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PolyU receives staunch support from HKATG to advance satellite technologies for navigation and communication

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group (HKATG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month to explore opportunities for collaboration in satellite navigation and communication, satellite remote sensing, payload development and strengthening exchanges among industry, academia and research sectors. Under this collaborative framework, and to promote the development of advanced concepts and technologies such as smart cities and urban air mobility, HKATG will provide PolyU with conventional optical remote sensing and synthetic aperture radar observation data in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. It will also provide low-Earth orbit satellite payload space, payload testing, and low-Earth orbit satellite measurement and control services for research and education purposes. In addition, HKATG has generously donated to PolyU the naming rights of a multispectral optical remote sensing satellite, which is expected to launch in 2024. The total estimated value of this in-kind donation is HK$20 million (including data and equipment). To express its sincere gratitude for HKATG’s generous support, PolyU held an appreciation ceremony yesterday (23 August), attended by Prof. Wing-tak WONG, Deputy President and Provost; Dr Miranda LOU, Executive Vice President; Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation); Prof. DONG Cheng, Associate Vice President (Mainland Research Advancement); Dr Daniel YIP, Non-executive Director, HKATG; Dr Michael HU, Vice President and Technology Strategy Director, HKATG; and interdisciplinary experts from PolyU’s Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics and Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering. These experts specialise in areas relating to satellite applications, control, analysis of remote sensing data, big data and artificial intelligence analysis. Dr Miranda Lou, Executive Vice President said, “As the only university in Hong Kong that has taken part in the Nation’s space missions, PolyU has extensive experience in technological research and development in aerospace technology and satellite navigation. Today’s Ceremony demonstrates the robust partnership between PolyU and HKATG, driven by our shared commitment to making a positive impact on society. HKATG’s generosity will undoubtedly empower our faculty members to further strive for excellence in education and research, nurture future aerospace-related professionals, address societal needs through research innovation, and contribute to the Nation.” Dr Daniel Yip said, “HKATG is pleased to partner with PolyU. Our collaboration will help nurture future talent for the development of new industries and the advancement of aerospace technology in Hong Kong. The Group looks forward to long-standing cooperation with PolyU. Leveraging the University’s extensive pool of research experts and training resources, we will continue to strengthen the talent supply chain and improve product design and quality. This will help power the transformation and upgrading of Hong Kong’s future industries.” To promote the development of smart cities, PolyU has been committed to remote sensing-related research for many years. High-resolution optical satellites can assist remote sensing research projects related to multispectral features including carbon neutrality research, tree health monitoring, land cover classification, marine water quality monitoring and research on urban surface characteristics. The multispectral optical satellite, expected to be launched next year, will be able to provide more frequent and higher resolution satellite data, promoting research and environment-related applications. PolyU researchers will explore using the Golden Bauhinia Constellation low-orbit satellites to enhance navigation services and carry developed navigation payloads in future low-orbit satellites.

The Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaboration.

On August 7, 2023, a delegation of six members, led by Prof. Chih-yung WEN, Head and Chair Professor of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University visited to Beijing Institute of Technology and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for research collaboration with the School of Aerospace Engineering.

AAE PhD Student won Student Paper Competition Award at The 34th International Symposium on Shock Wave

Mr Fan Jianhui, a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Chih-yung WEN and Dr Jiaao HAO, won the Student Paper Competition Award (out of 12 winners in total) at the 34th International Symposium on Shock Wave (ISSW34) held in Daegu, South Korea, from 16-21 July, 2023. The competition provided an exciting opportunity for student authors to showcase their research. Jianhui’s winning paper, entitled "Coexistence of different mechanisms underlying the dynamics of supersonic turbulent flow over a compression ramp," sheds light on the unsteady dynamics of shock-wave/turbulent boundary-layer interaction using dynamic mode decomposition, linear and nonlinear disambiguation optimization, and global stability analysis. The study explores different mechanisms for the dynamics of shock wave/supersonic turbulent boundary layer interactions, including Görtler instability, global instability, and convective instability. By examining the connections between the unsteady motions and the revealed modes, the study confirms the coexistence of these mechanisms in the present flow. This achievement is a testament to the research capability of Jianhui and the excellent guidance provided by Prof. Wen and Dr Hao. Congratulations!

