Toward automated power line corridor monitoring using advanced aircraft control and multisource feature fusion

The conventional manual power line corridor inspection processes that are used by most energy utilities are labor-intensive, time consuming and expensive. Remote sensing technologies represent an attractive and cost-effective alternative approach to these monitoring activities. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into automated remote sensing based power line corridor monitoring, focusing on recent innovations in the area of increased automation of fixed-wing platforms for aerial data collection, and automated data processing for object recognition using a feature fusion process. Airborne automation is achieved by using a novel approach that provides improved lateral control for tracking corridors and automatic real-time dynamic turning for flying between corridor segments, we call this approach PTAGS. Improved object recognition is achieved by fusing information from multi-sensor (LiDAR and imagery) data and multiple visual feature descriptors (color and texture). The results from our experiments and field survey illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed aircraft control and feature fusion approaches.

The subtropical residential tower: An investigation by Design Charrette

QUT's Centre for Subtropical Design (CSD) partnered with a major developer to bring together some of Brisbane’s most experienced and creative architects and designers in a two-day intensive design charrette to propose innovative design strategies for naturally-ventilated high rise residential buildings. An inner-urban renewal site in Queensland’s capital city Brisbane gave four multi-disciplinary teams the opportunity to address a raft of issues that developers and consultants will confront more and more in the future in warm humid climates. The quest to release apartment dwellers from dependence on energy-hungry air-conditioning and artificial lighting was central to the design brief for the towers. Mentored by Richard Hassell of WOHA, the creative teams focussed on climate-responsive design principles for passive climate control including orientation, cross-ventilation and outdoor living in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offset occupants’ rising energy costs. This article discusses how outcomes of the charrette take their cue from the city’s subtropical climate and demonstrate how high-density high-rise living can be attractive, affordable and sustainable through positive engagement with the subtropical climate’s natural attributes.

Enduring documents : improving the forms, improving the outcomes

Most Australian states have introduced legislation to provide for enduring documents for financial, personal and health care decision making in the event of incapacity. Since the introduction of Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) and Advance Health Directives (AHDs) in Queensland in 1998, concerns have continued to be raised by service providers, professionals and individuals about the uptake, understanding and appropriate use of these documents. In response to these concerns, the Department of Justice and Attorney-General (DJAG) convened a Practical Guardianship Initiatives Working Party. This group identified the limited evidence base available to address these concerns. In 2009, a multidisciplinary research team from the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology was awarded $90,000 from the Legal Practitioners Interest on Trust Account Fund to undertake a review of the current EPA and AHD forms. The goal of the research was to gather data on the content and useability of the forms from the perspectives of a range of stakeholders, particularly those completing the EPA and AHD, witnesses of these documents, attorneys appointed under an EPA, and health professionals involved in the completion of an AHD or dealing with it in a clinical context. The researchers also sought to gather information from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) individuals as well people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups. Although the focus of the research was on the forms and the extent to which the current design, content and format represents a barrier to uptake, in the course of the research, some broader issues were identified which have an impact on the effectiveness of the EPA and AHD in achieving the goals of planning for financial and personal and health care in advance of losing capacity. The data gathered enabled the researchers to achieve the primary goal of the research: to make recommendations to improve the content and useability of the forms which hopefully will lead to an increased uptake and appropriate use of the forms. However, the researchers thought it was important not to ignore broader policy issues that were identified in the course of the research. These broader issues have been highlighted in this Report, and the researchers have responded to them in a variety of ways. For some issues, the researchers have suggested alterations that could be made to the forms to address the particular concerns. For other issues, the researchers have suggested that Government may need to take specific action such as educating the broader community with some attention to strategies that engage particular groups within communities. Other concerns raised can only be dealt with by legislative reform and, in some of these cases, the researchers have identified issues that Government may wish to consider further. We do note, however, that it is beyond the scope of this Report to recommend changes to the law. This three stage mixed methods project aimed to provide systematic evidence from a broad range of stakeholders in regard to: (i) which groups use and do not use these documents and why, (ii) the contribution of the length/complexity/format/language of the forms as barriers to their completion and/or effective use, and (iii) the issues raised by the current documents for witnesses and attorneys. Understanding and use of EPAs and AHDs were generally explored in separate but parallel processes. A purposive sampling strategy included users of the documents as principals and attorneys, and professionals, witnesses and service providers who assist others to execute or use the forms. The first component of this study built on existing knowledge using a Critical Reference Group and material provided by the DJAG Practical Guardianship Initiatives Working Party. This assisted in the development of the data collection tools for subsequent stages. The second component comprised semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a targeted sample of current users of the forms, potential users, witnesses and other professionals to provide in-depth information on critical issues. Outreach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and individuals and workers with CALD groups ensured a broad sample of potential users of the two documents. Fifty individual interviews and three focus groups were completed. Most interviews and focus groups focused on perceptions of, and experiences with, either the EPA or the AHD form. In the interviews with Indigenous people and the CALD focus groups, however, respondents provided their perceptions and experiences of both documents. In general, these respondents had not used the forms and were responding to the documents made available in the interview or focus group. In total, seventy-seven individuals were involved in interviews or focus groups. The final component comprised on-line surveys for EPA principals, EPA attorneys, AHD principals, witnesses of EPAs and AHDs and medical practitioners with experience of AHDs as nominated and/or treating doctors. The surveys were developed from the initial component and the qualitative analysis of the interview and focus group data. A total of 116 surveys were returned from major cities and regional Queensland. The survey data was analysed descriptively for patterns and trends. It is important to note that the aim of the survey was to gain insight into issues and concerns relating to the documents and not to make generalisations to the broader population.

