Thales

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Thales its Research Technology Arm

• Prof. Hamid Asgari
• Email Hamid.Asgari_at_uk.thalesgroup.com

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Outline

• Thales Corporate and Thales UK
• Engagement with Academia
• Thales UK Research Technology
• Some Current Research Areas
• Business Challenges
• Remarks

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Thales Corporate

• World leaders in mission-critical information
  systems

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• A global company helping customers to
• provide reliable secure solutions
• monitor control
• protect defend

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Profile
A balanced revenue structure
Revenues in 2012
14.2
billion euros
Shareholders (at 31 May 2013)
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Worldwide operations
Korea 1,370
France 34,300
UK 7500
Germany 4,500
Spain 2,100
Italy 2,600
Netherlands 2,000
USA 2,200
Belgium 950
Canada 1,200
Brazil and rest of Latin America 660
Australia 3,600
Others Saudi Arabia 730 / China 390 / South
Africa 340 / Switzerland 290 / Singapore 240 /
India 200 / Austria 200 / Norway 180 /
Portugal 160 / Poland 130
65,000 employees in 56 countries
Global reach, local expertise
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...in all the markets we serve
Dual markets civil / military
civil
military
Trusted partner for a safer world
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Thales in the UK

• Key UK Sites
• Basingstoke
• Belfast
• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Cheadle Heath (Stockport)
• Crawley
• Doncaster
• Glasgow
• London
• Reading (Research Technology facility)
• Templecombe
• Weybridge (HQ)

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Thales UK

• Circa 7,500 employees
• 12 key UK locations (35 sites overall)
• Circa 4,000 engineers technicians
• 90 qualified to degree level or above

• 2012 sales 1.35 bn
• Invested more than 3 bn in UK since 2000
• 125th anniversary of Thales UK in 2013

• Reading-based research technology facility,
  with c80 engineers, mathematicians scientists

• Serving four key markets
• Defence Security
• Aerospace Transport

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Thales technology in the UK (1)
Provide high-performance electronics secure IT
solutions for flight crews air traffic
controllers

• Aerospace
• Flight simulators
• Air navigation
• Avionics, IFE
• Air traffic management
• Collision avoidance
• Satellite com.
• Cockpit cabin
• connectivity

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Thales technology in the UK (2)
Support the armed forces in gaining sustaining
decision-making operational superiority in
conventional theatres, urban combat and cyberspace

• Defence
• Surveillance
• Force protection
• Complex weapons systems
• Mission management
• Information management
• Radar
• Unmanned air systems
• Electronic warfare
• Optronic systems
• Naval communications
• Air space management
• Cockpit communications

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Thales technology in the UK (3)
Develop integrated solutions, resilient networks
value-added services to protect citizens,
sensitive data critical infrastructure

• Security
• Cyber security
• Counter terrorism systems
• Monitoring control systems
• Network security
• Infrastructure protection
• Secure financial transactions
• Telecommunications

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Thales technology in the UK (4)
Boost the capacity efficiency of transportation
systems with improved safety, lower costs
better passenger services

• Ground Transportation
• Urban mainline signalling
• Train control, train protection warning
  systems
• Services, supervision control
• Integrated communications
• Security information management
• Transport information telecoms systems
• Technological solutions for roads
• Training services systems

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Thales UK engagement with Academia
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A strategy driven by Research innovation

• About 20 of revenues invested in RD
• Focus on key technical domains
• Research policy
• International network of research centres
• Cooperation with academic and government research
  institutes worldwide
• Technical Research
• Access to problem solving capabilities of
  universities/institutes
• Access to expertise and relevant scientific
  technical knowledge
• Recruitment
• Opportunities to recruit highly qualified staff
• Advantage in the competition for the best
  graduates

Businesses that work with academia generally
achieve greater business performance of those
companies that dont
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Model for Thales UK Academic Engagement

• Encouraging participation in STEM subjects
• Work Experience
• Teacher Engagement
• STEM Ambassadors
• Science Workshops

