SMART INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY AN INTERNATIONAL LEADER IN APPLIED INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH
SMART INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY The University of Wollongong is a leader in applied infrastructure policy, planning and delivery. UOW’s SMART Infrastructure Facility is one of the largest research institutions in the world dedicated to helping governments and businesses better plan for the future. When the $62 million SMART building opened in 2011 as Australia’s first multidisciplinary applied infrastructure research and training facility, it represented a commitment by the Australian and NSW Governments to apply a more scientific approach to infrastructure planning. Since opening, SMART has built an international profile working with government agencies in Australia and around the world, and has created a strong network of global collaborators developing key international partnerships and collaborations addressing some of the big challenges in infrastructure. SMART also has an international network of Honorary and Visiting Professors.
SMART is a founding member of the International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructure with University College London, the University of Oxford, Delft University of Technology and Virginia Tech, and hosted the inaugural conference in 2013. Since then the symposia series has gone on to be delivered in Vienna, Austria (2014) and Washington, USA (2015) SMART contributes to infrastructure planning in Australia through truly independent research coupled with deep academic rigour to ensure policy makers and industry receives high quality and timely advice on major projects. The dedicated team of researchers tackle infrastructure issues from an integrated and multi- disciplinary perspective, with a focus on how infrastructure and social behaviour intersect to ensure more liveable cities and regions.
Prof Paul Wellings CBE Vice Chancellor, University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong has a proud history of providing strong research that has national and international significance. SMART builds on the research of the Universities faculties and has developed strong collaborative partnerships with world leading organisations in the infrastructure research area.
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Prof. Pascal Perez The world is changing, not only because of technology and climate change, but also the impact of an ageing population. This means that the way we plan and manage infrastructure will also need to change. Playing an integral part in extending the University’s global reputation as a compelling intellectual partner in the
development of infrastructure in Australia and abroad, SMART brings together experts from fields such as transport, water, energy, economics and modelling and simulation. SMART provides a state-of-the-art facility to support this important research addressing the challenges of infrastructure planning and management both now and into the future.
IMPACT 90+
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Scientific publications
Projects completed
Government submissions
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Global partners
National partners
Seminars
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80+
Conferences papers
Major events hosted
Media articles
EXECUTIVE TEAM Andrew McCusker, Director Rail Logistics Appointed as SMART’s inaugural Director of Rail Logistics in 2011, Andrew has been supporting the NSW government on rail strategy for Sydney and NSW and is appointed to a number of committees concerned with the strategy and execution of rail futures in NSW. Prior to joining SMART, Andrew was the Operations Director for Hong Kong MTR Corporation, one of the world’s leading railway companies renowned for leading edge customer service and performance in passenger rail.
Tania Brown, Chief Operating Officer Tania is responsible for the operations of SMART’s $62 million Facility alongside managing stakeholder relations and attracting investment to the Facility. Prior to joining SMART, Tania spent 13 years working for State and Federal Governments.
RESEARCH ORGANISATION SMART’s commissioned research program ranges from big data on cities, economic analysis and scenario planning tools for land use and transport. These demonstrate how infrastructure can be better designed, delivered and managed to meet the changing needs of the society over the long term. Our capability is distributed across seven research groups. These various research groups contribute, whenever relevant, to specific commissioned research projects and achieve pre-identified academic KPIs (publications, HDR students and competitive research grants). Commissioned research projects and consultancies contribute to the sustainability of the SMART Infrastructure Facility through revenue, impact and strategic partnerships.
Advanced Geomatics for Regional and Urban Planning
Computational Intelligence for Optimal Decision and Operation
Geo-social Intelligence for Urban Resilience and Liveability
Economics and Governance
Computer Simulation for Sustainable Transport Systems
Social Simulation for Demographic Analysis and Transitions
Applying System of Systems Methodologies
RESEARCH PROJECTS
PETAJAKARTA.ORG PetaJakarta.org is a crowd-sourcing urban data collection project co-ordinated by the SMART Infrastructure Facility at the University of Wollongong, in conjunction with the Jakarta Emergency Management Agency (BPBD DKI Jakarta) and Twitter, Inc. A worldfirst collaboration between a research institute, government agency and private enterprise, the PetaJakarta.org platform harnesses the power of social media to gather, sort, and display information about flooding for Jakarta residents and governmental agencies in real time. The project channels social media use to address an urgent problem through data gathering and analysis. The project collects critical data about flooding and water infrastructure from existing social media networks and invites users to repost their messages with geo-location data to a web-based community map. PetaJakarta.org will radically change real-time data collection and feedback for flood monitoring in one of the most precarious delta cities of Southeast Asia. With millions of Twitter users in Jakarta Petajakarta.org taps into the existing network, while also connecting to community initiatives which often occur offline. By deploying the project simultaneously through software for social media filtering and feedback, and through grassroots organizations and networks, we can harness the real potential of social media by enabling critical information to be gathered and connected to the efforts of both citizen-led and government initiatives.
