The Centre is comprised of two research groups and a number of related development projects:

ANSPAG

The Advanced Network Systems Performance and Applications Group conducts research into emerging network technologies and works with end users to develop and understand applications that will run over those networks.

ANSPAG was formed through the Cooperative Research Centres initiative of the Federal Government and commenced its operations in 1994. The group has established a very significant $2 million Network Testbed which is used extensively both by ANSPAG researchers and by industry developers.

The Group has also been involved in a number of leading application developments including the McIVER and Digital Media Library wide area video on demand trials.

Video Coding Group

The Video Coding Group conducts research into video coding and compression techniques. Researchers from the group have been closely involved in the global MPEG Standards Board since its inception and therefore have very strong skills in the area of MPEG.

The group has been involved in a number of developments including the construction of a very high quality MPEG1 & 2 hardware compression system (with Siemens) and a software based video conferencing system.

The group also operates a professional quality, high volume MPEG compression studio, which is available to the wider industry on a commercial basis.

McIVER

The Multicampus InteractiVe Education Resource is a video on demand system tailored specifically for the tertiary education sector and is used increasingly as a shared system for logistical and copyright control of digital media used in teaching.

Initially used only by Monash University students, McIVER is now spreading to a number of other Universities around Australia.

Digital Media Library

The Digital Media Library is a joint project with Cinemedia and Silicon Graphics and involves the collection of several hundred hours of important Australian screen heritage and making it available as video on demand over wide area networks.

The project has attracted significant international interest and is recognised as one of a handful of leading projects in its field worldwide. The collection is to be made available over a range of commercial networks such as cable modem and large scale access networks such as the AAPT VicOne network and Telstra's Big Pond.

Copyright & Royalties Unit

The Federal Department of Communication and the Arts (DoCA) is actively investigating the challenges of copyright in the digital age and is being proactive in encouraging the industry to address the impact of these new technologies.

They have created a non-technical unit which is addressing the industry practice and legal factors in effectively negotiating copyright for an increasingly digital environment. The aim of the Unit is to produce some accessible and industry focused information which will provide effective and relevant guidance to industry practitioners who feel their may be new commercial opportunities (or challenges) for them in the future.

Radio Propagation Group

The work of this group includes smart antenna design, electromagnetic compatibility, and RF propagation within buildings. The group has consulted on such projects as the Jindalee Over the horizon Radar Network (JORN). Of interest is the Tiger Radar Project for exploring the solar activity induced behaviour of the ionosphere over polar regions and its effect on telecommunication and other electrical and electronic systems.

Optical Fibre Communications Group

Key research activities by this group include work on wave division multiplexing and soliton transmission. It has developed competent simulation and experimental facilities to support its research. The group has strong industry connections and has consulted both in Australia and overseas, particularly on projects in South East Asia.

Signal Processing Group

The group has strong theoretical and practical digital and analog signal processing capabilities. Its work is closely related to the video coding group. Examples of the group's current work include speech recognition for Cochlear implant technology and consulting equalisation schemes for ADSL-like services.

Audio On Demand

CTIE has developed a program to provide lecture audio material online in conjunction with The Monash University Library

Other Projects

There are a constantly changing set of commercial and research projects underway within CTIE, not all of which are open to the public. These range from short term consultancies, or internal research reports, to full blown multiple year product developments and industrial partnerships.

Education

CTIE offers an extensive postgraduate program. If you are interested in pursuing research or coursework leading to a higher degree, application forms and contact details can be obtained from http://www.ecse.monash.edu.au/teaching/postgrad.htm. For specific queries about postgraduate studies in ANSPAG and CTIE, please refer to http://www.anspag.monash.edu.au/edu/postgrad.html.

CTIE also offers many short courses. Information about coming courses is available at http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/ctie_shortcourse.htm. Other leading edge technology courses are run on demand. Information about these is available at http://www.anspag.monash.edu.au/edu/scfi.html.

Management

The Centre is managed by a small executive team, with experienced Project Leaders assigned to each project.

Each project will typically have a management group, which will meet periodically and usually has external representation, normally in the form of the industry partner.