innovation, research and developmentrd... · in a world that is increasingly interconnected, the...
TRANSCRIPT
www.thalesgroup.com.au
INNOVATION, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTMastering complexity
////////////////////////////////////////
In a world that is increasingly interconnected, the systems used by defence and commercial enterprises to deliver outcomes are increasingly complex.
Thales has a proud history delivering these systems, and our commitment to excellence in innovation, research and development (R&D) is the foundation for mastering complexity to enable our customers’ success.
Around the world, 22,500 engineers and scientists work on cutting edge technologies, generating around 300 inventions every year, adding to a portfolio of over 15,000 patents.
We devote over A$4 billion annually to R&D, and have facilities to rival the world’s best research universities.
Technical innovation does not happen in isolation, and Thales has more than 30 cooperation agreements with universities and public research laboratories in Europe, the United States and Australasia.
This wide-ranging commitment and successful track record place Thales at the forefront of R&D in technologies that provide the foundation for delivery of mission critical systems, now and in the future.
MASTERING COMPLEXITY
2
DELIvERING AuSTRALIAN CAPAbILITY
3
Thales Australia is one of the company’s largest country organisations, with more than 1,000 engineers delivering mission critical solutions in both defence and commercial sectors.
The solutions we deliver are characterised by complexity – many subcomponents interacting to support our customers in performing complex, information rich and mission critical tasks.
We are one of very few companies in Australia with the expertise and infrastructure to develop and deliver complex systems that push the boundaries of technological excellence.
This superior track record is the result of research covering a wide range of areas, from sonar to air traffic control software to protected mobility vehicles – and much more besides.
As technologies converge and mission critical solutions become more complex, Thales is well-placed to offer customers innovative solutions underpinned by our capabilities in systems, as well as the technology base of Thales globally.
Nowhere is this more relevant than in the defence domain, where the Australian Defence Force is transforming itself by implementing the tenets of network centric warfare (NCW). The pervasive application of information and communications
technology is enabling new ways for the ADF to deliver effects.
Thales has the capability to not only deliver the enabling technology, but to also support the ADF in evolving its operational concepts through experimentation facilities such as the Australian Transformation and Innovation Centre (ATIC).
uNPARALLELED GLObAL EXPERTISE
4
Designing and developing the mission critical systems that underpin the company’s leadership in the aerospace, space, defence and security markets calls for mastery of increasingly sophisticated technologies – and the ability to integrate these technologies within large-scale software-driven systems.
Thales brings to bear its global reach in a distributed community of scientists and engineers who are in touch with both lead users and research pioneers, wherever they reside. This network, or innovation ecosystem, allows us to blend technology and market perspectives to anticipate the solutions of the future. The network is animated by a principle of knowledge sharing, a core Thales value.
Thales’s research efforts are focused on three core objectives:
The first is to develop new concepts for systems •and products, beginning with knowledge sharing, medium to long term technical and operational analysis, and culminating in technology demonstrators or simulations. The network centric systems that are the driving force behind this research are transforming both the commercial sector and the world of defence NCW.
The second objective of Thales’s research is to •provide the best tools and methods to design, test and develop complex systems, large-scale system-level software and critical embedded applications.
The third key area is system security and •intelligence, including internet security, signal and image processing, data fusion, data mining and micro- and nanoelectronics for microwave and optoelectronics applications.
Thales has an exceptional pool of research talent, and recruits engineers and scientists from the world’s most highly regarded universities and scientific organisations.
5
OuR APPROACh TO INNOvATION
With the pace of technological change and globalisation of the world market, customers are finding increasing options to meet their needs, whether through new technology or companies expanding their global reach.
To continue meeting our customers’ needs we are embracing innovation as the core of our operating mindset, not only in technology but across all activities. Thales innovates to reduce costs and optimise operations, to deliver leading edge functionality, and to achieve speed to market.
Thales fosters technical innovation through its investment in R&D and all its associated elements, including partnerships with universities, research organisations and small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
Innovation is also driven by taking a market view. Through its strategy planning processes, Thales analyses how markets and customer needs are evolving, and how solutions can be developed to meet them.
Two significant initiatives foster technical and market-driven innovation. Innovation funds have been established to provide internal seed funding to explore and elaborate innovative ideas that may spring from any level in the company, and often outside normal planning processes.
Second is the ‘innovation intervention’, a market-driven approach that takes key market opportunities, assembles a cross functional team and challenges them to find a solution. Studying cases from other industries is a key component of this approach. The result is a combination of rigorous thinking, creativity and problem-solving with structured processes and teamwork to deliver innovative solutions to a wide range of customers.