Quantification of particle emission characteristics and development of an emission model for use in transport microenvironments affected by traffic emissions

Vehicle emitted particles are of significant concern based on their potential to influence local air quality and human health. Transport microenvironments usually contain higher vehicle emission concentrations compared to other environments, and people spend a substantial amount of time in these microenvironments when commuting. Currently there is limited scientific knowledge on particle concentration, passenger exposure and the distribution of vehicle emissions in transport microenvironments, partially due to the fact that the instrumentation required to conduct such measurements is not available in many research centres. Information on passenger waiting time and location in such microenvironments has also not been investigated, which makes it difficult to evaluate a passenger’s spatial-temporal exposure to vehicle emissions. Furthermore, current emission models are incapable of rapidly predicting emission distribution, given the complexity of variations in emission rates that result from changes in driving conditions, as well as the time spent in driving condition within the transport microenvironment. In order to address these scientific gaps in knowledge, this work conducted, for the first time, a comprehensive statistical analysis of experimental data, along with multi-parameter assessment, exposure evaluation and comparison, and emission model development and application, in relation to traffic interrupted transport microenvironments. The work aimed to quantify and characterise particle emissions and human exposure in the transport microenvironments, with bus stations and a pedestrian crossing identified as suitable research locations representing a typical transport microenvironment. Firstly, two bus stations in Brisbane, Australia, with different designs, were selected to conduct measurements of particle number size distributions, particle number and PM2.5 concentrations during two different seasons. Simultaneous traffic and meteorological parameters were also monitored, aiming to quantify particle characteristics and investigate the impact of bus flow rate, station design and meteorological conditions on particle characteristics at stations. The results showed higher concentrations of PN20-30 at the station situated in an open area (open station), which is likely to be attributed to the lower average daily temperature compared to the station with a canyon structure (canyon station). During precipitation events, it was found that particle number concentration in the size range 25-250 nm decreased greatly, and that the average daily reduction in PM2.5 concentration on rainy days compared to fine days was 44.2 % and 22.6 % at the open and canyon station, respectively. The effect of ambient wind speeds on particle number concentrations was also examined, and no relationship was found between particle number concentration and wind speed for the entire measurement period. In addition, 33 pairs of average half-hourly PN7-3000 concentrations were calculated and identified at the two stations, during the same time of a day, and with the same ambient wind speeds and precipitation conditions. The results of a paired t-test showed that the average half-hourly PN7-3000 concentrations at the two stations were not significantly different at the 5% confidence level (t = 0.06, p = 0.96), which indicates that the different station designs were not a crucial factor for influencing PN7-3000 concentrations. A further assessment of passenger exposure to bus emissions on a platform was evaluated at another bus station in Brisbane, Australia. The sampling was conducted over seven weekdays to investigate spatial-temporal variations in size-fractionated particle number and PM2.5 concentrations, as well as human exposure on the platform. For the whole day, the average PN13-800 concentration was 1.3 x 104 and 1.0 x 104 particle/cm3 at the centre and end of the platform, respectively, of which PN50-100 accounted for the largest proportion to the total count. Furthermore, the