

Eric Lesleighter (BE (Civil) ‘59) and Professor David Waite, Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering, reminisce about the slide-rule days.

Alumni Anniversary Dinner and 60th Anniversary Book LaunchEngineering alumni from the graduating classes of 1959, 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999 are invited to celebrate with us at the 2009 Faculty of Engineering Alumni Anniversary Dinner and 60th anniversary book launch on Friday 21 August 2009 from 6.30pm in Leighton Hall, The John Niland Scientia Building, Kensington campus. If you would like to contact your former classmates, please contact Mr Luciano Ferracin and he’ll be happy to assist. Tel +61 2 9385 5364Email [email protected]

Golden GraduatesBy Belinda Henwood


achievements

Young engineers honouredEnvironmental Engineering PhD student Jacquie Thomas was recently awarded an American Australian Association Fellowship for her research into the bacterial pathogen legionella and its ability to grow in reuse water. The fellowship will allow Jacquie to travel to the United States and undertake a portion of her doctoral research with the US Environmental Protection Agency. She received the award at the annual American Australian Association benefit dinner in February, which was attended by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Mr Rupert Murdoch.

The Australian newspaper has named Nicole Kuepper, lecturer and PhD candidate in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, as one of Australia’s top 100 emerging leaders. Nicole was recognised for her research into the production of cheap, low-tech solar cells for delivering electricity in developing countries.

NSi Inventor of the Year AwardsScientia Professor Stuart Wenham, who heads the ARC Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence, won the top

honour at the inaugural NSi Inventor of the Year Awards, hosted by UNSW’s technology commercialisation company, NewSouth Innovations. The awards were presented on 23 April by James O’Loghlin, host of ABC TV’s The New Inventors, at a gala event attended by business and research leaders.

Eleven UNSW inventors were short-listed as finalists across four categories – biomedicine, science and engineering, the environment, and information and communication technology. In addition to the overall Inventor of the Year Award, Scientia Professor Wenham also won the environment category for his innovative solar cell technologies. Professor David Taubman (Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications) won the information and communication technology award for his image and video compression software KakaduTM, which enables the rapid transfer of massive image and video files.

2009 Dean’s AwardsNow in their seventh year, the UNSW Faculty of Engineering Dean’s Awards recognise the outstanding academic achievements of undergraduates. This year’s awards were presented to 105 recipients by Professor Graham Davies, Dean of Engineering, on 11 March.

Arman Soetanto, who is undertaking a combined degree in Chemical Engineering and Commerce, received his fourth award in as many years. “[Engineering] is designed to aid you in developing problem-solving skills and self-discipline,” he said. “I believe my degree will open many doors in the future.”

Stars of Chemical EngineeringSeveral leading academics in the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering recently won prestigious industry awards for their outstanding research achievements.

Head of School Professor Rob Burford won the Royal

Australian Chemical Institute’s (RACI) Applied Research Medal in recognition of a decade of outstanding applied research and innovation. Associate Professor Martina Stenzel of the Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design received the David Sangster Polymer Science and Technology Achievement Award at the 30th Australian Polymer Symposium, hosted by RACI’s Polymer Division. This award, presented to an outstanding polymer scientist under the age of 40, encourages work in polymer science or technology.

Rose Amal and Neil Foster, who were both recently appointed as Scientia Professors, were honoured in the Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers’ 2008 Awards of Excellence. For her work in photocatalysis and nanoparticle fabrication, Scientia Professor Amal, Head of the Particles and Catalysis Research Group and Director of the Centre for Energy Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA), won the Freehills Award, which recognises innovation in product design or development. Scientia Professor Foster won the ExxonMobil Award, which recognises significant ongoing contributions to chemical engineering. It was granted for his work in dense gas technology and gas-expanded liquid technology, including supercritical fluids.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Rupert Murdoch with Jacquie Thomas. Courtesy Lisa Hogben Photography.

Dean’s Award recipients with Professor Graham Davies, Dean of Engineering.

8 UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009FE

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Engineers like nothing better than a challenge. For many engineers, the most satisfying challenges to conquer are those that will help

individuals or communities and preserve our world for future generations. And in the 21st century, with its many problems and possibilities, engineers have a smorgasbord of challenges from which to choose. Some challenges have existed for centuries and are being re-examined in light of new technologies and ways of thinking, while others are by-products of the complex world we’ve created.

According to Professor Laura Poole-Warren, the Faculty of Engineering’s Associate Dean (Research), enhancing our quality of life is an aim that is reflected in all engineering research at UNSW.

“When many people think of engineering, they only think of technology, but engineering really underpins every aspect of our society,” she said. “Across all the Faculty’s Schools, even the most fundamental research is geared towards improving infrastructure, services, healthcare and even social policy in areas like water and energy usage.”

Dedicated research is the cornerstone of any successful engineering project. The following are a sample of the many innovative engineering research activities currently underway at UNSW seeking to make the world a better place.

Engineering for healthThe human body continues to be one of the most mystifying complex systems in existence and UNSW researchers are working hard to unravel its secrets. Within the Faculty are a range of health projects that aim to improve the lives of those in need through new discoveries in fields such as

microfluidics and nanomedicine.

Engineering solutions for a

better world


REBUILDING BODIESInterdisciplinary research among UNSW engineers has led to some exciting medical innovations. Dr Gary Rosengarten of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Dr Robert Nordon of the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, for example, are currently exploring ways to grow new cells and tissues to overcome bodily damage caused by disease or injury.

Microfluidics is a relatively new field of research with applications from inkjet printer heads to DNA microarrays. It also enables new biomedical capabilities including unparalleled control of the chemical environment for cell growth. In “lab-on-a-chip” applications, for example, a chip with an area of a few square centimetres can perform the work of a full laboratory: by moving fluids and proteins through micro-scale channels and chambers, engineers can mimic biological systems and recreate some of nature’s most fundamental mechanisms.

“With the lab-on-a-chip concept you can have a separator, an incubator and a mixing stage, just as you do in a laboratory,” Dr Rosengarten said.

