Doctor of Philosophy (SECTE)

Overview

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidates undertake in-depth research in order to make an original and significant contribution to the body of knowledge in their chosen studies.  This qualification can lead to or enhance an academic career and is highly regarded by private and public sector employers.

Entry Requirements/Assumed Knowledge

A four-year Honours Bachelor of Engineering degree (minimum Class II, Division 2 or higher); or a Master of Engineering Studies (at the required level); or a Master of Engineering – Research, in one of the following areas: Computer, Electrical, Electronic or Telecommunications Engineering; or equivalent.
The School normally requires students to register initially for the Masters by Research program.  Subject to satisfactory progress, including the presentation of a report and seminar, a student’s candidature may be transferred to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) after one year, without penalty.

Course Requirements

This program is by 100% thesis.  Students may be required to attend lectures in relevant topics from time to time throughout the program.
All new students enrolling in a research degree are expected to prepare and defend a research proposal early in their candidature.  Normally, the degree will be completed in not less than four, and not more than eight, academic sessions of full-time study, or six to 16 sessions of part-time study.

Current Research Areas 

The following areas of research are available to candidates undertaking the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Engineering - Research:

Intelligent Mechatronics:  Automation

• Advanced control systems
• Control networks
• Haptic rendering
• Machine tool design
• Precision position and speed control
• Robotics and sensors
• Telerobotics
• Virtual manipulation

Intelligent Mechatronics:  Applications

• Arc welding control
• Medical image processing
• Renewable energy sources
• Superconducting magnetic energy storage
• Virtual surgery

Power:  Quality and Reliability

• Conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI)
• Data mining
• Distribution system reliability
• Harmonic management
• Power electronics and drives
• Power quality monitoring and data analysis
• Power quality indices and reporting
• Standardization
• Voltage fluctuations and flicker

Telecommunications:  Digital Signal Processing

• Adaptive filtering
• Blind signal processing
• Coding for error-prone channels
• Computational auditory scene analysis
• Data mining
• Filter banks and wavelets
• Image and video segmentation, compression and retrieval
• Internet access technologies (xDSL)
• Low-rate speech coding
• Multirate signal processing
• Wideband speech/audio coding
• 3D Audio objects and environments

Telecommunications:  Network Service

• Internet and WWW services
• Internet telephony
• Multimedia databases
• Network games
• Video on demand
• Virtual reality

Telecommunications:  Photonics

• Bragg grating sensing system
• Fibre Bragg grating design and writing
• FBG devices for optical communication systems
• Optical fibre

Telecommunications:  Switched Networks

• Active networks
• Ad hoc multi-hop networking
• Closed loop control in packet networks
• Location aware networking
• Network dimensioning
• Network management
• Network traffic modelling and control
• Wireless internet protocols

Telecommunications:  Wireless Communications

• Code division multiple access systems
• Microwave propagation and channel modelling
• Mobile ad hoc networks
• Sequence design
• Smart antennas
• Space-time coding
• Ultra wideband communications

Note: Not all areas are available for research at all levels, nor at all times.