People

What we do.

Publications, ftp sites, links ....

Who to contact.

 

	A/Prof. David C. O'Carroll	Electrophysiological recordings from insect neurons that detect and track moving targets and features. Biomimetic modeling/algorithm development based on insect visual neurobiology. Neuromorphic analog VLSI.
	A/Prof. Derek Abbott	Artificial insect vision using neuron-MOS, VLSI circuit techniques. Applications of stochastic resonance. Neural models in the presence of noise. Millimetre-wave detection.
	Emeritus Prof. R.E. Bogner	Sensor signal processing, pattern recognition (including adaptive pattern recognition), data fusion and visual sensing.  Principles of artificial and real neural networks. Prof. Bogner founded the group back in 1991.
	Dr. Said Al-Sarawi	Analog VLSI design using standard CMOS and GaAs technologies, analog design techniques using neuron-MOS (vMOS) transistors. Neuromorphic circuits applicable to insect vision.
	Dr. Karin Nordstrom	Electrophysiology and morphology of neurons in the visual system of insects, primarily of neurons for moving target and motion detection in flies and dragonflies.

Members of both the Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBME) and Centre for High Performance Integrated & Technologies and Systems (CHiPTec) are part of the Adelaide Insect Vision Group. This multidisciplinary teamwork overlaps the disciplines of these two centres of excellence.

Postgraduate Bugs

Peter Celinski (Compact VLSI circuits for smart sensors)

Leonard Hall (Millimetre-wave front-end detection)

Leo Lee (Insect vision chip VLSI design)

Mark McDonnell (Insect neural model stochastic signal processing)

Sreeja Rajesh (Insect vision algorithms)

Andrew Straw (Insect neural physiology)

Eng Mah (Analog circuits for motion detectors)

 

Alumni Postgrad Bugs

Thong Nguyen, got his PhD and is now at DSTO, Australia

Andre Yakovleff, got his PhD and is now at DSTO, Australia

Greg Harmer, got his PhD and is now at Sensor Research Development (SRD), Maine, USA

Ali Moini, got his PhD and was at Intelligent pixels, Perth, Australia, but is now at Silverbrook, Sydney.

Ook Kim from Seoul National University. Visitor in 1992-1993. Now at Silicon Image, Sunnyvale.

Gyudong Kim (Chilly) from Seoul National University. Visitor in 1994. Now at Silicon Image, Sunnyvale.

Andrew Blanksby, got his PhD and was working at Lucent, but is now at Gnome Electronicxs P/L, Adelaide.

Richard Beare, got his PhD and is now working at the CMIS group at CSIRO in Sydney 

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Alumni Big Bugs

Kamran Eshraghian is now at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

Salim Bouzerdoum is now at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

Ali Moini is now at Intelligent Pixels, Perth, Australia

Salim Bouzerdoum is now at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia

Roger DuBois

Tamath Rainsford

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A brief description of what we are doing

This program is a world-first in that it seeks to combine a number of important areas:

• insect neurophysiological experiments to form accurate models,
• algorithm development
• hardware implementation of algorithms (primarily in analog VLSI)
• study of stochastic resonance to improve neural models,
• algorithm extension to colour vision to exploit redundancy/error checking
• implementation with millimetre-wave front end for all-weather outdoor performance.

A major focus of our present work is the task of motion detection, for analysis of optic flow and estimation of the speed of moving targets and features. We have designed and implemented a series of analog VLSI chips based on an insect-inspired motion detection algorithm, the template model. Since the first chip (Bugeye I in 1992), we have designed several other chips, namely, Bugeye II, Bugeye III-1, Bugeye III-2, Bugeye IV, MNCSI (the first full implementation of shunting inhibition), and Bugeye V. We have used various processes from 2.0 to 0.8u for fabrication, all from MOSIS (simply because it is the best hassle free fabrication service, though a bit more expensive than some other options). In collaboration with Tanner Research Inc. in the USA, we are now developing new implementations based on an adaptive elaborated Reichardt model for a correlation-based motion detector, using the silicon on sapphire (SOS) process.

Our funding sources: Australian Research Council (ARC), Tanner Research Inc., US Airforce Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund, University of Adelaide, Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

Our ftp server with some of our papers on line

Links to other analog VLSI groups

The popular "Vision chips" home page.

CHIPLOGO, a simple program for generating VLSI logos

An old family photo of most of the bugeye people

Contact Information