“Instead of people moving around, you have fluids moving things around a chip.”

Dr Nordon has developed bioreactor technology that has been commercialised to grow stem cells for various therapies. A microfluidic pump or valve about the diameter of a human hair allows cells to travel through the bioreactor’s channels so the cells’ movement and development can be analysed.

“There’s a huge field burgeoning in microfluidics dealing with high-throughput cellular analysis, and the technology has many applications in medical diagnostics,” he said.

“For example, if you want to screen 100 drugs, you currently use a big robot. You can ultimately reduce the cost of cell biological research by miniaturising and automating it. Because the individual elements of the culture system are so small, you can fit as many as 1,000 culture chambers on a glass microscope slide.”

Dr Rosengarten and Dr Nordon are collaborating to develop a tiny, next-generation bioreactor for cultivating bone and soft tissues from stem cells.

“Probably one of the most important areas will be the treatment of graft-versus-host disease, an immune system complication common in blood stem cell transplantation,” said Dr Nordon.

“Another application is to regenerate joints which have been damaged by arthritis. It allows you to grow a combination tissue of bone and cartilage.”

NANO-MIRACLESNanotechnology refers to the engineering of particles and structures less than 100 nanometres in dimension (one nanometre equals one billionth of a metre). Materials on the nanoscale can have different physical or chemical properties to bulk materials, allowing them to be modelled and manipulated in unique ways to develop novel applications and devices.

Nanomedicine is an emerging research field that uses nanotechnology in the development of drug delivery systems, diagnostic techniques and other medical applications. In just one of UNSW’s nanomedical projects, Professor Rose Amal, Head of the Particles and Catalysis Research Group in the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, and colleagues Professor Justin Gooding and Dr May Lim are developing functionalised gold nanoparticles that could revolutionise cancer treatment.

The nanoparticles, which are tiny clusters of iron oxide molecules sealed in a shell of gold, have a magnetic quality that allows them to be manipulated inside the body – for example, to deliver an anti-cancer compound to a tumour – while the gold shell stops the iron reacting with the body and provides an ideal surface for carrying drugs or biological monitoring agents.

“You can ultimately reduce the cost of cell biological research by miniaturising and automating it.”

Dr Gary Rosengarten and Dr Robert Nordon. Photo Grant Turner, Mediakoo.

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On behalf of the Recreational Fishing Trust of NSW, engineers at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Water Research Laboratory are investigating and analysing the wave movements that cause these often unexpected dangers. Using tide data from ocean condition forecasts and wave information from offshore buoys, danger levels can be predicted if the characteristics of the rock platform are known.

“Rock fishing is one of the most dangerous sports in Australia; rock fishermen are working completely outside the hazard guidelines we would have for people working in floods,” said Dr Bill Peirson, project leader at the Water Research Laboratory.

Dr Peirson and research associate Tom Shand used survey data from nine dangerous rock-fishing platforms along Sydney’s coast to create an average model, which was used in a wave tank to determine how different wave formations behave on impact.

“What we are showing is that within the wave groups the hazard changes remarkably. It’s normally the second or third wave that’s most dangerous,” Dr Peirson said.

“At certain times of the rising tide, there are very rapid increases in the level of hazard on the platform depending on the prevailing wave conditions and platform level. Coupled with the intermittent occurrence of wave groups, these changes have enormous potential for people to be caught unawares. Wave groups change their form as they propagate across the surface of the ocean and where they are in that cycle is important. That alone can change hazard levels by as much as 30 percent.”

Having successfully developed a novel process for making the nanoparticles, Professor Amal’s team is now testing them for use in various applications. Separate research is being conducted that explores the gene-therapy applications of needle-shaped magnetic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles can also be manipulated via a magnetic field to insert genes into cancerous cell tissues.

Meanwhile, Professor John Whitelock’s team in the UNSW Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering is working on another nanomedical feat in collaboration with Dr Simon McCarthy and co-researchers at global medical products company USA-based HemCon, with funding provided by a four-year ARC Linkage Grant.

The teams are investigating the use of chitosan, a biomaterial derived from crustacean shells, to create synthetic vascular grafts and, ultimately, artificial blood vessels, in the hope of combating heart disease, a major cause of death in the Western world.

“Our work is aimed at understanding how blood cells interact with chitosan – particularly the molecular signals contained within the sugar sequences of this polysaccharide – to enable us to develop a blood vessel in the laboratory,” said Professor Whitelock.

The researchers are also examining white blood cells as part of their investigation into chitosan’s role in inflammation and wound healing.

Engineering for safetyThe environment is our most valuable treasure, but it can also be our fiercest enemy as individuals and communities continue to battle the elements and suffer the devastation of natural disasters. Engineering research at UNSW seeks to protect us from harm by learning from tragedy and understanding the risks that lurk in nature.

FISHERMAN’S FRIENDThe accessibility to deep coastal waters from rock shelves along the NSW coastline makes rock fishing a popular state pastime – and one of the most dangerous. While these shelves provide ideal positions for intercepting schools of fish as they enter estuaries and tidal inlets, several people die each year when swept from the rocks by dangerous waves, even those produced in relatively calm coastal swells.

Dr Bill Peirson


WATCHMENWhen earthquakes devastated China’s Sichuan Province in May 2008, killing 70,000 people and leaving almost 5 million homeless, UNSW researchers played a lead role in the recovery effort from thousands of kilometres away. Radar satellite surveying of the ground movements in the quake zone by the School of Surveying and Spatial Information System’s Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) team and the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) gave the China Earthquake Authority information about the level of damage from the magnitude 8.0 earth tremor. Led by Associate Professor Linlin Ge and in partnership with the NSW Department of Lands, the team was among the first in the world to generate a ground-displacement map of the zone, showing upheavals in the Earth’s surface of up to five metres and identifying potential aftershock and landslide areas.

