DEFENCE & SECURITY
Defence and security system developers Rapid evolution of technology poses both an opportunity and a threat for defence and security systems. Today s solutions need to adapt to an everchanging challenge from adversaries taking advantage of leading-edge commercial technology, whether it is to defeat an anti-counterfeit measure or communicate covertly. At Cambridge Consultants we have been combining our knowledge and skills in commercial product development with our experience in defence and security systems for over 50 years. Our work ranges from the development of high-performance sensing systems operating in challenging environments, addressing the ever-increasing problem of managing and securing complex wireless and digital systems, through to processing and analysing complex data sources to extract information and meaning. It includes: Tracking and location systems Detection systems Communications systems Secure systems Technology assessment and futures
Our capability and approach The Cambridge Consultants defence and security capability has, for the last decade, provided strategic support for both our government and commercial clients across multiple technologies. Whether you are looking to develop a component, a product or a complete system, we can help at all stages throughout the development cycle. Our expertise covers technology assessment and futures, proof-of-concept development and system design, as well as manufacturing and in-service support. We work with our clients to explore the art of the possible, overcoming tough and complex technical and programme challenges to develop leading-edge deployable solutions. Our engineers and scientists are supported by a suite of design, modelling and simulation tools. This, combined with our programme management expertise, engineering processes, prototyping and manufacturing facilities at our site in Cambridge, have consistently delivered fast time-to-market developments for our clients. Never content with the status quo, it will come as no surprise that we are continually investing in our design and engineering tools, laboratories and manufacturing capability, with recent significant extensions to our electronic production facilities and RF laboratories. 03
Tracking and location systems The ability to accurately and reliably locate people and assets is of critical importance in defence and security systems for both training and operational use. Our approach is to use our skills and experience to deliver overall location system performance, ensuring that our clients understand the likely level of performance which can be achieved in the real world, rather than under a limited set of operational conditions. We have developed a structured approach to tracking and location system design. This enables us to provide accurate performance estimates, given a detailed understanding of the requirements and modelling of the hardware, RF propagation and signal processing. Our end-to-end solutions provide optimal performance in terms of location accuracy, security, power consumption, size and weight. They achieve this through careful implementation of hardware, algorithms and software across deployed devices, serverside processing and visualisation. Our experience spans a range of well-established and newer location systems: Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS): We have experience in standard and custom hardware and algorithm development, offering high performance in challenging environments for satellite-based platforms. Regional positioning systems: Despite the success of global systems, there is continued interest in systems operating over continents, countries or individual regions, with reduced vulnerability to jamming, as shown by recent work in cellular, eloran and other non-gnss technologies. Local and indoor positioning systems: The use of custom infrastructure or existing communications infrastructure enables high accuracy to be provided at short ranges or in buildings, as demonstrated by our work with Ubisense on ultra-wideband (UWB) location systems and based on our short-range radar technology. Developments in consumer electronics have provided MEMS sensors and communication infrastructure which can be used to augment GNSS operation in difficult environments such as inside buildings. Our experience enables us to select the most appropriate location technique or techniques for a given application and optimally combine these using our knowledge of the underlying technologies. 04
MEMS-based tracking and location Indoor location systems have historically been based on previously deployed infrastructure such as Wi-Fi hotspots or other communications transmitters. We have developed a platform to locate a person in a building without infrastructure such as beacons, based on consumer-grade inertial sensors combined with low-power processing and novel statistical algorithms. This takes advantage of recent improvements in sensors and processors, and achieves good accuracy without a dedicated survey of the building, at a fraction of the cost and power consumption of existing inertial navigation solutions. The platform can be deployed as a standalone facility in defence, industrial, commercial and healthcare applications for in-building use. Alternatively, it can be combined with other location techniques to provide a robust location system for local positioning, or adapted to address custom applications such as offender tracking. MEMS-based tracking and location Our system output (blue path) of a track through a building compared with GPS data (red) received within the building. 05
Detection systems The demand for ever-increasing performance from sensing and detection systems has been a consistent theme of our work over many years. The advent of modern RF and optical components, combined with the advances in signal processing devices, has enabled significant improvements in sensitivity and performance at ever-decreasing size and power consumption. Throughout this period of continuing change, our approach remains the same: Requirements: We re able to rapidly define the key elements of the requirements which will influence the choice of technical solution and how the information will be displayed to the user. Understanding: A fundamental understanding of the physics of a sensing problem is critical to its success. We have a deep understanding of sensor physics covering RF, optical, magnetic, acoustic, electrostatic and MEMS sensing systems, which has led to the development of many innovative products. Optimisation: Optimisation in sensor design requires skill both in the hardware development and in the algorithm development. Our processing approach is based on a combination of conventional and statistical processing which maximises information extraction from single or for complex problems multiple sensors and technologies using techniques such as Bayesian inference and Markov chain Monte-Carlo sampling techniques. Ease of use: We have well-defined processes for weight and size modelling as well as the definition of user interfaces which support equipment operators to make rapid, reliable and accurate decisions based