Innovation Wing Two

HKAE TechTalk – Towards 6G: The Impacts of Wireless Communications Technologies Research to Society

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

October 22 2024 (Tuesday) 4:00-5:00pm
The rapid advancement of mobile communications technology is profoundly reshaping society and paving the way for the future. This talk will first guide the audience through the innovations and adoption progress of 5G technology, highlighting its transformative impacts. The discussion will then shift to ASTRI’s initiatives aiming at addressing critical pain points and customizing applications to enhance user experiences, showcasing how 5G continues to evolve and unlock its full potential. As we transition from 5G to 6G, a new landscape of opportunities and challenges is emerging, driven by academic research and operator requirements. Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence in 6G presents exciting possibilities for enhancing everyday life. The presentation will also introduce ASTRI’s research efforts on shaping a connected future, illustrating how these advancements can foster a more integrated and intelligent society.

Young Scholar TechTalk – Learning Out-of-Distribution Object Detectors from Foundation Models

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

September 16 2024 (Monday) 4:30-5:30pm
Out-of-distribution (OOD) object detection is a challenging task due to the absence of open-set OOD data. Inspired by recent advancements in text-to-image generative models, such as Stable Diffusion, we study the potential of generative models trained on large-scale open-set data to synthesize OOD samples, thereby enhancing OOD object detection. We introduce SyncOOD, a simple data curation method that capitalizes on the capabilities of large foundation models to automatically extract meaningful OOD data from text-to-image generative models. This offers the model access to open-world knowledge encapsulated within off-the-shelf foundation models. The synthetic OOD samples are then employed to augment the training of a lightweight, plug-and-play OOD detector, thus effectively optimizing the in-distribution (ID)/OOD decision boundaries. Extensive experiments across multiple benchmarks demonstrate that SyncOOD significantly outperforms existing methods, establishing new state-of-the-art performance with minimal synthetic data usage.

TechTalk – Smart Prefabrication Construction: A GBA Case

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

September 24, 2024 (Tuesday) 4:30-5:30pm
Prefabrication construction is one of the cutting-edge technologies using prefabricated components such as MiC (Modular Integrated Construction) to improve quality, productivity, safety and sustainability. Prefabricated buildings in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), especially those in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, have always faced challenges such as high variability, geographical dispersion of activities, and information fragmentation. This talk will take Hong Kong’s prefabricated buildings as an example to demonstrate a smart system implemented using digital twins, big data processing, BIM, and IoT-related technologies. The system uses various captured and collected construction big data for MiC production, logistics, assembly and monitoring. These data will be converted into multi-dimensional information through big data analytics encapsulated in digital clones to map and characterize physical entities such as components, locations, geometries, costs and construction schedules. This research topic is supported by the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong (ITC) and Chunwo Construction Co., Ltd.

A smart Far UVC system for effective inactivation of surface and airborne bacteria and viruses

Innovation Wing Two, Third exhibition / By

The spread of pathogenic microorganisms in public spaces poses a great threat to human health.

Professor Leung’s team develops a system using far ultraviolet C (UVC) light (wavelength: 222nm) for surface and air disinfection in an actual environment without affecting the normal usage of the area.
Many studies indicated that Far UVC will not create harmful effect on testing creatures such as mice. To further strengthen the safety use of the device for disinfection, the system will not irradiate far UVC light in the presence of people in the area so it will be totally safe in using it.

Young Scholar TechTalk – Next-generation Aqueous Magnesium-ion Batteries

Innovation Wing Two, TechTalk / By

October 8 2024 (Tuesday) 4:30-5:30pm
Aqueous magnesium batteries offer a promising alternative to lithium-ion technology due to their low cost, material abundance, safety, and comparable performance. However, magnesium metal anodes are hindered by passivation, and the narrow electrochemical stability window of aqueous electrolytes significantly limit the battery voltage. My research work introduces innovative aqueous electrolyte systems to address these challenges. A dual-electrolyte magnesium-air battery was developed, achieving a 50% higher peak power density and 46% higher open circuit voltage compared to traditional single-electrolyte systems. Subsequently, a novel water-in-salt electrolyte enabled the first rechargeable aqueous magnesium-ion battery with reversible magnesium metal anode stripping and plating behavior. Furthermore, a quasi-solid-state electrolyte was formulated to regulate ion storage at the cathode, delivering a voltage plateau of 2.6-2.0 V and a remarkable energy density of 264 Wh kg−1, nearly five times higher than current aqueous Mg-ion batteries. This work demonstrates significant advancements in aqueous magnesium batteries, offering a safe and high-performance energy storage solution for a clean energy future.

Developing Smart Customized Protective Masks for Safe and Better Living

Fourth Exhibition, Innovation Wing Two / By

Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020 “the value of global counterfeiting and pirated products is estimated US $ 4.5 trillion a year.” Despite enormous efforts, conventional anti-counterfeiting approaches such as QR codes can be easily fabricated due to limited data encryption capacity on a 2D in-plane space.

How can we increase the encryption density in a limited space?

Smart Electric Wheelchair

Fourth Exhibition, Innovation Wing Two / By

Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020 “the value of global counterfeiting and pirated products is estimated US $ 4.5 trillion a year.” Despite enormous efforts, conventional anti-counterfeiting approaches such as QR codes can be easily fabricated due to limited data encryption capacity on a 2D in-plane space.

How can we increase the encryption density in a limited space?

Seawater-Based Biocarbonate Cement/Sodium Alginate Composite for 3D Concrete Printing

Fourth Exhibition, Innovation Wing Two / By

Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020 “the value of global counterfeiting and pirated products is estimated US $ 4.5 trillion a year.” Despite enormous efforts, conventional anti-counterfeiting approaches such as QR codes can be easily fabricated due to limited data encryption capacity on a 2D in-plane space.

How can we increase the encryption density in a limited space?

Development of a Low-Cost, Disposable, Miniaturized, Label-Free Cell Sensing and Screening Platform Based on Monolithic Optoelectronic GaN Chips

Fourth Exhibition, Innovation Wing Two / By

Counterfeiting threatens the global economy and security. According the report issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2020 “the value of global counterfeiting and pirated products is estimated US $ 4.5 trillion a year.” Despite enormous efforts, conventional anti-counterfeiting approaches such as QR codes can be easily fabricated due to limited data encryption capacity on a 2D in-plane space.

How can we increase the encryption density in a limited space?

Unfold the Hidden Value of Agricultural Side-streams

Fourth Exhibition, Innovation Wing Two / By

DipµChip is an automated capillary microfluidic-based point-of-care (POC) microsystem allowing rapid and portable detection of various high-impact and mortality diseases, such as pneumonia, sepsis, malaria, and COVID-19. Our Mission is “Empowering access to adequate clinical care for high-impact disease patients using molecular biology and point-of-care microfluidics.” End-users of DipµChip include clinics, hospitals, homes, and assisted living healthcare facilities, democratizing access to adequate clinical care, and saving precious lives of patients in need.