Thales & its Research &
Technology Arm
Prof. Hamid Asgari
Email: Hamid.Asgari@uk.thalesgroup.com
Thales UK July 2014
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Outline
 Thales
Corporate and Thales UK
 Engagement
 Thales
 Some
with Academia
UK Research & Technology
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
Civil
Defence
45%
55%
Revenues in 2012
14.2
billion euros
Shareholders
(at 31 May 2013)
Employees
65,000
(workforce under management
at 31 Dec. 2012)
Global presence
56
Float
47%
of which
employees 3%
countries
Dassault
Aviation
26%
Research and development
2.5
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French
State
27%
billion euros
(approx. 20% of revenues)
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Worldwide operations…
Korea: 1,370
France: 34,300
UK: 7500
Germany: 4,500
Spain: 2,100
Italy: 2,600
USA: 2,200
Canada: 1,200
Netherlands: 2,000
Belgium: 950
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
Global reach, local expertise
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65,000 employees in
56 countries
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...in all the markets we serve…
Dual markets civil / military
Aerospace
Space
Security
Defence
Trusted partner for a safer world
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Ground
Transportation
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 decisionmaking & 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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www.thalesgroup.com\uk
Thales UK engagement
with Academia
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A strategy driven by Research & innovation…
 About
20% of revenues invested in R&D
 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 don’t
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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
Placements
Thales
GDP &
Pool
Undergraduate
Primary
School
Secondary
School
Local Partner Schools
• Involve Parents
• Supporting ‘A’ Level
Projects
• Lesson Support
• Careers Advice
• Thales UK Prizes
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University
Research & Postgraduate Training
Technical
Research
Projects
Supporting:
Masters Projects
Doctoral
Students
(PhD & EngD)
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Visiting
Professors
Teaching
Sponsored
Chairs
Secondments
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 @ UCL
 Members of:

- IVHM @ Cranfield

- CSIT @ Queens Belfast

- CSIC @ Cambridge

- EPSRC peer review college

- Mobile VCE
 Participants in CBI’s ICARG

Thales supports over 250 PhD
students around the world
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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
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www.thalesgroup.com\uk
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
Canada
Canada
Presence around the world
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Delft
KTD Responsible for

Key Technical Domains
 Overall
R&T Governance
 Segmentation
 Annual
 Use
to cover specific R&T fields
R&T activity plans
cases to bring together Technical and Engineering Expertise to
develop solutions for customers
 Control
 EC,
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of work with external agencies (co-funded)
TSB, ESA, etc.
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Application Areas & Technology Themes
Positioning Systems
Security Systems
Precise Positioning Technology
Indoor positioning - UWB
Navigation & simulation/modelling
Integrated 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
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Collaborative working technology
Road user charging
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Research Areas,
Challenges
www.thalesgroup.com\uk
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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 -> Contextual information -> 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 Plane
Admin
Inter-domain Workflow
Security Events & Context Data
Functions & Controls
Security Data/Event Processing
Programmable Functions & Controls
(Functional, Monitoring & Security)
Controller and Adaptation Layer
Monitoring
Probes
Physical Infrastructure Plane - System of Systems
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Initiate & Reconfigure
Knowledge Bases
Anticipation, Event
recognition
Analytics, etc.
Data Aggregation,
Abstraction
Pool of functions for
run-time configurations
/Adaptation
Controller (Local,
Distributed)
NFVI
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Knowledge & Intelligence Production
NFV
System / Network / Service
Management & Orchestration Plane
Security Management Applications
Decision Support,
Mitigation Strategies,
Response
Cyber Managed
Objects, (e.g.,
Virtualised Env.)
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.
Subjects
Objects
(with Associated Clearances)
(Classification levels)
Top Secret
Top Secret
Secret
Secret
Confidential
Confidential
Restricted
Restricted
Protect
Protect
Unclassified
Unclassified
Bell LaPadula Multi-Level Security (MLS) Model.
 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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Graduate Technical Recruits (2011/12/13)
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Total 234 to date
20
15
10
5
0
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www.thalesgroup.com\uk
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).
 Architecture Types
Logical View
Physical connectivity
Logical Connectivity
Functional Arch.
Communication
Arch.
 System-Level
(Deployment)
Arch.

Components

Network Arch.
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Components,
Systems
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Functions
Functional
Blocks
Functional Architecture

System-Level Architecture
Functional Blocks
Network Architecture

Platforms
Communication Architecture

Physical View
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
 Funding – Different schemes
 Industrial and academic supervision
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to Thales UK
www.thalesgroup.com\uk
Thanks for your attention.
Thales UK July 2014
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