This rapid response and vital information showcased the power of Earth observation technology – power that was proven again when deadly bushfires blazed through Victoria in February this year. With the assistance of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, Associate Professor Ge and his team were able to quickly obtain high-resolution, infrared satellite imagery of the fire zones from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Centre for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE). The data obtained from Chinese satellites and processed by the UNSW team was passed to Victorian fire authorities to assist with monitoring and for subsequent coronial inquiries.

Drawing on international satellite resources, Associate Professor Ge has now proposed a

satellite monitoring system that will assist in planning for fire seasons by monitoring fuel loads on the ground. A radar-fitted satellite could map an entire state’s bushfire fuel and provide frequent updates on the disaster risk, which has the potential to greatly reduce the devastation caused by Australian bushfires.

Engineering for the environmentFor the human race to survive we must take better care of our world, which means minimising environmental degradation and protecting our natural resources. Across the Faculty of Engineering, researchers are rising to the challenge with a range of innovative projects as part of the global effort to maintain our quality of life and build a sustainable future.

HARNESSING OUR H2OAustralia has large reserves of groundwater flowing through subterranean aquifers, which is used to nourish land for growing crops and pastures for grazing livestock, while underground springs provide the millions of litres of bottled water consumed each year. Groundwater, however, still remains an underused resource, and a better understanding of our groundwater systems is needed before they can be effectively managed to supply water to our growing towns and cities.

“Groundwater use has almost doubled nationally in the past two decades; it now makes up more than one-fifth of all the water we harvest, yet we know far too little about how to manage it sustainably,” said Professor Ian Acworth of the

Professor Ian Acworth.Photo: Grant Turner, Mediakoo.

Associate Professor Linlin Ge


School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the UNSW Connected Waters Initiative.

“Nor do we know enough about the many and complex connections and interactions between groundwater and the surface water in dams, lakes, rivers and wetlands. These ‘connected waters’ are crucial to Australia’s social, economic and environmental future.”

As part of its long-term strategy for addressing the water crisis, in January the Australian Government announced the establishment of a $60 million National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), funded through the Australian Research Council, the National Water Commission and associated organisations. Over the next five years, UNSW expects to receive $8 million through its Connected Waters Initiative (jointly supported by the Faculties of Engineering and Science) to aid groundwater research.

NCGRT funding will enable the University to establish a new centrifuge testing facility and conduct vital groundwater studies, as well as providing for additional staff and research scholarships. Researchers are currently developing a sophisticated 3D imaging method to estimate water movement through soil to measure the seepage of water into aquifers, and additional support from the state government will see the establishment of a groundwater research and training facility in central-western New South Wales.

CLEARING THE AIRTo avoid the perils of climate change, it’s only a matter of time before carbon dioxide (CO2) from Australia’s many coal-fired power plants and other industrial emission sources must be captured and stored. An interdisciplinary team of UNSW researchers, including Professor Dianne Wiley of the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering and Mr Guy Allinson, Dr Peter Neal and Dr Minh Ho of the School of Petroleum Engineering, are exploring the economics of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in research funded by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC).

Of the CCS tools currently available, the team’s research has found that different technologies work better in different environments. The team has recently assessed pressure swing adsorption technology, which is currently used for gas separation, and the use of membranes, a technique currently used for hydrogen separation. They are also considering a third technology, solvent absorption, already used in the natural gas industry and similar to pressure swing adsorption.

“We’re at the stage where, for any given source and any given sink, we can tell roughly what the best technology will be,” said Professor Wiley. “The fascinating thing is that, depending on the source/sink combination, you will get a different answer.”

Although none of these technologies exists at a scale suitable for use by a power plant, Professor Wiley believes it is now viable for power plants to capture carbon emissions – at a cost. The team estimates CCS from coal-fired power plants costs $US50 to $US100 per tonne – and at millions of tonnes of CO2 per annum, this represents several billion dollars nationally.

“I think we have to be ready to meet that cost,” said Professor Wiley. “Regardless of whether you think CO2 is the dominant impact on climate change or not, we can’t keep pumping CO2 into the atmosphere because that will have major implications for health and other factors.”*

According to Professor Graham Davies, UNSW’s Dean of Engineering, engineers will continue to lead the way in tackling our health, safety and environmental challenges.

“So many of the big issues we face today have solutions in engineering,” he said. “The engineers of the future will play an increasingly vital role in improving quality of life, not just for Australians but for the entire global population.”

* For more information about UNSW’s carbon capture and storage activities and details of other exciting research around the Faculty, see this issue’s “school snapshots” on pages 14 to 20.

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Professor Dianne Wiley.Photo: Michelle Young.

Locations of carbon capture and storage projects around Australia. Courtesy CO2CRC.


As a world-leading expert on vehicle steering, Dr John Baxter (BE (Mech) ’74, PhD ’79) has developed a deep understanding of the automotive industry and the engineering profession. And one thing he has learned is that the greatest innovations happen when engineers are able to do what they do best.

Even before his days as a budding engineering student at UNSW, John Baxter had a fascination for mechanics and automation. His father worked as an aeronautical engineer, which meant John learned about the ins and outs of engineering research while tackling his own engineering problems using his trusty Meccano set. On a visit to UNSW to meet with his father’s friend Tom Fink, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of Engineering (1969–78), John was impressed by the University’s labs and research facilities and decided to undertake a degree in mechanical engineering, which was soon followed by a PhD.

“For my PhD I examined the control dynamics of a car – how a driver controls a car using visual inputs,” said Dr Baxter. “I built a driver simulator and studied the control function that acts between the image the driver sees out the windscreen and his or her physical outputs at the steering wheel.

“Other control models at the time were based on linear control theory, but it’s pretty clear when you drive that the steering motion isn’t smooth and continuous – particularly in the case of bad drivers! My model proposed a non-linear system to deal with more fine-grained aspects such as perceptual hysterisis and ‘deadbands’ – the intervals when the driver chooses not to output any steering action.”

