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Impact: Controller Area Network (CAN) is a digital communications bus used by the automotive industry for in-vehicle networks. The underpinning research introduced techniques that enable CAN to operate under high loads (approx. 80% utilisation) while ensuring that all messages meet their deadlines. The research led directly to the development of commercial products, now called Volcano Network Architect (VNA) and the Volcano Target Package (VTP). This Volcano technology (VNA and VTP) is now owned by Mentor Graphics. In recent years, VNA has been used to configure CAN communications for all Volvo production cars, with VTP used in the majority of Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in these vehicles, including the S40, S60, S80, V50, V70, XC60, XC70, XC90, C30, and C70; total production volume 330,000 to 450,000 vehicles per year. This Volcano technology is also used by Jaguar, LandRover, Aston Martin, Mazda, and the Chinese automotive company SAIC. It is used by the world's leading automotive suppliers, including Bosch and Visteon. It is also used by Airbus.
Impact: The underpinning research resulted in an innovative Worst-Case Execution time (WCET) analysis technology now called RapiTime, which was transferred to industry via a spin-out company, Rapita Systems Ltd. The technology enables companies in the aerospace and automotive industries to reduce the time and cost required to obtain confidence in the timing correctness of the systems they develop. The RapiTime technology has global reach having been deployed on major aerospace and automotive projects in the UK, Europe, Brazil, India, China, and the USA. Key customers include leading aerospace companies such as: [text removed for publication]; as well as major automotive suppliers: [text removed for publication]. Since 2008, Rapita has won export orders to China worth over [text removed for publication]. From 2008/9 to 2011/12, the company's annual revenues have more than doubled from [text removed for publication] to over [text removed for publication]. As of August 2013, Rapita employs [text removed for publication] people at its offices in York and Cambridge.
The GRANIT system is a non-destructive technique for assessing the condition of rock bolts and ground anchors used to support structures such as tunnels. It applies a small impulse to the bolt and interprets the resulting vibration response to provide estimates of load and unbonded length. Initial development of the system was based on the findings of EPSRC projects in tunnels undertaken by the Universities of Aberdeen and Bradford from 1989-1997, resulting in an empirically based method. However, research undertaken at the University of Aberdeen since 1998 has provided the understanding of the process and developed the fundamental engineering science needed to underpin the development of a full commercial system. The GRANIT system is patented, and has been subject to worldwide licence to Halcrow who have undertaken testing and provided a method of ensuring the safety of mines, tunnels and similar structures. Halcrow received the NCE award for Technical Innovation Award for GRANIT in December 2010. The impact of the research has been in part economic, but largely on practitioners and professional services.
In 2009 Tim Bussey and Lisa Saksida commercialised novel apparatus and control software for computer-automated behavioural testing of rats and mice, reducing the time and user-hours required to generate data; and yielding improved performance levels and opportunities for translation whilst also reducing variability. The apparatus is sold with a battery of purpose-designed cognitive tests that parallel those used to assess cognition in patients (e.g., CANTAB). This has had impact as follows: (1) sales: over 400 units; (2) preclinical research: because of its potential for translation of the tasks, the apparatus is influencing how pharmaceutical companies conduct CNS research; (3) spinoff industry: contract research organisations now include touchscreen-based cognitive assays in their services.
University of Cambridge research on the principles of `sentient computing' led to the foundation of spin-out company Ubisense, which has grown into a leading location solutions company. By the end of 2011, Ubisense had 170 employees and was floated on AIM with a valuation of £38.6million. It serves customers such as BMW, Airbus, Aston Martin and the US Army. Deployment of the Ubisense Real Time Location System has improved production line accuracy and efficiency by up to 10%.
This case study concerns the design and methodology adopted in the construction of high reliability (safety-critical and real-time) embedded systems, particularly as applied in the automotive and avionics industry. The key impact has been for the automotive and avionics industry to adopt a change in the way these systems are designed, leading to more reliable systems, faster time to market, lower production and verification costs, and lower maintenance costs.
The subject matter concerns the fundamental architecture of high reliability embedded systems. Specifically it is a paradigm shift in the theoretical design of the software and hardware from established event-driven architectures to novel time-triggered architectures developed at the University of Leicester (UoL). The novel paradigm is supported by a range of development tools, processor designs, and diagnostic/maintenance tools developed by a spin-out company, TTE Systems Ltd. Research was exploited commercially by TTE Systems Ltd to provide economic impact via software tools sales, consultancy services, bespoke product development, and training courses.
The user experience of searching the web is usually a very positive one, in part due to the work carried out at City University London on obtaining more relevant documents on the first page of search results. The model produced in our work outperforms other methods in benchmark tests and helps users to access better quality information billions of times every day. Evidence from a variety of sources shows that the work has had a significant economic impact nationally and internationally. Many software companies have benefited from the work, including multinationals (Microsoft) and UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Grapeshot) and those who use the services of such software, including Reed Recruitment, MyDeco and UNESCO. Getting the right information to people efficiently and reducing the number of searches performed saves time and money and has a wide range of benefits for individuals and society.
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.
Our research team has developed new approaches to classifying demand series as `intermittent' and `lumpy', and devised new variants of the standard Croston's method for intermittent demand forecasting, which improve forecast accuracy and stock performance. These approaches have impacted the forecasting software of Syncron and Manugistics, through the team's consultancy advice and knowledge transfer. Subsequently, this impact has extended to Syncron International and JDA Software, which took over Manugistics. These companies' forecasting software packages have a combined client base turnover of over £200 billion per annum, and their clients benefit from substantial inventory savings from the new approaches adopted.
This Impact Case Study illustrates the impact of our research on clinicians and medical researchers. Research conducted by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at the University of Aberdeen has developed software enabling clinical trials to be carried out in Germany aimed at creating new diagnostic tools for unborn children in order to identify foetal developmental issues. The research, focusing on time series analysis and dynamical systems, derived clinical benefits in that the Groenemeyer Institute, a privately-run research and treatment organisation, used it in the development of pioneering non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of foetal pathological conditions. The research also achieved considerable reach among the non-specialist public through media coverage in the UK and Germany.