The uGPS Rapid Mapper™ is a laser system mounted on a mining vehicle which acquires 3D images of tunnels in underground mines. Currently, engineers use the images for mine design and operations. This research project will create two new applications for the images acquired by the system: mapping of the geology of the tunnel walls (identifying different rock types, minerals veins and fractures) and making a tally of man-made objects (such as rock bolts, pipes and ventilation tubes).

Conceptual structural design for the safety of buildings in Canada is inherently prescriptive and an unsuitable quantifier for accurate estimation of life safety. Design for fire in Canada is currently done using a standardized method that assumes that a fire will be contained within the room it started. Recent studies have developed a new methodology, travelling fire, which better approximates the behavior of fire within large areas.

The NSERC Strategic Network for Smart Applications on Virtual Infrastructures is a five-year partnership between Canadian industry, universities, researchers, research and education (R&E) networks, and high performance computing centres to investigate the design of future application platforms that will deliver software applications of greater capability and intelligence.

Work conducted during this project will involve the extension and further development of existing methods for detailed measurement and subsequent modelling of radiowave propagation characteristics in indoor environments at extremely high frequencies. Results will enable the determination of the powers, time delays, and angles of arrival of waves incident upon a receive antenna over direct, reflected, and diffracted paths between a transmit antenna and a receive antenna.

When light interacts with matter, different effects may take place, depending on the particular characteristics of both light and matter. The result of this interaction, typically a quantitative change in the characteristics of the light (i.e., intensity, wavelength, phase), can be used to measure the presence of a particular specimen of interest. Specifically, Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) has demonstrated to be able to detect accurately very low concentrations of chemical species.

Scintrex Trace Corp. is a company that designs and manufactures systems that detect trace amounts of explosives, narcotics, and other chemicals. Due to upcoming changes to Canadian drug laws, they want to develop a new system that can better detect THC in oral fluid for roadside impairment testing. Scintrex is partnering with Professor Jeffrey Smith at Carleton University, and expert in the field of chemical spectroscopy, to develop a new trace detection system.

Over the past 10 years, the commercial aircraft market has seen almost a tripling in the number of players while business aircraft manufacturers around the world have filled or narrowed segment gaps with clean sheet or major derivative products. In this new reality, product differentiation is becoming extremely challenging and gaining a distinct advantage in aircraft performance, through weight in particular, is paramount. Aircrafts are composed of highly complex systems and their design puts great strain on engineers’ creativity.

"Much of life is online, so online security is critical. While many aspects of security are infrastructural, users must make key decisions. In particular, users must decide which websites to trust and which to avoid. How can users know if a website is truly what it claims to be? This is a pivotal issue.

Icebergs off the East Coast of Canada pose a risk to shipping and offshore activities including offshore oil and gas platforms. All Canadians have an interest in understanding these risks and improving safety for individuals while safeguarding wildlife and the natural environment. Recently very large ice islands have been observed which could pose unique threats. A new collaborative research project will use the latest field data to compare and improve competing models which predict where icebergs and ice islands may drift under changing weather and ocean conditions.