Our facilities
The ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science is home to a range of world-class facilities used for research and teaching.
Our facilities
Gadi
- ANU is home to Gadi, a high-powered supercomputer at the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) that is used by researchers across the University and country.
- Australian researchers can access Gadi from anywhere in the world, at any time of day. Running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Gadi is the underpinning infrastructure for much of the Australian scientific community.
- It comes in at number 24 in the global ranking of supercomputers, and the most powerful in the southern hemisphere.
- The machine is named ‘Gadi’ [pronounced Gar-dee], a word of the Ngunnawal people meaning ‘to search for’.
- Gadi contains 145,152 CPU cores, 567 Terabytes of memory, and 640 GPUs, and is capable of performing nine quadrillion operations per second.
Robotics and drones
- We conduct fundamental research for unmanned vehicle technologies, particularly aerial robots.
- We are co-located with the Computer Vision, Networked Systems and Quantum Cybernetics research areas, creating a dynamic environment that supports breakthrough interdisciplinary research.
- We have cutting-edge flying facilities and rapid prototyping equipment that enable in-house manufacturing and testing of robotic systems. With exposure to the latest technologies, students can gain job-ready skills.
Big Dish
- The ANU Generation II Big Dish solar concentrator is the world’s largest paraboloidal dish solar concentrator, with 489 m2 of mirror aperture area.
- This dish is a prototype of a design intended for large scale solar thermal power generation systems. Large arrays of dishes are joined to feed energy to a central power generation plant.
- It produces an average concentration of 2,100 suns over a disk with diameter 530 mm, with a peak concentration of 14,000 suns.
- The ANU prototype delivers experimental data to investigate energy conversion processes, inform design improvements, and support efforts to license and commercialise the technology.
MakerSpace
- The ANU MakerSpace is an area accessible to all our staff and students to experiment, investigate, prototype and solve problems.
- MakerSpace has a wide range of tools and appliances available, including power tools, 3D printers, laser cutters, soldering and testing equipment.
- The space can be used for education, research, and even personal hobbies.
Solar simulator
- This high-flux solar simulator is ideally suited for laboratoryscale testing of high-temperature solar thermal and thermochemical components and systems.
- It supports research in radiating reactive flows and provides up to 20 kW of radiation with peak heat flux up to about 10 MW/m2. The flux can be further augmented with secondary optics.
- The solar thermal capability and expertise at ANU can simulate similar heat flux conditions for high-speed spacecraft entry. Think the Moon, Mars and beyond!
Nano lab
- Nanotechnology is a rapidly emerging research area based on the manipulation of light and matter at the nano-scale. It has the potential to enable more efficient use of our limited natural resources. It could also provide new solutions for long-standing technological challenges.
- Researchers at the Nanotechnology Research Lab focus on the integration of nanomaterials into devices. This has applications extending from non-invasive medical diagnostics, to renewable energy production and storage.
Tour the engineering facilities at ANU
Take a virtual tour of the engineering facilities, and equipment at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. Our School of Engineering has exceptional teaching and learning environments. Walk through and discover our solar simulator, nano and biotech labs 3D printing lab the ANU Engineering Makerspace and the 21st century learning spaces in the Birch building.
360 tour of our College
At the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, you will have the opportunity to join an exceptional teaching and learning environment, offering some of the best engineering and computer science programs in the world.
Walk through and discover:
- our solar simulator, nano and biotech labs
- 3D printing lab
- the ANU Engineering Makerspace
- the 3A Institute
- the Hanna Neumann Building
- GADI, Australia’s fastest supercomputer.
NOTE: This is a 360 tour. Make sure you use your mouse to move the screen around to see everything.
Campus tours
Experience our world-class campus for yourself! ANU offers guided tours of our campus (subject to availablity and COVID guidelines). For more information and to book a tour, visit Future student campus tours.
You can also check out our virtual tours around our teaching spaces, study areas, cafes, sporting facilities, learning centres and student residences.
ANU accommodation
Discover what it’s like to live in accommodation at ANU.