PetaJakarta.org runs off the open source software CogniCity an Applied GeoSocial Intelligence Framework developed by the SMART Infrastructure Facility - which allows situational information to be collected and disseminated by community members through their location-enabled mobile devices, and optimises infrastructure surveys and asset management for governmental actors. Equipped with scalable mapping technology for mobile devices and a critical alert service, this free and open source software enables the communication of two-way, time-critical information to and from individuals and government agencies.
PROJECT LEAD Dr Tomas Holderness and Dr Etienne Turpin
RESEARCH PROJECTS
SHAPING THE SYDNEY OF TOMORROW
CONSTRAINT MODELLING OF RAILWAY SYSTEM
Transport for NSW and the SMART Infrastructure Facility have collaborated on developing an interactive, visually intuitive and highly flexible simulation platform to support transport and urban planning in Sydney. In the resulting agent based model “TransMob”, simulation agents represent individuals and households living in an urban area. The heterogeneity of this synthetic population is represented in terms of demographic characteristics, environmental perceptions (e.g. traffic congestions, number of available facilities of various types available per person, availability and affordability of housing stocks) and decision making behaviours. Inherently, the simulated population will evolve over time facilitating the interactions between dynamics of residential relocation of households, transportation behaviours and population growth. Thanks to this feature, the model can be used for exploring long-term (e.g. 20 year time horizon) consequences of various transport and land use planning scenarios.
SMART has developed a simulation freight model (“RailNet”) to provide the Port Kembla Port Corporation and Collaborating Partner Organisations with a tool to model the NSW rail network serving the Port of Port Kembla. The model will identify any additional freight paths available in the rail network leading to the port after all the passenger trains are also placed in the network. In addition, the introduced freight paths had to be scheduled to run with minimal dwelling/staging, and synchronise with Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) operations. The proposed objective is to maximise the freight throughput allowing for predetermined and ad hoc network availability.
The simulation workflow includes an agent-based model (RePAST) and a micro-simulation traffic model (TRANSIMS). In order to view the outputs, a YellowFin based platform is included for the visual interface.
The model was calibrated so that it can accommodate dynamic system changes that result from changed freight operating parameters, other operators and RailCorp. The model provides the Port Kembla Port Corporation, as well as users of the rail network, the ability to quantify the capacity of the rail network to provide sufficient access to the port, which was imperative before any commitment of huge capital expenditures for infrastructure upgrades at the port.
The project was funded by Transport for NSW for 3 years (2010-13).
This project was funded by Port Kembla Port Corporation, Port Kembla Coal Terminal, Pacific National and BlueScope for 1 year and was in collaboration with CSIRO and RailCorp.
PROJECT LEAD Dr Nam Huynh
PROJECT LEAD Dr Dr Nam Huynh
VISION ILLAWARRA
CANCER RADIOTHERAPY MODELLING PROJECT
Recognising the need for more integrated approaches to local and regional planning, SMART has developed a next generation model, called ‘Vision Illawarra’, that aims to provide a more transparent and dynamic vision on how the social and economic fabric of the Illawarra could look in the future.
This project aims to develop an integrated approach for radiotherapy service planning that combines future geographical projections of cancer incidence with the placement of new radiotherapy (RT) services designed to maximise patient uptake rates (due to travel distances).
This tool, the first of its kind to be implemented in Australia, will bring together economic, transport and land use planning. Registered subscribers will be able to access this online platform to test how new policies, macro-economic changes or infrastructure upgrades could affect socio-demographic trends, economic growth, transport patterns and local liveability. Vision Illawarra is not only an innovative planning tool but also a vehicle to bring together regional resources through mutualisation of relevant expertise, existing data and available funding. Vision Illawarra will enable all registered users to create or access integrated modelling scenarios in order to examine social, economic, environmental and demographic impacts of regional development opportunities.
PROJECT LEAD Dr Rohan Wickramasuriya
The main objective of this research is to develop a model of demand and supply for RT services based on past and present data and future predictions and develop a systematic tool for the assessment of placement options of new RT services so as to maximise future access to RT treatment. This research study will assess current RT services planning strategy and to evaluate, through modelled population projections and incidences, future planning of radiotherapy services. This will lead to better patient access to RT treatment services and survival; and informed decisions about the government investment concerning the placement of new RT treatment services.
PROJECT LEAD Dr Nagesh Shukla
The SMART Infrastructure Facility at University of Wollongong is one of the largest infrastructure research centres in the world.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Prof Pascal Perez Director +61 4252 8238 pascal_perez@uow.edu.au Ms Tania Brown Chief Operating Officer +61 4298 1431 tania_brown@uow.edu.au Ms Victoria Black Strategic Marketing Manager +61 4221 3433 victoria_black@uow.edu.au
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