A key action that reinforces the culture of innovation is the Innovation Awards program conducted at both a country and global level. These annual awards recognise employees’ creative ideas, projects and initiatives that are in line with the company’s business strategy, goals and values – often involving the development of an innovative technology that helps Thales enter new markets.
Thales Australia’s commitment to research, development and innovation stretches back many years and covers a wide range of technologies.
Achievements across the business include:
Command and control, and mission managementJoint Command Support System (JCSS)•Llama/Cheetah situation awareness solution•Special Operations Command Support System •(SOCSS)Australian Distributed Architecture Combat •System (ADACS) Army Aviation Ground Mission Management •System (GMMS)
Communications and network solutionsArmed reconnaissance helicopter •communications control moduleMaritime Tactical Wide Area Network (MTWAN) •
Large scale systems integrationFFG Upgrade•Rail communications and surveillance systems•
Air traffic controlAir traffic control systems for Australia and •abroadNext generation EUROCAT air traffic •management display Central airspace management unit •
Underwater sensing and mine countermeasuresBarra sonobuoy•Towed arrays •Seismic sensors•Minehunting sonar•Rassputin monostatic sonobuoy•Fibre laser sensor•Australian Minesweeping System (AMAS)•
Force protectionSurveillance, countermeasures and weapons •systems integrationBushmaster Armoured Patrol Vehicle•Bushmaster Copperhead Armoured Combat •Support VehicleSurvivability enhancement kits•
6
A PROvEN TRACk RECORD
Thales Australia is committed to staying at the forefront of emerging technologies, managing their integration into complex mission systems and understanding how these advances can transform the way our customers do business.
To this end, Thales in Australia has invested in research capabilities such as the Australian Transformation and Innovation Centre, known as ATIC, and the Network Enabled Warfare Laboratory (NEWLab).
Exploiting advanced simulation, gaming technology and 3D graphics, ATIC allows the creation of virtual representations of solutions. Not only does this provide a means to demonstrate and experiment with new technology concepts, it enables new ways of working to be trialled and evaluated, in partnership with our customers.
This ability to coevolve technology and business processes is at the heart of the transformation our customers are seeking to give them the operational edge.
ATIC provides part of the answer to the question of finding better ways to meet the mission critical systems needs of our customers. But sometimes deeper studies and analyses need to be undertaken, and the performance of actual technologies taken into account.
NEWLab provides an environment where actual equipment is integrated to evaluate the performance of solution concepts, including their architectural foundations. With a strong focus on communications technology, NEWLab takes an additional step beyond ATIC towards solution realisation.
By linking ATIC and NEWLab, Thales has the capability to experiment with our customers and technology partners in rich and realistic scenarios that capture the true performance capabilities of key enabling building blocks.
7
INvESTING IN ThE fuTuRE – ATIC & NEWLAb
8
To master complexity and assure the performance of mission critical systems demands the right processes supported by the right tools.
Chorus is the Thales reference system that provides a common and efficient way of working across the globe. A common approach enables work to be shared across distributed teams, and then seamlessly brought together into complex solutions.
By embracing best practice, including the requirements of the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI), Chorus contributes to risk reduction and achievement of cost and schedule performance.
Driving performance and innovation in software and systems engineering is Orchestra, an integrated suite of state-of-the-art engineering tools. The Orchestra Engineering Desk provides a portal to access project engineering data and the tools required to perform assigned tasks.
Data is created once and accessed by teams wherever they reside. It is a key enabler of distributed engineering and making best use of Thales’s global capability.
Orchestra embraces a model-driven approach to engineering, which supports solution verification at each level of elaboration. By supporting workflow
management, Orchestra enhances efficiency and process compliance while freeing development teams to focus on designing, innovating and delivering quality.
ThE RIGhT PROCESSES, ThE RIGhT TOOLS
9
The value Thales offers its customers is embodied in the intellectual capital of its employees. With technology evolving at an ever increasing rate, the ability to benefit our customers demands that Thales embraces continuous learning.
In support of this objective Thales has established Thales University, a learning and development centre of excellence. The Sydney campus is part of a global network of seven campuses that offers a wide range of courses boosting technical skills while developing the culture of innovation.
The learning priorities of the company are reflected in the training offerings of Thales University. The current curriculum is focused on improving capability in the following four strategic areas:
Management and change•Project management and business process•Marketing and sales •Systems, software and transverse technologies •(SSTT)
The SSTT area includes courses covering systems engineering, software architecture and technologies, and Orchestra for software and systems. There are also courses relating to human systems integration, as well as model driven engineering.
Sharing knowledge is a key value of Thales, and Thales University is a key tool in realising this value and creating a culture of continuous learning.
CONTINuOuS LEARNING – buILDING INTELLECTuAL CAPITAL
10
PARTNERING fOR SuCCESS
Thales enjoys long-term and highly productive
relationships with a variety of agencies, institutions,
educational establishments and technology
providers, including SMEs.
