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Research and Technology Development
I guess it'd be fair to say that I've been drawn to this space (and way of being) since quite an early age. My earliest recollections are of dismantling my favourite tape recorder when I was around three, and (thankfully) being able to put it back together in working order when I was around four.
In 1991, I entered a state-level science competition and made it into the finals with a paper entitled “The Absorption and Refraction of VHF Radio Waves through Various Materials” which, for better or for worse (coming as it did before I knew anything about experimental design), seems to have been lost to posterity. Around the same time, I started working in the largest of my town's electronic repair shops, something I did over my summer breaks until a couple of years into university.
In the process of filling out my university application, I discovered that instead of 'just' enrolling in a Bachelor of Science degree to major in Physics, I could actually do a Science-Engineering double degree instead, and I ended up majoring in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics and Electronic Engineering. And it was during this time that I spent two summer holidays working as a 'Vacation Scholar' for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), the Government R&D organisation I would end up working for for some 13 years.
Research Interests
After an informal 'start' in Physics (up to and including doing a vacation project looking at and modelling the effects of polarisation rotation on long-range, high frequency radar systems), my research interests moved more in the directions of systems design and engineering and, to a lesser extent, Cognitive Science, an area in which I ended up doing some post-graduate research; this interest also inspired my Science Honours project in Artificial Natural Language Processing) — see below for a list of my more academic publications.
Since moving to Germany, I've added Mycology, Soil Microbiology, Biochemistry and Resonance and Energy Conversion techniques to the list, albeit it an informal / self-taught capacity. So, although I think that my personal engineering and biology 'labs' are already at least somewhat respectable, research-wise, I would have to say that I am still in the broader 'literature survey' stage of my studies in these areas.
Technology and Prototype Development
As I am still in the process of documenting my more recent projects, this section is far from complete; however, it should still provide an insight into some of the things I have been prototyping and developing over the past couple of years.
| ↓ Category | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ATE, Signal Generator | SGM-125-2 Tracking Generator ATE Module | Custom dual-channel 12.5MHz Signal Generator module with limited tracking functionality and an SCPI-like command interface |
| ATE, I/O | IOM-8-4 Basic I/O ATE Module | Custom simple, multi-channel digital and analogue I/O module with an SCPI-like command interface |
| ATE | ATE Eurocard Mainframe | Custom Mainframe supporting up to eight Eurocard-based ATE Modules and an integrated USB-to-TTL-UART multi-master control bus |
| ATE, I/O | CM-Mini Automatic Cable Mapper | Custom 2-port Automatic Cable Mapper |
| ATE, Power | DCL-100 Programmable DC Load Module | Custom simple 0 – 10A Programmable DC Load module with an SCPI-like command interface |
| Environmental | Flow-Hood with CAMFIL HEPA Filter | Comprising a 762x610x292 mm CAMFIL H13 HEPA Filter and a 1950 m^3/hr centrifugal fan |
| Interface, ATE | TTL-UART Multi-Master Bus | TTL UART Multi-Master Bus for Automatic Test Equipment Modules |
| Interface | DIN Rail Control and Instrumentation Bus | Control and Instrumentation Bus for DIN Rail-based systems |
| Microscope | RPi Zero-based USB Microscope Camera | Custom Raspberry Pi-based USB Microscope Camera |
| Processing, Glassware | Vacuum Evaporator and Distiller | Custom (partial-)vacuum-based evaporator for the concentration of extractions and the recovery of solvents |
And while they are not things I have designed or built myself, the equipment that comprise my Engineering and nascent Biology and Chemistry labs should also give an indication of the depth of my interests and plans.
Publications
Dreisiger P., Liu W., MacNish C. (2012) Estimating Conceptual Similarities Using Distributed Representations and Extended Backpropagation. In: Cao L., Yu P. (eds) Behavior Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2969-1_8 [Download the PDF]
Dreisiger, Peter and While, Lyndon (eds). Proceedings of the 17th School of Computer Science & Software Engineering Research Conference. Yanchep, WA, 2009. [Download the PDF]
Dreisiger, Peter. Cognitive Approaches to Learning in a Hybrid Semantic Network: An Examination of Localist and Dual Localist-Distributed Representations and their Role in Concept Formation. Unpublished PhD Research proposal, School of Computer Science & Software Engineering, The University of Western Australia, 2008. [Download the PDF]
Dreisiger, Peter. Artificial Working Memory: A Psychological Approach. In Proceedings of the 16th School of Computer Science & Software Engineering Research Conference, pages 14–23, Yanchep, WA, 2008. [Download the PDF]
Dreisiger, Peter. A Statistical Measure of Text Similarity. Unpublished Honours thesis, Department of Computer Science, The University of Western Australia, 1997. [Download the PDF]
Dreisiger, Peter. Effects of Polarisation Fading upon the Performance of Skywave Radars. Unpublished Technical Report, High Frequency Radar Division, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, 1997. [Download the PDF]
(See this for an explanation of why these papers were published by Peter Dreisiger instead of Metz.)