In 1977 John began working as a consultant for Arthur Bishop, an engineer who had developed a power-steering system for aircraft during WWII that was later adapted for use in American cars. AE Bishop & Associates was looking to further investigate the dynamics of steering and improve the “feel” characteristic in hydraulic power steering, and John became the company’s third employee.

“In the early days Arthur Bishop was focused on rack and pinion steering, but was making all his program calculations

Graduate profileDr John Baxter

on a calculator,” Dr Baxter said. “When I joined the firm we acquired an early digital computer and I wrote thousands of lines of Fortran code to assist in the development of our main product at the time, the variable ratio rack and pinion system, which Bishop became quite famous for. We eventually developed an industrial manufacturing process around this technology and we still receive an annual royalty stream based on our early development work.”

Thirty-two years later Dr Baxter is still with the company – now the Bishop Technology Group – where he heads its Product Development department. The company is recognised as an international leader in the automotive engineering industry, with over 15 percent of all passenger cars produced globally each year incorporating an element of Bishop steering technology. During his time there, Dr Baxter has been exposed to all sides of the business from pure research and mentoring young engineers to managing the company’s extensive patent and intellectual property portfolios.

“What I like best is a really good engineering challenge,” he said, “whether it’s an R&D problem to solve or a set of claims to hone for a patent.”

The worldwide automotive industry has been hit hard by the global economic crisis, and Bishop is no exception. From its previous peak of over 200 staff, the company now has around 85 employees in its facilities in Sydney, Germany and the United States. According to Dr Baxter, however, it’s only a matter of time before things pick up again.

“One of the reasons we’re able to survive this kind of slump is that Arthur Bishop’s original strategy was to develop and license advanced technologies then generate royalties from those licences,” he said. “This has allowed us to feed a relatively stable royalty stream back into R&D.”

Dr Baxter has always maintained links with UNSW, previously as chair of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering’s Visiting Committee and now as a member of the Dean’s Industry Advisory Council. Beyond the world of engineering he chairs the Percy Baxter Trust, established by his grandfather, which contributes to charities and medical research and is now one of the largest philanthropic trusts in Victoria. One day Dr Baxter hopes to have more time for his philanthropic work, but for now engineering continues to be his true passion.

“Engineering has become a dual profession over the years and many experienced engineers have to choose to either mature as a ‘technical expert’ or be channelled into management,” he said.

“Although I’ve managed and mentored staff in research groups, I’ve actually always regarded myself as a technical expert. If a company truly respects its research, it’s important that people with engineering expertise don’t become weighed down with management processes and responsibilities. Bureaucracy kills innovation.”


SCHOOLsnapshots14 UNSW.ENGINEERS Issue 19/June 2009

Statistics show that more than one-third of people over the age of 65 suffer a fall at least once a year. The total cost for Australian hospitals due to falls was estimated at $566 million in 2003–04, with a 10.4 percent increase in falls among the elderly in 2005–06. And when informal and indirect costs are considered, this figure may be closer to $1 billion. Through the early identification of those at risk of falling, preventative methodologies could potentially reduce these statistics.

Our research involves studying accelerometry (measurement of bodily acceleration and deceleration during the performance of a task) in the prevention of falls among the elderly. In collaboration with Professors Nigel Lovell (Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering), Branko Celler (School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications) and Stephen Lord (Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute), Dr Stephen Redmond and a group of PhD and practicum students at UNSW’s Biomedical Systems Laboratory (BSL) have characterised the movements of elderly subjects using a triaxial accelerometer to estimate an individual’s risk of falling in the coming year. High-risk subjects may later be targeted for preventative intervention, such as physiotherapy.

Clinical research teams have created and validated tests designed to assess a subject’s risk of falling based on functional ability indicators such as postural stability, lower limb strength and visual acuity. Since these tests are performed in the clinical setting,

researchers at the BSL are attempting to devise a home version of the assessment tool using a triaxial accelerometer to characterise the movements of the elderly as they navigate through a directed routine of movements, such as the sit-to-stand movement with five repetitions.

Since the project’s inception in 2005, our team has developed a wearable triaxial accelerometer sensor device that clips onto the subject’s belt. As the subject performs the directed routine, the data is streamed to an internet portal via Bluetooth then automatically sent to a database server for final analysis. Having initially trialled this technology on 68 elderly subjects at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, a recently awarded UNSW Early Career Research Grant of $25,000 will fund the extension of this work to include fall-risk estimations in the unsupervised home environment.

Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering

Breaking the fall By Dr Stephen Redmond

UNSW recently expanded its hydrogen-research capacity with the appointment of Senior Lecturer Dr Kondo-François Aguey-Zinsou. Since completing his PhD at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, Dr Aguey-Zinsou has held research positions at the University of Queensland and institutions in Germany and the UK, specialising in bioelectrochemistry, biomaterials, biofuel cells and hydrogen storage.

Dr Aguey-Zinsou joined the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering in January to further his research into hydrogen as a viable energy carrier. International studies indicate that hydrogen has enormous potential as an alternative carrier to electricity and, like solar energy, is capable of producing power for fuel-cell vehicles and other applications. As hydrogen can be generated through the electrolysis of water, the development of a hydrogen economy in parallel with renewable energy technologies could greatly reduce our dependence on diminishing resources such as gas and oil, as well as minimising carbon emissions.

A major issue with hydrogen, however, is its storage. In gas form, hydrogen has a relatively poor energy density, while materials such as magnesium, aluminium and complex hydrides (including lithium aluminium hydride and lithium borohydride) have a high storage capacity but require impractical temperature and pressure levels to absorb hydrogen. Dr Aguey-Zinsou is currently exploring different approaches to modify the properties of these materials and enable energy to

School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering

The hydrogen guruBy Ben Allen

Dr Stephen Redmond with the triaxial accelerometer and Bluetooth-enabled internet portal.


As 90 percent of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the ocean, climate change will have a huge impact on our coastal settlements. Hosted by UNSW, the newly established Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Settlements and Infrastructure (ACCARNSI) is investigating methods for coastal communities to manage the risks and uncertainties of one of the most significant environmental challenges of our time.