Graduate Recruitment Challenge
Industry Advisory Panels Sponsored Students Final
year project support Talks to final year
students Graduate Recruitment
Thales GDP Pool
Undergraduate

• Local Partner Schools
• Involve Parents
• Supporting A Level Projects
• Lesson Support
• Careers Advice
• Thales UK Prizes

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Thales (UK) Activity with Universities

• Academic links
• 50 Sponsored Doctoral Students
• 25 Industrial Advisory Panels
• 8 Visiting Professors or equivalent
• Participating in co-funded TSB or EC research
  projects
• Sponsored Chair _at_ UCL
• Members of
• - IVHM _at_ Cranfield
• - CSIT _at_ Queens Belfast
• - CSIC _at_ Cambridge
• - EPSRC peer review college
• - Mobile VCE
• Participants in CBIs ICARG

IVHM Integrated Vehicle Health Management CSIT
Centre for Secure Information Technologies CSIC
Centre for Smart Infrastructure
Construction MVCE Mobile Virtual Centre of
Excellence ICARG Inter Company Academic
Relations Group
Thales supports over 250 PhD students around the
world
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Thales UK Research and Technology
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TRT centres

• TRT is a bridge between Academia, SMEs and the
  Thales Group to create innovation for growth,
  competitiveness and profitability.

Reading
Paris
Singapore
Delft
Canada
Canada
Presence around the world
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KTD Responsible for

• Key Technical Domains
• Overall RT Governance
• Segmentation to cover specific RT fields
• Annual RT activity plans
• Use cases to bring together Technical and
  Engineering Expertise to develop solutions for
  customers
• Control of work with external agencies
  (co-funded)
• EC, TSB, ESA, etc.

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Application Areas Technology Themes
Positioning Systems
Security Systems
Precise Positioning Technology Indoor positioning
- UWB Navigation simulation/modelling Integrate
d Navigation systems Digital Signal
Processing
Security Systems Technology Threat Analysis Smart
Image Processing Information and Cyber
Security Multi level Object Based
Security Content-Based Security Container Port
Security
Applications Technologies
Communication Systems
Network Technology Public Safety Radio Ad
Hoc/Mesh networks Wireless Sensor
Networks Quality of Service SatCom and Space
communication Secure Communications
Collaborative working technology Road user
charging
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Research Areas, Challenges
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Research Areas - examples

• Future Internet Concepts
• Recursive Architectures
• Cyber Resiliency in Connected World
• Building resilient architectures
• Networked cyber physical systems
• Resilient techniques against persistent and
  sophisticated attacks
• Advanced cloud infrastructures Services
• Inter Cloud
• Computing, storage, and data portability
• Big Data management
• Data -gt Contextual information -gt Knowledge
• Decision making, security, privacy
• MLS and CBS Architectures for Information
  security
• Novel adaptive MLS architectures
• CBS Architectures in multi-domain settings

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Cyber Security - Resiliency
Goals Anticipate, Withstand, Recover, Evolve
Security Management Applications
Admin
Decision Support, Mitigation Strategies, Response
Inter-domain Workflow
System / Network / Service Management
Orchestration Plane
Knowledge Intelligence Production
Anticipation, Event recognition Analytics, etc.
Knowledge Bases
Security Data/Event Processing
Initiate Reconfigure
Data Aggregation, Abstraction
Programmable Functions Controls (Functional,
Monitoring Security)
Pool of functions for run-time configurations
/Adaptation
Functions Controls
NFV
Controller and Adaptation Layer
Security Events Context Data
Controller (Local, Distributed)
Physical Infrastructure Plane - System of
Systems
NFVI
MonitoringProbes
Cyber Managed Objects, (e.g., Virtualised Env.)
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Inter Cloud
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Multi-Level Security

• MLS refers to protecting data (objects) that can
  be classified at various levels, from users or
  processes (subjects) who may be cleared at
  various levels.