Innovation and Technology Scholarship 2022 Empowers Aviation Engineering Student's Global Learning Journey

We are thrilled to announce that one of our AAE students, Mr LI Kwok Chun, Kuni, has completed his overseas learning experiences, which were supported by the prestigious Innovation and Technology Scholarship 2022. This scholarship, jointly supported and sponsored by the Innovation and Technology Commission and HSBC, and organized by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG), recognizes students who have outstanding academic achievements and a passion for innovation and technology and provides opportunities to widen students’ international and Mainland exposure and gain industry experience.   This scholarship supported Kuni in two overseas attachment experiences, which provided him with international exposure and additional learning opportunities. Kuni's story is a great example of how our students can benefit from participating in international exchange programs. We are proud to support our students in their pursuit of academic and personal growth, and we believe that these experiences will help them develop the skills and knowledge needed to become leaders in the aviation engineering fields.

AAE PhD students shine at the 2023 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS’23)

Led by Prof. Chih-yung WEN, Chair Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, and Head of the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, the research team comprising Ph.D. students Li-yu LO, Bailun JIANG, Wenyu YANG, and Kwai-wa TSE, won the first runner-up award at the 2023 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS’23) held on June 9, 2023, in Warsaw, Poland. This first runner-up award is competed at the simulation stage out of 39 competing teams from 20 countries/cities, including Canada, Greece, Czechia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, and the United State, etc. Only the first five teams were invited proceeding to the final competition, viz. Spain, Canada, South Korea, India, and Hong Kong China. Sponsored by the world-leading IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and IEEE Control System Society, the UAV competition of ICUAS’23 is an international research student competition, collaboratively hosted by Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland, the University of Zagreb Croatia, the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC) and the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Association, Inc. (ICUAS). This UAV competition offers opportunities for research students to test and compare their skills with those of their peers worldwide. The challenges of ICUAS’23 UAV competition in the aerial domain address the problem of precisely estimating the drone position and orientation using only an onboard camera, and the problem of finding AI methods to detect where a defect is in an aerial image stream. In addition, the task benchmark includes the component of online inspection in the competition arena with various objects and obstacles of unknown layouts. The UAV will need to navigate several waypoints inside the GPS-denial arena and report detections of the cracks in the arena. Participants were required to write codes and deploy their solutions in person during the competition day, as the drone hardware, flight settings, and arena were unknown beforehand. ICUAS is a global event that offers opportunities to collaborate, interact and shape the future of unmanned aviation systems. For more information, please visit https://www.uasconferences.com/.

AAE alumnus and Ph.D. student won The HKIE LTD Best Students Papers Awards 2022

Mr YIU Cho Yin, AAE alumnus and Ph.D. student, won The HKIE LTD Best Students Papers Awards 2022. The award-winning capstone project is titled "Towards Safe and Collaborative Aerodrome Operations: Assessing Shared Situational Awareness for Adverse Weather Detection with EEG-Enabled Bayesian Neural Networks", which was supervised by Dr NG Kam Hung.   The award is presented by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers – Logistics and Transportation Division (HKIE LTD). It is introduced to recognise engineering students of accredited Logistics or Transportation Engineering Degree Programs in Hong Kong. It aims to promote innovative ideas and research in the design and implementation of sustainable logistics and transportation systems in Hong Kong, as well as encourage students to pursue their careers in the engineering profession. The theme for this year is “Smart Transport”.   Inspired by the Tenerife airport disaster, the project aims to develop a human-centered classification model to identify hazardous meteorological conditions using Bayesian neural networks. Electroencephalography (EEG) data were integrated with the concept of explainable artificial intelligence to explore latent mental patterns and vital physiological indicators. The model can facilitate the decision to provide automation and decision-making aids to pilots under adverse weather conditions.   Congratulations to Mr Yiu!