In 2008 the Australian Government committed funding of $10 million over four years to establish eight national climate change research networks. While ACCARNSI focuses on coastal settlements, infrastructure and urban and regional planning, other networks are addressing water resources, human health, emergency services, primary industries, biodiversity and socio-economic reform. As part of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) hosted by Griffith University, the networks will provide vital information to government decision-makers and vulnerable communities so viable strategies can be developed to deal with climate change.

ACCARNSI provides a unique opportunity to bring together the knowledge and expertise of a range of scholars and stakeholders in a national research effort. By collaborating to assess the potential effects of climate change and develop innovative adaptation responses, the network will play a significant role in

protecting both the physical and human aspects of our coastal settlements. This multidisciplinary approach will enable a greater understanding of climate change and our national adaptive capacity, and in turn reduce the vulnerability of Australia’s key regions and sectors.

Based in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, ACCARNSI has established nodes in UNSW’s Water Research Centre and Faculty of the Built Environment, as well as in the Gold Coast and Adelaide with the participation of Griffith University and the Universities of Adelaide and South Australia. Reflecting the network’s coastal focus, staff at UNSW’s Water Research Laboratory recently completed Australia’s first integrated adaptation responses report for climate change impacts on coastal foreshores. Prepared for the City of Clarence in Tasmania, the report is now accepted as the benchmark for other locations nationwide.

* Associate Professor Cox is the convenor of ACCARNSI. In October 2008, Engineers Australia presented him with the prestigious Sir John Holland Award for Civil Engineer of the Year.

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Preparing for a sea changeBy Associate Professor Ron Cox*

be transferred from production sites to users more efficiently.

Hydrogen storage has been under the microscope for half a century, but Dr Aguey-Zinsou is taking it a step further to the nanoscale. “By working with nanomaterials, the atoms can be reorganised and finetuned to make the right structure,” he said. “The material properties can then be modified to allow hydrogen to be stored and discharged quickly enough to feed the fuel cells. We are also working to assemble the nanomaterials in a larger-scale device so the hydrogen stores can be miniaturised and handled safely and practically.”

Since arriving at UNSW, Dr Aguey-Zinsou has been impressed by the University’s Analytical Centre, which enables innovative collaboration between researchers. “Having excellent central facilities is important, and while there is still much to be done before hydrogen becomes a practical and efficient energy source, I look forward to some exciting research outcomes.”

Dr Aguey-Zinsou’s research complements the work of the School’s Particles and Catalysis Research Group in the field of hydrogen production. These activities are part of the global effort to decarbonise the energy sector for the future.

Queensland’s Gold Coast – highly vulnerable to climate change. Courtesy Above Photography.

Dr Kondo-François Aguey-Zinsou



High school students are getting a head start on university-level computing studies thanks to an innovative online learning program launched by UNSW’s Richard Buckland.

Mr Buckland, an award-winning lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, has made his first-year Higher Computing course available to 16 high school students in 2009 via a combination of online video lectures and face-to-face tutorials. The students range from Year 10 to Year 12 and undertake the course in addition to their high school studies. After watching the first-year lectures online, which were all filmed and uploaded to the web in 2008, the students then attend tutorials on-campus once a week after school.

Mr Buckland said his reason for setting up the free-of-charge program was to get more people excited about computing, as often high school level computing education is far more general than it is at university level.

“In this course students will learn the C programming language and how to write and analyse programs in C, as well as learning the craftsmanship of writing a beautiful program,” he said.

His appeal for participants attracted significant interest, including a story on the Sydney Morning Herald website, and Mr Buckland was swamped with applications but had to limit his intake to just 16 students. On the bright side, however, the first-year lectures posted on iTunesU and YouTube have proved enormously popular – gaining an international following and logging up 135,000 hits from places as diverse as Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria.

“The idea that the people who can’t afford to go to uni, for example, can watch these videos and take away a positive learning experience is very exciting from a social justice point of view,” Mr Buckland said.

His enthusiasm for teaching resulted in Mr Buckland winning the Australasian Association of Engineering Educators 2007 Teaching Excellence Award, a 2007 Carrick Award for Teaching Excellence and a 2006 NSW Quality Teaching Award. That same enthusiasm has also spawned “The Richard Buckland Appreciation Society” on Facebook, which has over 360 members.

The online education program will continue next year. Second-year lectures filmed during 2009 will be uploaded so that students next year can have access to two years of lectures online.

School of Computer Science and Engineering

Web masterBy Peter Trute

The optical properties of diamond, coupled with its chemical stability and ability to conduct heat, make it a glittering candidate for photonics research. High-purity artificial diamonds, now available cheaply from various manufacturers, may be too small for jewellery but they could potentially change the face of quantum computing.

Diamonds have caught the eye of photonics researchers worldwide because they can reliably emit a single photon on demand at room temperature. Such a light source is fundamental to the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) process for secure communication and in the development of Linear Optics Quantum Computing (LOQC). At a very fundamental level, diamond-based photonics can provide the technology to integrate single-photon sources with the optical circuitry necessary to transport, manipulate and process quantum optical signals. Diamond, therefore, may prove to be extremely useful for the first generation of quantum computers.

With funding from the Australian and Victorian governments, the UNSW Photonics Research Group has collaborated with researchers from the University of Melbourne to develop innovative techniques for processing diamonds so they can be applied to integrated optics circuitry. By marrying well-known patterning and etching techniques with novel ion implantation processes, the team has developed a fully scalable fabrication method which, for the first time ever, has enabled the design of effective, purely diamond-based circuits.

School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications

A true research gemBy Associate Professor François Ladouceur

Richard Buckland. Photo: Patrick Cummins.


School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications

A true research gemBy Associate Professor François Ladouceur


The diamonds currently processed at UNSW are of two types, nanocrystalline and single crystal. Nanocrystalline samples are thin films (typically a few hundred nanometres thick) deposited onto silicon wafers covering large areas, while single-crystal diamonds have dimensions of a few millimetres. Single-crystal waveguides are ideal for photonics devices as they eliminate scattering caused by domain boundaries, making the material more transparent, but they are far more difficult to process than their nanocrystalline counterparts.

