Sector: Science, Technology and Innovation
Country location: Australia, Republic of Korea
Grantee: The University of Western Australia

Project Description

Korea is a world leader in electronics, especially memory technology which is a growing industry in Australia. The memristor is the fourth fundamental circuit element, fabricated for the first time by Hewlett Packard only recently in 2008. It allows for high connectivity and density in circuits, and is expected to make a large shift in the electronics landscape. This gives Australia the chance to join Korea at the forefront of technological advances and will see a collaboration between the University of Western Australia, Chungbuk National University, University of California Berkeley, and the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

This cross-institutional venture will exploit the synaptic properties of a memristor to implement memristive technology into the development of an artificial retina. In its present operative form, visual perception by way of prosthesis is limited to flashes of lights, and shapes of varying sizes, locations and brightness. The answer to running highly complex computations which simulate the flow of light through the retinal cells lies in an array of memristors. Producing such a circuit will see an innovative step forward in a range of fields from therapeutic healthcare, to novel image sensor design for retina-simulating cameras.

Key dates:

Memristor Workshop with Post-Graduate and Undergraduate Students run by Professor Kyoung-Rok Cho of Chungbuk National University at The University of Western Australia, Perth, 24 October 2016

Workshop on Memristive Circuit Design with Professors Ho-Ching Iu and Tyrone Fernando of The University of Western Australia at Chungbuk National University, 06 February 2017

Seminar on Circuit Application to Retinal and Neural Cells by Professor Kamran Eshraghian of Chungbuk National University at The University of Western Australia, Perth, 12 June 2017

Paper submission to IEEE Sensors Journal for publication on Memristive Circuit Theory, 15 September 2016

Paper publication in Computational Neuroscience for publication on Signal Flow Modelling of Artificial Retina, 15 October 2016

Production of Tutorial Film of Processes so far and Achievements for Distribution on Social Media – Promote the Scientific Presence of Australia in Korea and Vice Versa. 01 June 2017

Social media: fb.com/universitywa , fb.com/UWAecm , fb.com/UWAstudents , @uwastudents , @universitywa , @uwaecm , fb.com/jeshraghianphotovideo , @jasoneshraghian

Australia-Korea Foundation grant offer: $83,706.70

Total project value: $91,736.70