contribution of exposure at the bus station to the overall daily exposure was assessed using two assumed scenarios of a school student and an office worker. It was found that, although the daily time fraction (the percentage of time spend at a location in a whole day) at the station was only 0.8 %, the daily exposure fractions (the percentage of exposures at a location accounting for the daily exposure) at the station were 2.7% and 2.8 % for exposure to PN13-800 and 2.7% and 3.5% for exposure to PM2.5 for the school student and the office worker, respectively. A new parameter, “exposure intensity” (the ratio of daily exposure fraction and the daily time fraction) was also defined and calculated at the station, with values of 3.3 and 3.4 for exposure to PN13-880, and 3.3 and 4.2 for exposure to PM2.5, for the school student and the office worker, respectively. In order to quantify the enhanced emissions at critical locations and define the emission distribution in further dispersion models for traffic interrupted transport microenvironments, a composite line source emission (CLSE) model was developed to specifically quantify exposure levels and describe the spatial variability of vehicle emissions in traffic interrupted microenvironments. This model took into account the complexity of vehicle movements in the queue, as well as different emission rates relevant to various driving conditions (cruise, decelerate, idle and accelerate), and it utilised multi-representative segments to capture the accurate emission distribution for real vehicle flow. This model does not only helped to quantify the enhanced emissions at critical locations, but it also helped to define the emission source distribution of the disrupted steady flow for further dispersion modelling. The model then was applied to estimate particle number emissions at a bidirectional bus station used by diesel and compressed natural gas fuelled buses. It was found that the acceleration distance was of critical importance when estimating particle number emission, since the highest emissions occurred in sections where most of the buses were accelerating and no significant increases were observed at locations where they idled. It was also shown that emissions at the front end of the platform were 43 times greater than at the rear of the platform. The CLSE model was also applied at a signalled pedestrian crossing, in order to assess increased particle number emissions from motor vehicles when forced to stop and accelerate from rest. The CLSE model was used to calculate the total emissions produced by a specific number and mix of light petrol cars and diesel passenger buses including 1 car travelling in 1 direction (/1 direction), 14 cars / 1 direction, 1 bus / 1 direction, 28 cars / 2 directions, 24 cars and 2 buses / 2 directions, and 20 cars and 4 buses / 2 directions. It was found that the total emissions produced during stopping on a red signal were significantly higher than when the traffic moved at a steady speed. Overall, total emissions due to the interruption of the traffic increased by a factor of 13, 11, 45, 11, 41, and 43 for the above 6 cases, respectively. In summary, this PhD thesis presents the results of a comprehensive study on particle number and mass concentration, together with particle size distribution, in a bus station transport microenvironment, influenced by bus flow rates, meteorological conditions and station design. Passenger spatial-temporal exposure to bus emitted particles was also assessed according to waiting time and location along the platform, as well as the contribution of exposure at the bus station to overall daily exposure. Due to the complexity of the interrupted traffic flow within the transport microenvironments, a unique CLSE model was also developed, which is capable of quantifying emission levels at critical locations within the transport microenvironment, for the purpose of evaluating passenger exposure and conducting simulations of vehicle emission dispersion. The application of the CLSE model at a pedestrian crossing also proved its applicability and simplicity for use in a real-world transport microenvironment.