Our research team is currently working to refine its processing techniques and implement the first generation of diamond-based photonics devices using single-crystal diamonds. This period of characterisation and testing will no doubt lead to exciting opportunities in both quantum communication and quantum computing.

Developing countries have a critical need to increase their aerial assets to enable effective disaster relief when tragedy strikes. Our team has investigated and, to a small extent, simulated the spread of epidemics and the effects of earthquakes, particularly on earth dams, which both require the rapid deployment of experts and crisis teams to remote areas. As many susceptible regions have limited land infrastructure and few experts available, air transport is essential.

Providing this capability puts a severe strain on countries with scarce resources, and fuel acquisition is especially problematic. Aircraft operate either on Avgas (petrol-based fuel or Avtur (kerosene-based jet fuel), both derived from crude oil and traded in US dollars. Developing countries have limited access to these fuels due to inadequate funds and the increasing scarcity of oil.

To address the problem we sought to identify an aviation fuel that could be produced locally, with ethanol as our initial focus. Ethanol has been exploited as a fuel in various countries, particularly Brazil, but its viability is limited as high-grade feedstocks such as sugar or corn are needed for its manufacture and it only returns 25 percent of the energy expended during production.

Our next focus was on biodiesel, which gives an energy return of 93 percent, is easy

to manufacture and can be produced from used cooking oil or oils extracted from timber and algae. The initial aim was to manufacture a product of a quality high enough to be used in the aero-diesel engines now entering the market. Though we were able to meet this standard, the use of diesel fuel in aviation is restricted due to the low power-to-weight ratio of diesel engines and the tendency of diesel to produce sludge at the temperatures at which aircraft operate.

We are now investigating the possibility of converting our biodiesel into biokerosene, possibly by distillation. Discussions are underway with key players in the national biodiesel industry and we are enlisting the support of research students to help develop a suitable fuel for gas turbine engines. This field of research is expected to grow, not only to assist developing countries, but as the impact of global crude oil shortages on all aviation operations continues to increase.

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Fuel for thoughtBy Dr John Olsen and John Page

Optical microscope view of a diamond waveguide. Green laser light passes into the lower right corner and is guided to the exit mirror in the upper left corner where a typical mode pattern is observed.

John Olsen (left) and John Page adjust the operation of their biodiesel rig in the School’s Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory.



Mining Education Australia (MEA) was established in 2006 to provide a comprehensive curriculum to mining engineering students around Australia. On 23 April UNSW’s first 32 MEA students graduated from the program and are looking forward to bright futures in industry.

With the financial support of the Minerals Council of Australia, MEA was founded to address a chronic national skills shortage and enhance the quality of Australian mining graduates. It is a consortium of the four major mining engineering schools in Australia: UNSW, Curtin University of Technology’s Western Australian School of Mines, the University of Queensland and the University of Adelaide, and brings together the skills and expertise of academics from across the four institutions. UNSW has provided MEA’s inaugural Executive Director, a base for its Administration Unit and the highest number of contributing academics.

Students enrolled in MEA undertake a completely revised curriculum in the third and fourth years of their degrees, with our recent graduates entering the program in 2007. Although implementing a brand-new program presented some initial teething problems, the overall MEA experience has been positive and the program is very highly regarded by industry. MEA has also been independently reviewed by renowned Canadian mining academic Professor Malcolm Scoble, who deemed it the best mining engineering program available in the world.

Since MEA began we have also seen a significant rise in enrolments. The projected industry demand is 250 graduates per year Australia wide and although 2006 produced only 90 graduates, 120 students completed their degrees in 2008. And even more promising was the 2008 intake of 290 first-year students nationally, 82 of whom enrolled at UNSW.

MEA continues to evolve as we develop more elective courses and establish feeder programs through non-mining universities around Australia and New Zealand. UNSW’s world-class immersive virtual- and mixed-reality modules enable innovative teaching delivery and we are currently entering arrangements to deliver MEA programs internationally using our state-of-the-art interactive facilities. Beyond these developments are further opportunities to expand the MEA model into postgraduate coursework and to facilitate collaborative cross-institutional research projects.

* Professor Hebblewhite is Head of the UNSW School of Mining Engineering and Executive Director of Mining Education Australia.

School of Mining Engineering

National program comes of ageBy Professor Bruce Hebblewhite*

Australia has been blessed with an abundance of cheap energy in the forms of natural gas and coal, but the way we use those resources is threatening our environment. To help minimise the damage, researchers from the School of Petroleum Engineering are involved in shaping national greenhouse policy as part of the Australian Government’s Carbon Storage Task Force.

Every year Australia emits more than 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), approximately half of which comes from stationary sources. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a new application for old technology to reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by capturing the CO2 where it is produced, compressing it to a supercritical state and storing it safely and securely in porous rock thousands of metres below the ground – in effect, putting it back where it came from. Together with renewable energy and energy efficiency, CCS forms part of a suite of greenhouse reduction solutions.

Mr Guy Allinson and Dr Peter Neal are part of an interdisciplinary team that has been providing cost estimates for the deployment of large-scale carbon storage networks on Australia’s east coast. This work is conducted through the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), with its commercial arm, CO2CRC Technologies, facilitating the School’s participation in the Carbon Storage Task Force.

School of Petroleum Engineering

Clever carbon captureBy Dr Peter Neal


School of Petroleum Engineering

Clever carbon captureBy Dr Peter Neal


“We collaborated with Geoscience Australia and state geoscience bodies to identify and characterise likely storage basins,” Mr Allinson said. “We simulated CO2 injections in those basins and estimated the costs of storing the CO2 emitted by selected power stations and industrial sites in Queensland, New South Wales and the Latrobe Valley in Victoria.”