In Australia, we have a longstanding Strategic
Research & Development Alliance with the
Defence Science Technology Organisation (DSTO)
that has seen collaborative research in the areas
of underwater sensing, mine countermeasures
and energetic materials. Through the Capability
Technology Demonstrator program Thales and DSTO
have demonstrated a number of significant concepts
such as the fibre laser sensor, a breakthrough
technology that enables development of undersea
arrays that are much lighter and easier to handle
and deploy than existing systems.
Thales is a foundation member of the Defence
Materials Technology Centre where, in collaboration
with leading Australian universities, public sector
research organisations and our supply chain
partners, new and improved armour solutions will
enhance the capability of Thales’s protected mobility
vehicles.
In 2008 an Information Sharing Agreement was
signed with New Zealand’s Defence Technology
Agency.
These external relationships strengthen ties with
government, academia and other organisations,
enabling the sharing of knowledge and the
development of new technologies in increasingly
complex fields.
11
CASE STuDY
Air traffic control The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS)
is the centrepiece of Australia’s air traffic and
airspace management.
TAAATS is based on Thales’s EUROCAT technology,
and comprises a single integrated nationwide system
for the management of aircraft movements over an
area larger than the whole of Europe – 56 million
square kilometres equivalent to 11% of the world’s
surface.
This includes radar controlled airspace, continental
non-radar airspace and oceanic airspace, and covers
every civilian aircraft flight in Australian airspace.
The radar network includes 23 towers extending
down the east coast of Australia and to other major
cities.
In 1994 Airservices Australia, the government
authority responsible for administering Australia’s
sovereign airspace, awarded Thales the contract
to develop TAAATS. Shortly afterwards, Thales’s Air
Systems Division was established in Melbourne to
research, design and develop the required system.
Thales delivered the first operational version of its
new generation EUROCAT system to Airservices
Australia in 1998.
The system, consisting of four million lines of code,
processes and fuses all real-time aircraft position
data transmitted over dedicated communication
networks, and then displays the right data at the
right time to air traffic controllers equipped with
large LCD screens and ground to air communication
devices.
The system features sophisticated tools and aids
to avoid breaches of separation between aircraft
and allow the right human-based decisions to be
made at all times, enabling the highest air travel
safety standards to be met. It provides a fail-safe
architecture designed to guarantee an uninterrupted
air traffic control service 24 hours a day every day.
Following successful delivery and commissioning in
Australia’s two designated main Air Control Centres
(Brisbane and Melbourne) and four Approach
Control Centre/Terminal Control Units in Cairns,
Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, Thales has continuously
improved the system’s functionalities and technology
in response to Airservices Australia’s evolving needs.
Thales has also achieved improvements and
expansion in EUROCAT functionality through a
number of significant export contracts to many
countries around the world including Singapore,
China, Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, Mauritius, Fiji,
Madagascar, Tahiti and Thailand.
12
In Singapore, Thales is providing a next generation
EUROCAT ATM display – the result of significant
investment in operator-focused R&D. The product
represents an important advance in air traffic
controller display design based on Thales’s extensive
experience in advanced automation systems. The
Java based single controller display solution for en
route, approach and tower functions is available as
an upgrade for all EUROCAT systems.
This process of continual development and
refinement has allowed Thales Australia’s EUROCAT
system implementation to stay at the cutting
edge of world best practice and remain the
undisputed reference for all non-European air traffic
management customers.
The success speaks for itself – today, the Thales
EUROCAT Air Traffic Management System manages
approximately 50% of the world’s passenger aircraft
movements.
Australian Distributed Architecture Combat SystemThe Australian Distributed Architecture Combat
System (ADACS) delivers a versatile naval combat
system solution with future growth capacity.
It was developed by Thales Australia for the Royal
Australian Navy’s FFG Upgrade program, and
integrates 14 major shipboard sensors, effectors,
tactical data links and support systems. Some are
legacy and others are newly developed systems,
some with complex proprietary protocols. When
integrated using ADACS, they provide the frigates’
command teams with a common battlespace
management environment.
ADACS also provides command team operators with
a modern graphical human machine interface (HMI)
and automated operational capabilities.
The development of ADACS is one of the most
complex projects in Australian defence history. The
HMI alone involved more than 60 design working
groups and around 500,000 lines of Java code.
Track management processing and interface
processes were developed using C/C++, with
450,000 lines of code.
The project has also involved 220 ‘People Years’
of effort since 1999, including 120 on software
development, 45 on system testing and 55 on
management, supporting functions etc. There were
over 100 formal reviews, audits and working groups
along the way.