How design of the physical environment impacts early learning : educators and parents perspectives

This research explores the quality and importance of the physical environment of two early learning centres on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, utilising qualitative interviews with parents (n=4) and educators (n=4) to understand how design might impact on children’s development and a quantitative rating (the Early Childhood Physical Environment Rating Scale; ECPERS) to assess the quality of the physical built environment and infrastructure. With an average ECPERS quality rating, thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that educators and parents viewed the physical environment as important to a child’s development, although the quality of staff was predominant. Early learning centres should be ‘homely’, inviting, bright and linked to the outdoors, with participants describing how space “welcomes the child, makes them feel safe and encourages learning”. Four key themes characterised views: Emotional Connection (quality of staff and physical environment), Experiencing Design (impact of design on child development), Hub for Community Integration (relationships and resources) and Future Vision (ideal physical environment, technology and ratings). With participants often struggling to clearly articulate their thoughts on design issues, a collaborative and jargon-free approach to designing space is required. These findings will help facilitate discussion about the role and design of the physical environment in early childhood centres, with the tangible examples of ‘ideal space’ enhancing communication between architects and educators about how best to design and reconfigure space to enhance learning outcomes.

Ethical decision making and health care managers : developing managerial profiles based on ethical frameworks and other influencing factors

Whether the community is looking for “scapegoats” to blame, or seeking more radical and deeper causes, health care managers are in the firing line whenever there are woes in the health care sector. The public has a right to question whether ethics have much influence on the everyday decision making of health care managers. This thesis explores, through a series of published papers, the influence of ethics and other factors on the decision making of health care managers in Australia. Critical review of over 40 years of research on ethical decision making has revealed a large number of influencing factors, but there is a demonstrable lack of a multidimensional approach that measures the combined influences of these factors on managers. This thesis has developed an instrument, the Managerial Ethical Profile (MEP) scale, based on a multidimensional model combining a large number of influencing factors. The MEP scale measures the range of influences on individual managers, and describes the major tendencies by developing a number of empirical profiles derived from a hierarchical cluster analysis. The instrument was developed and refined through a process of pilot studies on academics and students (n=41) and small-business managers (n=41), and then was administered to the larger sample of health care managers (n=441). Results from this study indicate that Australian health care managers draw on a range of ethical frameworks in their everyday decision making, forming the basis of five MEPs (Knights, Guardian Angels, Duty Followers, Defenders, and Chameleons). Results from the study also indicate that the range of individual, organisational, and external factors that influence decision making can be grouped into three major clusters or functions. Cross referencing these functions and other demographic data to the MEPs provides analytical insight into the characteristics of the MEPs. These five profiles summarise existing strengths and weaknesses in managerial ethical decision making. Therefore identifying these profiles not only can contribute to increasing organisational knowledge and self-awareness, but also has clear implications for the design and implementation of ethics education and training in large scale organisations in the health care industry.

Vision based control for fixed wing UAVs inspecting locally linear infrastructure using skid-to-turn maneuvers

The following paper proposes a novel application of Skid-to-Turn maneuvers for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) inspecting locally linear infrastructure. Fixed wing UAVs, following the design of manned aircraft, traditionally employ Bank-to-Turn maneuvers to change heading and thus direction of travel. Commonly overlooked is the effect these maneuvers have on downward facing body fixed sensors, which as a result of bank, point away from the feature during turns. By adopting Skid-to-Turn maneuvers, the aircraft is able change heading whilst maintaining wings level flight, thus allowing body fixed sensors to maintain a downward facing orientation. Eliminating roll also helps to improve data quality, as sensors are no longer subjected to the swinging motion induced as they pivot about an axis perpendicular to their line of sight. Traditional tracking controllers that apply an indirect approach of capturing ground based data by flying directly overhead can also see the feature off center due to steady state pitch and roll required to stay on course. An Image Based Visual Servo controller is developed to address this issue, allowing features to be directly tracked within the image plane. Performance of the proposed controller is tested against that of a Bank-to-Turn tracking controller driven by GPS derived cross track error in a simulation environment developed to simulate the field of view of a body fixed camera.

Implementable efficient time and energy consumption trajectories design for an autonomous underwater vehicle

In this paper we consider the implementation of time and energy efficient trajectories onto a test-bed autonomous underwater vehicle. The trajectories are losely connected to the results of the application of the maximum principle to the controlled mechanical system. We use a numerical algorithm to compute efficient trajectories designed using geometric control theory to optimize a given cost function. Experimental results are shown for the time minimization problem.

An innovative design and studio-based CS degree

The University of Queensland has recently established a new design-focused, studio-based computer science degree. The Bachelor of Information Environments degree augments the core courses from the University's standard CS degree with a stream of design courses and integrative studio-based projects undertaken every semester. The studio projects integrate and reinforce learning by requiring students to apply the knowledge and skills gained in other courses to open-ended real-world design projects. The studio model is based on the architectural studio and involves teamwork, collaborative learning, interactive problem solving, presentations and peer review. This paper describes the degree program, its curriculum and rationale, and reports on experiences in the first year of delivery.

Rethinking regulatory design : The Australian National Classification Scheme review

This paper considers issues of methodological innovation in communication, media and cultural studies, that arise out of the extent to which we now live in a media environment characterised by an digital media abundance, the convergence of media platforms, content and services, and the globalisation of media content through ubiquitous computing and high-speed broadband networks. These developments have also entailed a shift in the producer-consumer relationships that characterised the 20th century mass communications paradigm, with the rapid proliferation of user-created content, accelerated innovation, the growing empowerment of media users themselves, and the blurring of distinctions between public and private, as well as age-based distinctions in terms of what media can be accessed by whom and for what purpose. It considers these issues through a case study of the Australian Law Reform Commission's National Classification Scheme Review.

