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Work undertaken at the Applied DSP and VLSI Research Group since the early/mid nineties, has led to a number of significant contributions underpinning the development and commercial exploitation by industry of power efficient and complexity reduced integrated Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems and products. These developments have paved the way for a new paradigm in the design of complexity reduced electronic systems aiding the emergence of numerous new commercial application areas and products in a diversity of fields. Indeed, these developments continue their currency and applicability in today's electronic products sector and thus shall be at the core of this case study.
Data assimilation is playing an ever increasing role in weather forecasting. Implementing four- dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR) is part of the long term strategy of the UK Met Office.
In this case study, an idealised 4DVAR scheme, developed by a team from the Universities of Surrey and Reading working with the UK Met Office, based on the integration of Hamiltonian dynamics and nonlinearity into data assimilation, has now been taken up by the Met Office. It is being used to evaluate options for improving operational 4DVAR. The simplicity of the scheme developed by this team has facilitated careful analyses of some generic problems with the operational model. The outcome includes direct impact on the environment and indirect impact on the economy, both through improvements in weather forecasting.
The volume and diversity of data that companies need to handle are increasing exponentially. In order to compete effectively and ensure companies' commercial sustainability, it is becoming crucial to achieve robust traceability in both their data and the evolving designs of their systems. The CRISTAL software addresses this. It was originally developed at CERN, with substantial contributions from UWE Bristol, for one of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments, and has been transferred into the commercial world. Companies have been able to demonstrate increased agility, generate additional revenue, and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness with which they develop and implement systems in various areas, including business process management (BPM), healthcare and accounting applications. CRISTAL's ability to manage data and their provenance at the terabyte scale, with full traceability over extended timescales, based on its description-driven approach, has provided the adaptability required to future proof dynamically evolving software for these businesses.
This case study embodies a non-linear relationship between underpinning research, software development and deployment. It involves computer science research at UWE in conjunction with its applied development for the world's largest particle physics laboratory and onward deployment commercially into private sector industry.
Automotive design analysis software based on qualitative reasoning research in the Advanced Reasoning Group at Aberystwyth is deployed at more than 200 automotive and aeronautic OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers world-wide. The software necessitates companies changing their process for performing design analysis, and companies are willing to do this because of the attendant benefits.
The major benefits of use of the software are early feedback on potential problems with the design of automotive systems, and improved safety of automotive designs. Related benefits are improved product time to market, and cost savings. A representative example of production savings of $2.5 million has been given for use of the software on a single product design, as well as Ford Motor Company's estimate of $20M per year saved in just their company.
Bath research on the design of multi-agent software systems governed by norms and institutions has directly influenced the development of the essential business systems of an internet-based trading company, and been instrumental in their success.
The Book Depository (BD) was founded in 2004. In 2005, their Chief Technical Officer, Emad Eldeen Elakehal, sought the expertise of Julian Padget in the Department of Computer Science at Bath, and began a part-time PhD, working on the application of normative frameworks to the design and implementation of business systems. Elakehal has applied these principles in the design and construction of two key subsystems of BD's software infrastructure: the catalogue maintenance system (live since 2006) and the price checker and setter system (since 2008). Their effectiveness has underpinned the growth and success of the company by providing robust software implementation of business processes that adapt to changing market conditions. The company's turnover grew from £24M to £120M from 2008 - 2011, and continues to grow. The software systems enabled this growth to take place with no increase in the operations team's manpower, and now handle a catalogue of over 8 million titles, from 120 suppliers, all available within 48 hours to customers on the Book Depository's own web site or via Amazon's marketplace: all Amazon book customers have seen offers of books generated by this software. The software underpins BD's award-winning business, a unique offering in the book retail sector which attracted takeover by Amazon in 2011. BD's Managing Director states that "without the agent/norm based technical systems not one of the business' USPs could have been effectively realised."
From strains within a single carbon fibre to deflections in a bridge, dam or railway line, accurate measurement is vital to industry and public infrastructure. In many engineering contexts, traditional approaches to measurement are inadequate or involve unacceptable costs and delays. These shortcomings have been addressed by the University of Bristol's research into high-precision, video-based metrology and its application through Imetrum, a spin-out company. Imetrum was founded in 2003 and launched its first product - the Video Gauge - in 2007. In the area of mechanical testing, the company has brought the first video-based extensometry system that can be supplied calibrated to international standards to market. For structural monitoring and safety inspections, deformation measurements are usually required. The Imetrum system is being used to precisely measure such deformations in rail bridges and other vital parts of the infrastructure without costly and inconvenient interruptions to their operation. Imetrum has approximately doubled its turnover each year since 2007. [text removed for publication].
Research at the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering (DoEng) has led to the creation of a method for measuring strain throughout a range of civil engineering structures using Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (DFOS) and computing the stresses in these structures. This detailed information and associated insights have reduced reliance on conservative safety margins, while giving greater assurance of safety. The result has been significant reductions in construction materials and construction time. The work has generated direct savings of over GBP15M in three major infrastructure projects from 2011 to 2013 including Crossrail. It has had a wider influence across the whole industry by setting standards for geothermal piles in 2012, which were instrumental in the creation of this new industrial sector, and by changing attitudes in construction about the value of instrumentation and modelling.
Research in the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield on dynamic performance and vibration serviceability has contributed to internationally applied guidance on building serviceability for floors, buildings, stadia and other structures and has led to the spin-out Full Scale Dynamics Ltd (FSDL). Based on our research FSDL provides applied research and consultancy services, and has delivered projects approaching £1m since 2008. FSDL has demonstrated significant reach through its work with blue chip clients nationally and internationally. Our research has impacted on leading national sport infrastructure (such as Premiership Football stadia and notably the Olympic 2012 Velodrome) and public companies to deliver economic benefits by providing evidence based compliance, demonstrating that stadia, hospitals, manufacturing plants and other public structures comply with safety and vibration serviceability standards. Interventions based on our research and implemented via FSDL have, on numerous occasions, avoided potentially serious economic and safety consequences due to the poor vibration performance of structures.
The supply of electrical energy to centres of demand is an increasingly important issue as our power generation sources decarbonise. Without innovation in our use of high voltage cables, security of supply to our major cities cannot be guaranteed. Our research has:
A quiet technology revolution in the UK has been changing the way that police officers on the beat and hospital nurses access and record information, using handheld electronic notebooks that bring large time and cost savings. This revolution began as a University of Glasgow research programme and led to the creation of a successful spin-out company, Kelvin Connect. Acquired in 2011 by the UK's largest provider of communications for emergency services, Kelvin Connect has grown to 30 staff. Its Pronto systems are now in use by 10% of UK police forces and nursing staff in several UK hospitals.