• Unanticipated/emergency situations where flexible
  access to information is essential as it is not
  possible to predict all cases in advance (e.g. in
  healthcare and access to medical records).

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Business Challenges

• Engineering graduates
• Shortfall
• Need to persuade more women
• Recruiting good graduates is difficult.
• Competition
• Retaining staff, interesting work to keep them
• Horizon scanning, next big things
• Market
• Traditional market in defence is reducing
• Transfer defence technology to civil market
• How to get into emerging markets identifying the
  new domains to get into.
• Change
• Technology being adopted before it is mature
• Lengthy process, time to market, keep up with the
  pace of demand
• More automation in the software assessment
  process to speed up

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Remarks
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Understand The Big Picture

• Concepts objectives
• Clear Problem Statement, Motivation
• The context Environment, Real-life
  applications/operational scenarios
• Problem formulation and concept
• State of the Art and Open Gap/Challenges,
  Progress beyond SoA
• Technical Approach (Solution Space), Functional
  Architecture
• Implementation
• Methodology, Structure, and Plan
• Risks and Contingency Plan
• System-Level Architecture and Developments
• Verification, validation and Experimentation
• Impact
• End-user Acceptance of technology, usefulness,
  ease of use
• Social benefit to a segment of society,
  addressing a treat to society (crime, terrorism),
  rights, values, privacy, etc.
• Economic financial, cost saving, creating new
  job opportunities,
• Scientific advancement of knowledge,
  publications
• Industrial New component, new solution, new
  Business Models
• Exploitation and IPR (Patent, Standardisation,
  PoC, Prototype)

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Architectural views

• What is Architecture?
• The process and product of designing and
  constructing systems reflecting
• Functional entities and their interactions
  (logical)
• Systems and their inter-operations (physical).

Physical View
Logical View
Logical Connectivity
Physical connectivity

• Architecture Types
• Functional Arch.
• Functional Blocks
• Communication Arch.
• System-Level (Deployment) Arch.
• Components
• Network Arch.

Functions
Platforms
Functional Blocks
Communication Architecture
Functional Architecture
Network Architecture
System-Level Architecture
Components, Systems
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Verification, Validation, Integration,
Performance Tests

• Component Level Verification Tests
• The emphasis of these tests was set to prove the
  functionality and validating the correct
  behaviour of the components by passing on the
  known input to each component and verifying the
  resultant output against the expected output.
• Integration Tests
• These tests must verify the applications and
  infrastructure inter-work and function
  collectively (including middleware, components,
  user interface, external and utility
  applications, etc.)
• System Level Validation Tests
• The emphasis is to prove the functionality and
  validating the correct behaviour of the entire
  system infrastructure.
• Performance Assessments
• The overall aim is to determine whether the
  overall objectives of the proposed system is
  realized.

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Guidelines for Writing Reports

• Quality of report shows the quality of your work
  and the amount of the efforts you put for the
  activity represented in that report.
• Reports should not be a collection of
  tests/paragraphs but a single coherent doc.
• Text must be structured and have a natural flow
  and consistency.
• Any SoA must be up-to-date and current, no use
  for out-of-date/obsolete SoA.
• Abstract and conclusion must provide a clear
  picture.
• The same terminologies should be used across
  deliverables.
• There should not be any inconsistencies across
  deliverables.
• Refer to the past work done. There is no room for
  copy/paste stuff from other reports/texts with no
  reference given.
• There must be no claim in the report without a
  credible proof.
• There must not be any wish list in the report and
  promise to cover them in another future report
  while you either cannot do it or will ignore it.
• At the end you as the author should be ready to
  stand by your report and defend it
  whole-heartedly.

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Thales Recruitments

• Graduate Programmes Internships
• http//ukgrads.thalesgroup.com/
• Current Positions
• https//www.thalesgroup.com/en/apply
• PhD Research
• Case by case based on subject of interest to
  Thales UK
• Funding Different schemes
• Industrial and academic supervision

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Thanks for your attention.