Part-time job design : symptom and solution for a changing work environment

Part-time work presents a conundrum. Across industrialised countries, there has been significant growth in part-time work as a solution to resolving the diverse interests of employers, workers and families in managing time and resources. However, there are intrinsic disadvantages associated with part-time work; notably with pay and career prospects, which impact the same stakeholders it is intended to benefit. These disadvantages are particularly evident in professional services organisations, due to strong cultural norms of long work hours, single-focused commitment to work and 24x7 availability. There are indications, both in research and practice, that the design of part-time work arrangements could be improved to address some of the disadvantages associated with part-time work, and to challenge norms and dated assumptions that influence the structure of professional work. This study explored the changes made when professional service workers move from a full-time to part-time arrangement. The study drew on a recently proposed framework for work design, which extended previous models to reflect substantial changes in the contemporary work environment. The framework proved to be a useful perspective from which to explore the design of part-time work, principally because it integrated previously disconnected areas of literature and practice through a broader focus on the context of work. Exploration of the differences between part-time and full-time roles, and comparisons between part-time roles in similar types of work, provided insights into the design of professional part-time work. Analysis revealed that having a better understanding of design characteristics may help explain disadvantages associated with professional part-time work, and that some full-time roles can be more easily adapted to part-time arrangements than others. Importantly, comparisons revealed that even roles that are considered difficult to undertake on a part-time basis can potentially be re-designed to be more effective. Through empirical testing of the framework, a contextualised work design model is presented that may guide further research and the practice of crafting part-time arrangements. The findings also suggest that poor work design may lead to the symptoms associated with professional part-time work, and that improved work design may be a potential solution to these structural constraints.

Sky high and back again : the evolution of simulation-based design from aerospace to construction

Emerging from the challenge to reduce energy consumption in buildings is a need for research and development into the more effective use of simulation as a decision-support tool. Despite significant research, persistent limitations in process and software inhibit the integration of energy simulation in early architectural design. This paper presents a green star case study to highlight the obstacles commonly encountered with current integration strategies. It then examines simulation-based design in the aerospace industry, which has overcome similar limitations. Finally, it proposes a design system based on this contrasting approach, coupling parametric modelling and energy simulation software for rapid and iterative performance assessment of early design options.

The validation of the rating for subdivision neighbourhood sustainability design (RSNSD) In Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand

In recent years, the problems resulting from unsustainable subdivision development have become significant problems in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand. Numbers of government departments and agencies have tried to eliminate the problems by introducing the rating tools to encourage the higher sustainability levels of subdivision development in BMR, such as the Environmental Impact Assessment Monitoring Award (EIA-MA) and the Thai’s Rating for Energy and Environmental Sustainability of New construction and major renovation (TREES-NC). However, the EIA-MA has included the neighbourhood designs in the assessment criteria, but this requirement applies to large projects only. Meanwhile, TREES-NC has focused only on large scale buildings such as condominiums, office buildings, and is not specific for subdivision neighbourhood designs. Recently, the new rating tool named “Rating for Subdivision Neighbourhood Sustainability Design (RSNSD)” has been developed. Therefore, the validation process of RSNSD is still required. This paper aims to validate the new rating tool for subdivision neighbourhood design in BMR. The RSNSD has been validated by applying the rating tool to eight case study subdivisions. The result of RSNSD by data generated through surveying subdivisions will be compared to the existing results from the EIA-MA. The selected cases include of one “Excellent Award”, two “Very Good Award”, and five non-rated subdivision developments. This paper expects to prove the credibility of RSNSD before introducing to the real subdivision development practises. The RSNSD could be useful to encourage higher sustainability subdivision design level, and then protect the problems from further subdivision development in BMR.

Support for energy-oriented design in the Australian context

There is a need for decision support tools that integrate energy simulation into early design in the context of Australian practice. Despite the proliferation of simulation programs in the last decade, there are no ready-to-use applications that cater specifically for the Australian climate and regulations. Furthermore, the majority of existing tools focus on achieving interaction with the design domain through model-based interoperability, and largely overlook the issue of process integration. This paper proposes an energy-oriented design environment that both accommodates the Australian context and provides interactive and iterative information exchanges that facilitate feedback between domains. It then presents the structure for DEEPA, an openly customisable system that couples parametric modelling and energy simulation software as a means of developing a decision support tool to allow designers to rapidly and flexibly assess the performance of early design alternatives. Finally, it discusses the benefits of developing a dynamic and concurrent performance evaluation process that parallels the characteristics and relationships of the design process.

Closing the loop of design and analysis : Parametric modelling tools for early decision support

There is a growing need for parametric design software that communicates building performance feedback in early architectural exploration to support decision-making. This paper examines how the circuit of design and analysis process can be closed to provide active and concurrent feedback between architecture and services engineering domains. It presents the structure for an openly customisable design system that couples parametric modelling and energy analysis software to allow designers to assess the performance of early design iterations quickly. Finally, it discusses how user interactions with the system foster information exchanges that facilitate the sharing of design intelligence across disciplines.