Research Centres and Laboratories

 

The Division hosts two research centres :

- Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM)
- Centre for Modelling and Control of Complex Systems (CMCCS)

Laboratories:

There are five key groups of research activities:

1. Control systems technologies

  • Flight control/ aerospace/ aviation
  • Process/ energy/environmental
  • Real-time/ embedded systems

2. Robotics

  • Outdoor autonomous vehicles systems
  • Underwater/manipulators/ indoor robotics

3. Biomedical

  • Medical imaging
  • Biomedical signals
  • Drug delivery control
  • Bioinformatics

4. Sensor network

5. Computational intelligence

Besides the research activities, the laboratories have also been used to support the following teaching activities:

1. First year experiments
2. Third year control experiments
3. Final year biomedical design
4. Final year control engineering design

The laboratories are organized into two clusters, namely cluster4.1 and cluster4.2. They are administered by two supervisors, two deputy supervisors and laboratory managers.

Laboratory Activities
1 Autonomous Robotics Research Lab
Location: S2-B6a-01
Tel: 6790 4053
This laboratory supports R&D in advanced sensing, control and navigation technologies for applications in land vehicles, smart vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), mobile robots and behavior-based robotics. Research topics include simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM and CML), perception, sensing and sensor fusion, data association, and tracking, system integration for intelligent autonomous systems, object and component based software architectures for intelligent systems.
2 Intelligent Robotics Lab
Location: S2.1-B4-01
Tel: 6790 6349 / 6350
The research in this laboratory focuses on indoor, marine robotics. For marine robotics, research work is conducted to develop localization and mapping techniques for single and multiple Autonomous Underwater and surface Vehicles (AUVs) with the use of their on-board multiple sensors. Research is also conducted to design algorithms which can select suitable features from sonar, lidar as well as vision and localize the AUVs with respect to these features. The research for indoor robotics includes control and navigation of mobile robots, and development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and neural interfaces devices based on bio-signals (EEG, EOG and EMG) to aid people with limited peripheral mobility.
3 Biomedical Electronics Lab
Location: S1-B4b-06
Tel: 6790 6532
This laboratory supports R&D work in Biomedical Engineering. Its programs are of multidisciplinary nature combining medical and biological science, information technology and processing, and system methods for modeling, recognition and control. Its projects and activities extend to both theoretical studies and practical developments in health care areas, currently including medical imaging such as CT imaging and ultrasound imaging, bioelectrical signal analysis and processing, recognition and classification in cell informatics, and modeling of neuromuscular conditions. The laboratory is equipped with clinical ultrasound scanners and EEG machines and other medical measurement setups.
4 Computer Vision Laboratory
Location: S1-B4c-14
Tel: 6790 5470 /5475
This laboratory supports R&D in 2D/3D face recognition, visual surveillance, human activity recognition, gait recognition and general tracking applications. The projects investigate methodologies for tracking small targets against a cluttered, moving background; the recognition of singular human activities; intelligent methods of detecting and segmenting humans in video sequences, tracking and analyzing the temporal behavior and activity of detected targets; the recognition of free-forming objects which are represented by their 3D shape, rather than their 2D intensity images.
5 Sensor Network Laboratory
Location: S1-B4c-14
Tel: 6790 4242
This laboratory supports R&D work in networked control systems, collaborative information processing over sensor networks, and cooperative control. The research in sensor networking covers the areas of sensor management for enegry efficiency and system performance, localization of multiple sources, distributed target tracking, information-constrained estimation and control, multi-agent systems, body sensor network for healthcare applications, and wireless sensor networks for indoor air quality monitoring.
8 Aerospace Electronics Laboratory
Location: S1-B4b-04
Tel: 6790 6289

This laboratory supports R&D work in the areas of satellite development. It supports the satellite research centre in particular the student projects under the undergraduate satellite program. It focuses on the development of various subsystems of a nano-satellite VELOX-I. VELOX-I is a satellite pair comprising of a pico-satellite and a nano-satellite. The missions of VELOX-I includes remote sensing, MEMS based ADCS system, inter-satellite communication, satellite constellation and a scientific payload.

9 Control Engineering Laboratory
Location: S1-B4a-02
Tel: 6790 4785
This laboratory supports teaching and R&D in real time embedded control systems. The emphasis is on the development and implementation of advanced control and observer techniques for machines and drive systems, wireless sensor network application, RFID, reliable flight control and simulation etc. There are a number of experimental setups for rotational and linear motion control systems, wireless sensor network, active RFID systems. In addition, small model air vehicles have also been built and tested for actual flight. These simulation and model air vehicles support the R&D activities for both undergraduate and post graduate students.
8 Process Instrumentation Laboratory
Location: S2.2-B4-03
Tel: 6790 6540
This laboratory supports R&D works for three areas: 1) practical modeling and control methods for process industries; 2) energy efficiency for building and automobile air-conditioning systems; and 3) environmental process instrumentation and control. The laboratory has built various pilot plants, such as: Central HVAC process, ejector air-conditioning system, refrigeration cycle, pasteurization process, etc, to support these R&D activities for both undergraduate and post graduate students.
9 Machine Learning Research Laboratory
Location: S1-B4c-10
Tel: 67904220
Machine learning lab supports research activities of postgraduate and undergraduate students in the following areas: artificial neural networks, evolutionary computation, swarm optimization, fuzzy systems, extreme learning machines, pattern recognition and their practical applications in numerous and diverse fields.