Big Data Management, Analytics & Systems

Analysing large data sets to help our industry partners improve management systems and enhance information security

Technology is driving our world towards an interconnected future, giving people and organisations greater access to store, document and share information. User friendly information management systems, equipped with strong security measures are crucial in today’s digital world.

Our team of multi-disciplinary experts, led by Associate Professor Zhen He, has worked on projects that analyse a wide range of data sets to explore new ways of acquiring information. This enables us to work with researchers and organisations to manage data more effectively and overcome issues such as data security and privacy.

By collaborating with industry leaders, our team can push the capabilities of existing technologies used to analyse information and suggest new approaches. For example, using mobile devices to improve crowd tracking and traffic management and using cloud-based computer software to help organisations minimise energy usage.

Our industry partnerships with organisations like the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), and our location within the La Trobe Innovation Hub give the team access to state-of-the-art resources for our research. We have also secured over $4 million in grant funding in the last five years to further support our work.

Projects

Lead researcher - Associate Professor Zhen He

About - Wheat farmers spend many hours completing routine health checks on their wheat crops. A single batch of wheat can take up to 40 minutes to properly analyse the condition of the grain.

Our team partnered with the Australian National University (ANU) to help wheat farmers save time and energy by using advanced technology to carry out these checks. We developed and trained an artificial intelligence (AI) system with a deep learning algorithm that lets farmers receive a detailed analysis of a single grain leaf in a short time.

The process involves taking detailed photos of the wheat grain using a specialised camera that captures a wider range of colours than a standard device. This allows farmers to closely monitor the health and condition of the wheat.

We also developed a website that automatically predicts the condition of the wheat after farmers upload their plant measurements. This system builds a global network of information that farmers can share with each other to find the best method of ensuring their wheat stays healthy on their farms.

Partner - Australian National University

Lead researcher Dr Zhen He

About – Our team worked with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Diving Australia to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system that helps divers monitor their workload while training. We created an AI computer vision-based system that automatically detects and classifies each dive according to AIS standards.

We successfully overcame the challenge of developing a system that simultaneously monitors several diving boards using a single camera. Now a production system for diving monitoring is being used commercially based on the design of the AI system our team created.

Partners Australian Institute of Sport and Diving Australia

Lead researchersDr Kayes Kayes and Professor Phoebe Chen

About – Companies around the world are searching for ways to reduce energy usage. This is part of the global initiative to reach new carbon neutral milestones.

Our team has the solution with our cloud-based software tool that was created in partnership with Specialised Lighting Solutions. This prototype software tool helps organisations collect and analyse data to develop efficient strategies in minimising energy consumption.

We believe the software provides organisations with accurate information to develop energy minimisation and management strategies based on the five-year data set we collected from seven buildings at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Delhi) campus in India. The system was also trialed at the La Trobe Bundoora campus, where it was used to collect data on energy usage

Partner Specialised Lighting Solutions

Lead researcherDr Kiki Adhinugraha

About – Our team of multi-disciplinary experts partnered with Monash Health and Monash Fit to develop an interactive map showing the areas in Melbourne an ambulance can reach within their 15-minute emergency response time.

We used a Travel Time Voronoi Diagram model to display each ambulance station and range of areas emergency services can reach using speed limits and traffic lights to provide an accurate estimation.

This project has been accepted in the Journal of Information Process and Management and the interactive model can be accessed here.

Partners Monash Health and Monash FIT

Lead researcher Dr Zhen He

About – Our team together with the La Trobe Alcohol Research Centre developed a deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) system that classifies images with alcoholic content. The system can also be paired with various applications in detecting the amount of alcoholic content a person is exposed to in their everyday lives.

We believe our system also provides industry partners the opportunity to block alcoholic content from being displayed to people who are vulnerable and improve public safety.

Partner Centre for Alcohol Policy Research

Lead researcherDr Kayes Kayes

About – Our team in collaboration Westpac Banking Corporation and Federation University aims to develop innovative solutions from a multi-dimensional perspective in tackling the problem of spam emails. We plan on evaluating a method using feature extraction and innovative machine learning techniques to classify emails into scams, malware scam, phishing and other categories.

The method our team is using have been commonly used to identify and reveal distinct structural characteristics commonly found from emails in various categories.

Our team plans to use the outcomes of this project to help customers by increasing their protection from financial fraud and aid our banking industry partners to strengthen their security systems improving customer trust in preventing future cyber-attacks.

Partners Westpac and Federation University

Our researchers

Associate Professor Zhen He – Associate Professor in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Kiki Adhinugraha – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Associate Professor Jinli Cao – Associate Professor in Computer Science and Information Technology

Professor Phoebe Chen – Professor in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Peng Cheng – Senior Lecturer in Networking – Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Lianhua Chi – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Kayes Kayes – Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Xia Li – University Statistics Consultant in Research and Infrastructure

Mr Syed Mahbub – Associate Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Associate Professor Abdun Mahmood – Associate Professor in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Eric Pardede – Associate Dean in Learn and Teaching for the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Professor Wenny Rahayu – Dean of School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Dr Rajalakshmi Rajasekaran – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Nasser Sabar – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Professor Chris Stoltz AM – Professor of Practice in Engineering

Dr Alex Tomy – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Torab Torabi – Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Mr Erik van Vulpen – Deputy Director of the Centre for Technology Infusion

Dr Gokhan Yilmaz – Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering

Associate Professor Dennis Deng – Associate Professor in Electronics Engineering

Professor Aniruddha Desai – Research Professor and Director of the Centre for Technology Infusion

Dr Shuo Ding – Team Leader of Intelligent Transport Systems at CTI

Dr David Farchione – Lecturer in Mathematics and Statistics

Dr Mumtaz Hussain – Senior Lecturer in Mathematics & Statistics

Professor Marcel Jackson – Associate Dean of Research and Industry Engagement for the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Associate Professor Paul Kabaila – Associate Professor in Statistics

Associate Professor Joel Miller – Associate Professor in Mathematics and Statistics

Dr Jabed Morshed Chowdhury – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Aiden Nibali – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Associate Professor Andriy Olenko – Associate Professor in Statistics

Dr Vipul Patel – Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering

Professor Luke Prendergast – Deputy Dean-Associate Dean of Domestic Partnerships for the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences

Dr Richard Skarbez – Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Associate Professor Ben Soh – Associate Professor in Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Long Truong – Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering

Dr Prakash Veeraraghavan –Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

Dr Song Wang – Senior Lecturer in Electronics Engineering

Professor Wei Xiang – CISCO Chair of AI and Internet of Things

Contact us

Our team of experts are always open for opportunities to work with industry leaders who share a similar vision for our digital future.

If you are interested in working with us, contact Associate Professor Zhen He via email or call +61 3 9479 3036 for more information.