The study found a large variation in storage costs, mainly due to the characteristics of the reservoir at the injection site but also depending on the location of the CO2 source and the injection point. Because of the many variables involved in this type of work, the team recommended further research to quantify and reduce the uncertainties in costs and reservoir storage performance.

The School hopes that by examining and costing all options for greenhouse gas reduction, Australia can deploy the most appropriate and effective greenhouse solutions.

UNSW was recently selected as one of three foundation members of the Australian Solar Institute (ASI), a $100 million Australian Government grants scheme that aims to accelerate the development of photovoltaic and solar thermal energy science and engineering. Announced in January by Martin Ferguson, Federal Minister for Resources and Energy, the ASI will fund industrial R&D projects to encourage greater collaboration and resource sharing between local and overseas researchers and engineers.

The ASI will be the focal point for solar energy research in the Asia–Pacific region, which has the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy manufacturing industry. A call for ASI project funding applications is expected in the third quarter of 2009, and leading Australian and Singaporean solar energy researchers have already met to explore mutually beneficial opportunities for collaboration.

The ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence (part of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering) has been offered an initial $5 million ASI grant to support the establishment of a state-of-the-art pilot production line for silicon solar cells, the first of its kind in Australia. As the backbone of UNSW’s $20 million Solar Industrial Research Facility (SIRF), the pilot line underpins the University’s partnership with Roth and Rau, a global leader in solar cell turnkey production lines, and will greatly enhance Australia’s solar-research capacity.

Operations are expected to commence in a purpose-built interim building on the University’s upper campus in 2010. The Centre of Excellence will then implement one of its most exciting new solar cell designs on the pilot line – the laser-doped selective emitter technology, which offers far greater efficiency than current technologies at a similar production cost. The SIRF will be used to showcase this and other Australian solar innovations to potential manufacturers from around the world, as well as providing a base to train engineers in the use of cutting-edge industrial equipment and to further improve Roth and Rau’s turnkey products.

In another exciting development, the Australian Government has committed $75 million towards the UNSW’s Energy Technologies Building (ETB), which will be completed on the lower Kensington campus in 2012. As well as providing a new home for the pilot line, the ETB will bring the School’s operations together under one roof for the first time.

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering

Solar energy surgesBy Dr Richard Corkish

Artist’s impression of the Solar Industrial Research Facility. Courtesy Woods Bagot.


The Global Positioning System (GPS) enables a wide range of mobile location services, but UNSW researchers have found that GPS is vulnerable to interference as the electromagnetic spectrum becomes progressively full and “dirty”.

Although GPS satellites are more than 20,000 kilometres from the Earth and transmit less power than a light globe, GPS is able to provide precise positioning information, especially outdoors. One interference threat is Japan’s new Indoor Messaging System (IMES), designed as an indoor adjunct to GPS, which could potentially jam the system and “knock out” positioning data in nearby areas. Mobile phone networks help overcome indoor positioning difficulties by transmitting data to the GPS receivers in phones, but IMES, which uses the GPS band to transmit its own position, could prevent this type of positioning from working at all.

Some mobile networks are synchronised by GPS, and PhD student Faisal Khan found their performance can be severely downgraded if an interferer is near a base station. To overcome potential GPS failure in “urban canyons” (high densities of tall buildings), the Locata Corporation has developed LocataLite, an alternative radio-location technology. As part of a $500,000 ARC Linkage project led by Professor Chris Rizos in partnership with Locata and Leica Geosystems, Mr Khan has developed techniques that allow LocataLite to co-exist in the same band as Wi-Fi (and other signals), where neither interferes with the other.

As GPS is also used increasingly in aviation, signal security around airports is critical. In the GPS band, however, Dr Asghar Tabatabaei (UNSW) and Dr Beatrice Motella (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) found significant levels of unintentional interference from the SBS television transmitter in Artarmon, Sydney, which could jam the system in some areas. To determine the extent of this problem, our team will commence a $650,000 ARC Linkage project in conjunction with the University of Adelaide and GPSat Systems to geolocate the sources of interference detected near airports, with Sydney Airport as the obvious first test-bed.

Interference also has implications for surveying. NSW surveyors use a network of continuously operating reference stations (CORS) to obtain centimetre-level accuracy using specialised GPS receivers. With funding from the CRC for Spatial Information, Dr Tabatabaei has developed algorithms for detecting low-level interference that have been implemented by UNSW Professional Officer Peter Mumford in devices installed at three CORS. The good news is that so far these stations have been found to be interference free.

School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems

Protecting GPS from harmBy Associate Professor Andrew Dempster


In 2009 UNSW celebrates 60 years as one of Australia’s leading universities. As a founding faculty of the University, the Faculty of Engineering is marking 60 years of sustained excellence in teaching and research with a range of special events including:

Great Engineering Challenge: Secondary schools’ competition – Faculty of Engineering and Engineers Australia, Tuesday 4 August.

Engineering Breakfast: Faculty of Engineering and Engineers Australia, Thursday 6 August (see p. 6).

Engineering Students’ Sports Day: Thursday 6 August, UNSW Village Green.

Alumni Anniversary Dinner and Book Launch: Friday 21 August (see p. 6).

UNSW Engineers magazine: Special 60th anniversary issue to be published later in the year.

Engineering Design Centre: Multidisciplinary, state-of-the-art facility opening in November.

Contact Luciano Ferracin, T: +61 2 9385 5364, E: [email protected]

UNSW-wide activities include:

Alumni Awards Dinner: Monday 29 June, Leighton Hall, The John Niland Scientia Building.

UNSW Open Day: Saturday 5 September, Kensington campus.

UNSW Celebrations in Beijing, China: Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October.

Bacchus Ball: Saturday 7 November, The Roundhouse.

Contact UNSW Alumni Relations Office, T: +61 2 9385 3279, E: [email protected].

Some other significant UNSW anniversaries:

National Institute of Dramatic Art (50 years)

Basser College (50 years): Anniversary dinner, Saturday 1 August, Leighton Hall, The John Niland Scientia Building. Contact Dr Geoff Treloar, T: +61 2 9315 0088, E: [email protected].