The ADACS software executes on modern
commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware based
computing infrastructure. ADACS employs a scalable
client server distributed architecture and COTS
software-based computing environment.
CASE STuDY
13
To reduce schedule and development risk, ADACS
was delivered in three baseline builds. Baseline
Build 1 (BB1) delivered significant improvement
to detection and tracking capabilities, HMI
improvements and the provision of the on board
training capability. BB2 was retro-fitted to three
ships and provided a fully integrated vertical launch
system capability for the Evolved Sea Sparrow
Missile. BB3 provided Link-16 capability, integration
of the Beacon Video Processor (BVP) for IFF
processing and integration of the Electro Optical
Tracking System (EOTS).
The success of the project, with ADACS as the
central feature, delivered the first fully integrated
Link-16 naval combat system in Australia and
generated excellent feedback from the Royal
Australian Navy.
The many technical achievements involved
showcased the company’s deep expertise in R&D
and complex systems integration, and delivered to
the ADF an enhanced air warfare capability and
platform life extension.
14
Maritime communications modernisationThe Defence Materiel Organisation’s SEA 1442
Phase 3 – Maritime Communications Modernisation
project involves the introduction of an internet
protocol (IP) based maritime tactical wide area
network (MTWAN) into the Royal Australian Navy,
in support of the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF)
NCW concept.
The MTWAN is the first tactical IP network
introduced to the ADF, and will provide the
foundation for future maritime communication
systems integration and implementation.
Thales’s innovative solution involves an integrated IP-
based digital environment, interfacing with the RAN’s
existing analogue system. This approach provides
future-proofing through the use of COTS components
and reduces through life support costs.
The solution comprises a mission system and a
support system. The mission system encompasses
the MTWAN and the message handling system
(MHS). The MTWAN allows for information exchange
between local area networks (LANs) of the same
classification at different locations. The MHS system
upgrade provides new messaging hardware and
software.
At the core of the MTWAN design is a robust and
reliable common router network. This provides
a converged IP wide area network (WAN) for
the interconnection of security domains (enclave
LANs) within the maritime battlespace information
environment. The common router network
provides an IP switching and routing fabric for the
interconnection of LANs at the same classification
level, including ship nodes and those at shore, while
still providing interoperability with allied and coalition
forces.
The MTWAN also provides a two-tiered security
architecture utilising both network and link
encryption. This architecture defends against
threats to both the network infrastructure and the
interconnected LAN applications and data.
The support system builds upon in-service
infrastructure and integrates with the RAN’s existing
capability, and provides support for the operation,
maintenance and ongoing engineering of the mission
system, as well as training.
The development of the solution required over three
years work and a significant financial commitment.
Thales’s NEWLab played an important part in
demonstrating the solution concept, maturity
CASE STuDY
15
of enabling technologies and viability of the risk
management strategy.
The MTWAN will be installed on all eight ANZAC
frigates, Australia’s four guided missile frigates
(FFGs), as well as HMAS MANOORA, HMAS
KANIMBLA and HMAS SUCCESS.
The project drew on the experience in delivering
similar programs overseas, and is an example of
the benefits a global company such as Thales can
bring to customers – local expertise combined with
reachback into the global organisation.
Rail communications and surveillanceIn an innovative demonstration of complex integration
expertise, Thales Australia is supplying the
communications and surveillance subsystem (CSS)
and performing information and communications
technology (ICT) system integration for 78 new
train sets comprising 624 carriages for the Sydney
metropolitan train network.
Thales is collaborating closely as a subcontractor to
Downer EDI Rail in designing an ethernet network
and integrating ICT systems including the train
information system, brakes, doors, traction, air
conditioning, fire detection and fleet management
systems.
The fully integrated communications and surveillance
system provides closed circuit television, data
links, GPS, destination indicators, digital voice
announcement, public address, train radio, and crew
and passenger emergency intercom.
Thales is responsible for the design, integration,
testing and support of this critical system, which will
significantly enhance the efficiency of rail services,
security of the network and safety of rail commuters,
increasing consumer confidence and patronage.
Wherever there is complex system integration
required for IT security systems, Thales brings high
level capabilities and proven performance to the
task.
Thales AustraliaLevel 2, Building 51, Garden Island, NSW 2011, AustraliaTel: +61 (0)2 9562 3333Email: [email protected]
www.thalesgroup.com.au
Thales Australia Limited ABN 66 008 642 751
////////////////////////////////////////
Imag
e cr
edits
: p3
Sol
dier
s in
nig
ht v
isio
n, p
6 B
ushm
aste
r, p
6 T
iger
hel
icop
ter, p
13
HM
AS D
arw
in,
p13 E
SSM
firing
© A
ustr
alia
n D
epar
tmen
t of
Def
ence
- 2/
20
09