A software shield that prevents increasingly common cyber security attacks, a power line default detector that could help prevent fires and speed up repairs and a project that is developing a natural response to dealing with diabetes are amongst the high quality award winners in today’s Curtin University’s 2017 Curtinnovation Awards.
The prize for the overall winner has been presented to the developers of a defensive software called the Probability Engine for Identifying Malicious Activity (PEMIA), which was developed by Curtin University researchers. The innovative programme works to prevent cyber-attacks by using powerful statistical techniques to identify and filter out the malicious traffic while keeping the online service running.
PMEIA was amongst a string of significant projects that have the potential to significantly improve all our lives.
Other winners included:
- A Power Line Fault Detection system that took out the Science and Engineering category.
- The Health Sciences category was taken out by a project examining the extraction of anti-diabetic from lupins.
- A project investigating next generation green refrigerants was took out the Curtin Business School category
- The Humanities category was awarded to a project that analyse human emotions via a machine.
- A National Schools Improvement Program took out the Innovation in Education category
Developed by researchers from Curtin University working in partnership Western Power, the new system capable of rapidly identifying and locating high impedance faults in powerlines. This will allow rapid response to electrical failures that could lead to bushfires, and further damage to power networks and property.
Chemical engineers at Curtin University have developed a new extraction process for producing high purity gamma-conglutin, a naturally occurring protein derived from lupins that has been shown to be effective in lowering blood glucose. This finding has potential as a nutraceutical or food supplement for diabetics or managing ‘pre-diabetes’.
For this project Curtin MBA graduate and entrepreneur Greg Macham is working with a research team from Curtin’s School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering to commercialise a gas agent that can be added to carbon dioxide to improve its effective temperature range, offering a safer, greener and more cost-efficient refrigerant gas, which provides a potential alternative for commercial cooling systems and the massive natural gas sector.
The UX-Machine is an online platform that can assist marketing and product design professionals to understand the emotions felt by their customer. The technology can use biofeedback data, including changes in heart rate, muscle tension and skin movement, produced by an almost limitless array of sensors.
The National Schools Improvement Program, which has been developed based on many years of research in improving the performance of primary and secondary schools in Australia, is a practical, evidence-based programme of measurement tools and processes, made-up of a series of online surveys, offer an easier way for school leaders and teachers to introduce cultural change that allows each student to achieve their best.
The Curtinnovation Awards are part of Curtin University’s Research and Innovation Week 2017, and they celebrate the University’s efforts to turn research outcomes into successful new products and services.
Curtin University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Chris Moran congratulated the award winners for their commitment to solving real-world problems with innovations backed by comprehensive research.
“The overall winner of the 2017 Curtinnovation Awards is a team of experts who have applied their technical expertise to address the real and ever-growing threat of cyber security attacks, which can cause significant economic and reputational damage to organisations,” Professor Moran said.
“The calibre of winners at this year’s Curtinnovation Awards is testament to the quality of research being conducted at Curtin University, which has a successful history of developing innovative products that deliver solutions and improvements for industry.”
Professor Moran said this year’s awards marked a particularly special occasion as the University celebrated ‘50 Years of Innovation’, recognising its combined history with the WA Institute of Technology since 1967.
