The project has been in development for over seven years and it would cost A$50,000 (US$38,360) for the university to build the complete system.

There is nothing like this on the market at the moment, Thomas said, and the closest research projects are MARS (http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/graphics/projects/mars/) from Colombia University and BARS from the US Naval Research Lab (http://www.nrl.navy.mil/pao/pressRelease.php?Y=2001&R=01-01r).

Professor Thomas will detail this project and its applications at the South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation 2005 Conference (SEARCC 2005), in Sydney, from September 28 to 30, 2005.

The conference is being organized by IDG on behalf of SEARCC and the Australian Computer Society. For more information about SEARCC 2005, and to register for the event, see www.searcc05.com.au.