PolyU CubeSat Mission enhances secondary school students’ STEAM skills

Working closely with secondary schools in Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has been promoting science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) education. To further develop students’ STEAM skills, the University offers opportunities for them to participate in various research projects and activities. PolyU has been deeply involved in space technology research and promoting space science education. The Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering (AAE) partnered with the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy (OASA) to launch the PolyU CubeSat Mission – Space Debris Removal competition. This was the first competition in Hong Kong with the theme of STEAM and space technology aiming to cultivate secondary school students’ interest in space science and technology research and development. The competition attracted about 100 students from different secondary schools. To strengthen students' understanding of CubeSats (microsatellites) and the functionalities of satellites, space science principles and their practical applications, PolyU and OASA provided three-month training programmes for them to learn about and design a CubeSat that can remove space debris. Participating students also had the opportunities to attend lectures and visit PolyU space science research laboratories and other facilities, including the Aerodynamics Laboratory, Aviation Engineering Laboratory and Planetary Remote Sensing Laboratory to enhance their knowledge and gain design inspiration. AAE doctoral students also joined the hands-on workshops hosted by OASA instructors to provide guidance and assistance to students to build and programme their CubeSats. Following participating students’ hard work and dedication, the programme was concluded with a final presentation held in PolyU on April 29. The Judging Panel comprising PolyU scholars and OASA Global Council carefully discussed and selected the best performing teams. Award Teams Champion St. Paul’s College First Runners-up Sha Tin College - Team 1 Second Runners-up King’s College Merit Sha Tin College – Team 2 Merit Maryknoll Convent School (Secondary Section) The champion team from St. Paul’s College created a video that elaborated on their notion of launching a 6U* CubeSat into space, orbiting to locate debris and deploying 1U of the CubeSat and a graphene net to capture objects with the help of AI. Their meticulous design also proposed how the CubeSat would de-orbit and return to Earth while the debris burned up in the atmosphere. Prof. Chih-Yung WEN, Head of Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and Chair Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, PolyU said, “This competition was an excellent opportunity for secondary school students to showcase their incredible skills and incomparable creativity in a STEAM-based project. We were impressed by the students’ astonishingly high-level engineering ability and talents. AAE hopes that through this competition, more students will be motivated to engage in space-related research, including those on satellite. We see limitless potential in these students to become future youth scientists and look forward to having such talents in our research teams.” Prof. Gregg LI, President and Executive Director of OASA, remarked, “All of the participants demonstrated excellent work and enthusiasm towards the need to understand the latest space technologies. We hope that this competition inspires students to pursue further education or careers in space science, technology and engineering, and become the next generation of astropreneurs and astronautical engineering experts.” Apart from receiving internships opportunities and free student memberships provided by OASA, the winning teams will also be awarded grants by PolyU as an incentive to help promote STEAM education at their schools. Secondary schools are encouraged to nominate students who have participated in the competition to apply for admittance to PolyU through the School Principal’s Nominations and the School Nominations Direct Admission Scheme, which may enhance students’ chances of enrolling at the University. *“U” stands for a unit for measuring the CubeSat’s size, with 1U being a cube with a length, width, and height of 10 cm.   Reposted from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [Original post]

Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering Celebrates the First AAE MSc Dinner

The first AAE MSc Dinner was held to celebrate the achievements of AAE's MSc students in 2022-23. The memorable evening was attended by 23 students and 15 academic staff. The event began with a congratulatory speech by Prof. Chih-yung WEN, the Head and Chair Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, AAE, who praised the students for their hard work and great achievements. This was followed by speeches from Prof. Christopher CHAO, the Vice President (Research and Innovation), and Dr Hailong HUANG, the representative of the teaching professor. The Department was also honoured to have Dr Chili WU, the Chairman of Hong Kong Young Scientist Association, as a guest speaker, who offered words of encouragement to the MSc students. Mr Henry CHAN and Mr Li CHENG, the student representatives of Class 2022, also gave a speech on behalf of their class, thanking the teachers, the Department, and the University. Congratulations to the 12 students who completed 30 credits within one year, an accomplishment that is ahead of the normal duration. Your hard work and dedication are truly commendable. The Department takes pride in the achievements of Class 2022 and wishes you success in all your future endeavours.

