Imaging is one of the most important tools in scientific discovery; as they say, "seeing is believing." It can give conclusive evidence of certain properties, structures, composition and even processes providing invaluable insight into objects of interest. There are many ways to image matter; the right choice depends on the scale, time-frame, and property of interest. Objects can be imaged in 2D or 3D with various probes including electromagnetic radiation, particles, and acoustic waves. Advanced imaging is becoming increasingly important, producing imaging systems with significantly enhanced capabilities such as in ground-penetrating radar, magnetic resonance imaging, synthetic aperture radar, hyperspectral imaging, and computed tomography.
While this unique course will cover conventional imaging techniques, the focus will be more on advanced imaging for specific applications. It will include case-studies of some of the state-of-the-art instruments and techniques used by world-class scientists in Astronomy, Geophysics, and Physics researchers here at ANU. The imaging material covered includes optical, hyper-spectral, scanning probe, interferometric, and tomographic (both emission and transmission modes).
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Understand a range of conventional and advanced 2D and 3D imaging techniques;
- Describe the different matter/probe (e.g., infrared, neutrons, acoustic) interactions and which are ideal to identify an object’s characteristic of interest;
- Understand how these techniques are used in some principle application areas (astronomical, seismic, biomedical, atmospheric studies);
- Describe the concept of computational imaging and apply some techniques involved such as expectation maximisation and compressed sensing;
- Understand and appreciate the limits and pitfalls of using images to make inferences;
- Evaluate the performance and limitations of an imaging technique for a given application.
Indicative Assessment
- Presentation plus oral examination - Topic 1 (34) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]
- Presentation plus oral examination - Topic 2 (33) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]
- Presentation plus oral examination - Topic 3 (33) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]
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Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Face-to face component which may consist of 42 hours of lectures (3 x 1 hour per week) and drop-in hours per semester.
- Three sets of approximately 2 hours of oral exams (encompassing ~20 minutes presentation per student, ~20 minutes answering questions per student, and the remainder listening to and assessing other student's presentations).
- Approximately 88 hours of self directed study which will include preparation for lectures and other assessment tasks.
The face-to-face component will normally entail three lectures/Q&A/lab-visit session per week, in which we will present an overview of the material and discuss questions students have regarding the reading material.
A list of oral exam topics will be provided to the students one week before each set of exams. The students will each choose a different topic from the list, on a first-come-first-serve basis. Oral exams will be held outside normal lecture times, and there will be a reduced lecture load in exam weeks. To avoid student fatigue, in the event the oral exams for all students would run longer than two hours, the students will be separated into groups and will only attend the oral exam with other students in the same group.
Inherent Requirements
No specific inherent requirements have been identified for this course.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
None specified.
Assumed Knowledge
Basic computing, Fourier analysis, basic linear algebra. 12 units of university level mathematics for physicists and engineers. 12 units of first year university advanced level physics.Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $4680 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6720 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2631 | 17 Feb 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 31 Mar 2025 | 23 May 2025 | In Person | View |