New College (40 years): Anniversary dinner and other events, second half of 2009. Contact New College Alumni Office, T: +61 2 9381 1740, E: [email protected].

Engineering at UNSW turns 60


Last issue’s photo, “The Time Machine”, stimulated many responses. Here are some extracts:

Most recognisable is Harold Laserson standing in the background. I’d have to guess at the others, having done the Power option and not worked closely with them in those latter years. From the mug shots in my yearbook the one on the right could be Alan Benn and the guy with the slide rule James Koh.

The photo was taken in 1963 and appears on page 13 of the glossy handout for the official opening of the then new Elec Eng building, where it carries the caption: “Fourth year students are calculating scale factors and determining interconnections on the analogue computer prior to carrying out

The Rolling Pin

Who are these fresh-faced mechanical engineers from 1978 and what are they smiling about?

If you can shed any light on their identities and this hydraulics experiment, email us at unswengineers@eng.

unsw.edu.au.

“Blast from the Past” photographs are provided by the UNSW Archives with the generous assistance of Katie Bird, Assistant Archivist.

blast from the past

was nevertheless a memorable gathering, with Jimmy Koh visiting from Singapore.

I was fortunate to have as my undergraduate thesis an enhancement to the UTAC computer. A few years later I put my training to good use by simulating a complete high-accuracy, high-speed steel rolling mill drive system on a commercial analog computer in order to investigate improvements and stabilise performance. By mid-career I saw analog computers and analog drive systems largely replaced by digital systems and digital computers but will always have a soft spot for the analog computer in the photograph.Alan Benn (BE ’64)

Thanks for the picture of Alley Oops time machine. Malcolm Burling is seen adjusting the knob, the other operator is Kim Duc Ngo of Vietnam and Harry Laserson is seen at the back.

We were programming to send someone to Mars but the battery of my slide rule malfunctioned and the mission was aborted. I believe the project is still waiting to be resumed by some 4th year students.Jimmy Koh (BE ’64)

an investigation. The analogue computer was designed by a member of staff and constructed in the School’s workshop.”

The photo on page 3 of that same handout shows us Power guys in the Machines Lab. In that photo I recognise from the left Don Bradley, Ian Bradley, Barry Wood, someone obscured, then yours truly kneeling in a fur-lined car coat. Clearly central heating was not one of the touted amenities.

Sobering to think that, on the balance of probability, all of these fresh-faced youths are now retired. Ouch.Robert Barrett (BE ‘64)

The photograph was taken in 1963 and three of the students are immediately recognisable: myself standing on the right with two hands at the computer, Harry Laserson in the background and Jimmy Koh seated with slide rule (yes that’s right, SLIDE RULE). I would guess that the two other members could be Malcolm Burling at the left with one hand at the computer and Chua Chin Hwa from Malaya; however, someone else may be able to correctly identify them. In 2004 there was a reunion of this class of 1964, but only nine members were able to attend and many could not be located. It


Alumni in brief

Alexandra Bennett (BE (Civil) ’08), now working at Hyder Consulting, won the 2009 Australian Water Association National Undergraduate Water Prize for her thesis project, “Fill in the Dams”. The project, supervised by UNSW

Water Research Centre co-director Dr Bill Peirson, looked at converting small dams in inland Australia to groundwater dams by filling them with coarse material such as sand or gravel.

“As water scarcity increases we’ll get more serious about securing reliable water supplies in these areas, so there’ll only be greater potential for funding real-life projects like this,” Alexandra said.

Mark Gordon (BSurv ’77) was named NSW Professional of the Year for 2008 by the Institution of Surveyors, NSW. Mark is chairman of the NSW Surveying and Mapping Industry Council and works as Survey Services Manager of the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority’s Sydney Technical Services Office in Parramatta.

Tshering Norbu (BE (Elec) ’99) was recently promoted to General Manager of DrukNet, the internet service provider division of Bhutan Telecom. Tshering advised UNSW Engineers that he is the youngest general manager in the history of corporate Bhutan, and expresses his gratitude to UNSW for inspiring his professional success.

UNSW Engineers Direct to Your Inbox

In response to many requests from alumni, the next issue of UNSW Engineers will also be available as an e-magazine in a digital format that allows easy online navigation. If you would prefer to receive UNSW Engineers electronically, please fill in

your details on the back cover including your email address, tick the check box and send it to us by mail or fax. Otherwise, email your details to us (including your student number printed on the

back cover) at [email protected].

Previous issues of UNSW Engineers are available online in PDF format at www.eng.unsw.edu.au/alumni/unsweng.

Obituary Professor Eddie Leonardi1952–2008

The UNSW community was saddened by the loss of Professor Eddie Leonardi, Head of the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, who died on 14 December 2008 after a four-month battle with melanoma.

Professor Leonardi graduated from UNSW with a BSc (Eng) in Mechanical

Engineering in 1977 and a PhD in 1984, during which time he became a Research Fellow in 1977 and joined the academic staff in 1982. He was promoted to Professor in 2000 and became Deputy Head of School four years later. Shortly before his death he succeeded Emeritus Professor Hartmut Kaebernick as Head of School.

During his time with the School, Professor Leonardi served as its Director of Research and Director of Computing, as well as overseeing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Research Laboratory and the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (R&AC) Laboratory. He developed the latter into a major testing and research facility, the only nationally accredited R&AC testing laboratory in Australia. His research into CFD and R&AC led to numerous awards, industry advisory positions and visiting academic appointments around the world.

Emeritus Professor Graham de Vahl Davis, former Head of School, remembers Professor Leonardi as a wise and helpful colleague and mentor.

“No task was too great that he could not solve it – and no task was too small that he would not bother,” he said. “He gave his wholehearted attention to his graduate students, and was careful and equally thorough in the preparation and delivery of his lectures to undergraduates.”

Professor Leonardi is survived by his wife Dr Victoria Timchenko, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, and his sons Christopher and Adam.


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