Dr Hailong Huang secured the Smart Traffic Fund

The project titled “Development of a Personalised and Connected Advanced Driver Assistance System”, led by Dr Hailong Huang, Assistant Professor of the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering, was awarded the Smart Traffic Fund (STF) with a total amount of $ 4,510,578. This project aims to develop a personalised and connected advanced driver assistance system, which covers both driving habits of individual drivers and motion prediction of surrounding vehicles, so as to improve driving safety by providing predictive warnings and driving advice.   STF set up by the Transport Department of the HKSAR Government provides funding support to local organizations or enterprises for conducting research and application of innovation and technology with the objectives of enhancing commuting convenience, enhancing the efficiency of the road network or road space, and improving driving safety. More details can be found at www.stf.hkpc.org.   Read the approved note in full on the Hong Kong Government Press Releases page: https://stf.hkpc.org:8443/2023/03/29/psri-47-2209-pr/

PolyU and COMAC co-organise International Science and Technology Innovation Week and collaborate on advancing aviation research

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) co-organised for the first time an international innovation week and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing civil aviation technology. With the theme of “Digital Aircraft: Industry Empowerment,” the 6th COMAC International Science and Technology Innovation Week was co-organised by COMAC, PolyU and Tongji University and held in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province to promote collaboration on innovations. Over 500 experts and scholars from government, academia, research institutions and industry attended the week-long event that ended today. They exchanged ideas on basic as well as frontier science and technology in areas such as aviation Big Data, artificial intelligence and advanced materials. PolyU and COMAC also signed an MoU to promote technological innovation in civil aviation. Both sides will collaborate on research, talent development and knowledge transfer in the areas of artificial intelligence, Big Data and new materials. The MoU was signed by Prof. Christopher CHAO, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, and Mr TAN Wangeng, Director and Deputy Party Secretary of COMAC. Prof. Christopher Chao said, “This collaboration aims to inject new impetus into the development of civil aviation and related fields, while jointly promoting technological innovation and industrial development. PolyU will join hands with COMAC to create more opportunities for exchange between academia and industry.” Mr HE Dongfeng, Chairman and Party Secretary of COMAC, said at the event, “Promoting an ecosystem to foster collaboration among industry, academia, and research institutions is important for the development needs of commercial airliners and is demanded by technological trends. In light of the new wave of technological revolution, we need to establish an innovation chain for airliner development supported by talents, innovation, and partnerships between industry and academia.” At the event, leading PolyU scholars met with industry professionals and shared their insights on cutting-edge technologies and development trends in civil aviation. Among them were Prof. H.C. MAN, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Chair Professor of Materials Engineering; Prof. Chih-Yung WEN, Head of Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and Chair Professor of Aeronautical Engineering; and Prof. CAO Jiannong, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things and Chair Professor of Distributed and Mobile Computing. Prof. Wen also delivered a keynote speech at the opening of the event. COMAC, headquartered in Shanghai, is engaged in the research, manufacturing and flight testing of civil aircraft and related products, with the mission of implementing large-scale passenger aircraft programmes and realising the industrialisation of civil aircraft in China. PolyU’s Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering is ranked number 1 in Hong Kong by ShanghaiRanking. It plays a crucial role in bridging research and industrial needs in the aviation and aeronautics field. In addition, the Aviation Services Research Centre (ASRC) is an applied research centre founded by PolyU and Boeing Company. It aims to develop new or improved aviation service technologies applicable to the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) industry and beyond.   Reposted from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [Original post]