on complex sensor outputs. Implementation: The breadth of our business exposes us to the leading edge in implementation in areas of wireless, medical, consumer and industrial product development, offering significant value in terms of performance and power consumption. We have successfully applied our approach to short-range radar systems, including synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) systems for high-performance ground-based and surface imaging, harmonic radar systems, and optical-based biological agent and explosive detection systems. Ingenia K1050 laser surface authentication reader development Ingenia approached Cambridge Consultants to transfer its existing proof-ofconcept reader to a robustly engineered product suitable for operation in the most demanding industrial production environments. The design team of optics, electronics, software and mechanical engineers created the K1050, a high-speed optical scanner that generates a signature based on the unique and physically unclonable microstructure of each product, capable of operating on line speeds up to 10 metres per second and up to 50 items per second. 06
The increase in the number of connected devices is driving significant innovation in secure technologies which can be employed to authenticate system components, protect intellectual property or secure sensitive client data. Secure systems We have defined approaches to support both the system design and assessment, and the implementation of secure technologies, which extend the well-known balance between security, ease of use and cost: System design and assessment: Our bsecure methodology provides a tried and tested approach to capture stakeholder requirements, and to specify, identify and select technology components whilst understanding their practical use, ensuring the security requirements are met alongside the other demanding product requirements. Security architectures: We have developed end-to-end security architectures able to support streaming applications as well as protocols for low-power store and forward devices. Security technologies and platforms: We have access to a range of security technologies through our existing commercial relationships in support of our product development business. In addition, we have developed a range of security platforms and codebases from AES encryption to ECC public key authentication to custom low-power and low-bandwidth security algorithms. We have specific expertise in the implementation of security on low-power, computationally constrained processors based on our work in smart metering a key enabler for the internet of things. Our work has also included the integration of commercially available SIM and smartcardbased hardware security modules (HSMs), low-cost public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions and symmetric secure storage solutions with short-range wireless systems including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. Trusted Source Cambridge Consultants has developed TrustedSource, a cost-effective and easyto-implement turnkey platform for digital security that is an efficient way of allowing brand owners to give each of their products even low-cost ones a unique digital identity before they leave the manufacturer s production line. This area of secure identification is becoming more important with the growth in smart devices which rely on being able to connect securely to digital services such as healthcare applications. The solution includes a certificate authority server system, software, a key management and provisioning toolbox, and HSM-based tokens, speeding the development of connected systems for pilot or full deployment for our clients. 07
Communication systems The ability to reliably and securely communicate, monitor and command the radio spectrum is at the heart of modern operational requirements. Cambridge Consultants has one of the world s largest independent wireless development teams. Operating at the forefront of commercial wireless system development, we continue to deliver ever-increasing performance at reduced cost and power consumption. With this level of expertise, we are able to provide a complete wireless design service. We have: Over 200 man years of cellular development experience in the last decade covering cellular standards including GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, LTE and LTE-A. Detailed implementation experience in short-range radio standards (including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee) and public sector standards including TETRA and TETRA II. Ability to adapt wireless standards to client needs to meet regulatory, low probability of detection or security requirements, and customisation for surveillance or bespoke communication applications. Extensive skill and experience in software-defined radio (SDR) design and implementation from professional radio systems to cellular small cells. Considerable exp erience of standard and custom networking protocols, which extends to implementation of high-availability telecommunications gateways and server systems, and the application of digital security and authentication techniques to distributed systems. Custom ASIC design capability specialising in low-power, mixed-signal implementations. Key to this is our ability to rapidly transfer leading-edge wireless technology into defence and security applications based on our range of hardware and software reference designs and detailed understanding of wireless protocols. 08
Iridium System Design Authority Cambridge Consultants has been Iridium s design authority for all of its ground terminal equipment for over a decade. Working with a global team of partners, Cambridge Consultants has led the definition, design and implementation of this highly complex and integrated equipment, building technology platforms that have been deployed in a range of new markets and products. These have included the 9555 and 9575 Iridium handsets, 9601/2/3 short burst data modems, 9623 transceiver and OpenPort broadband terminal. This has extended to the development of transceiver and gateway infrastructure components for the US DoD Distributed Tactical Communications System (DTCS) and subscriber equipment technology for Iridium NEXT. Cambridge Consultants is a valuable longterm partner... [its] expertise minimises our R&D cost, allowing us to quickly bring to market innovative, game-changing products. Iridium 09
Technology assessment and futures Technology continues to evolve at an ever-increasing pace. Our product development experience across multiple industries, allied with our systems engineering and domain experience, places us in a unique position to provide an independent, balanced and accurate insight into threats and opportunities around the introduction of new technologies. This includes: Identification of technology and market trends with the potential to deliver improved capability in security, sensing, location and communication systems. Identification of technologies and approaches which pose a threat to current capabilities or are likely to drive improvements in the short to medium term. Impact of trends in the use of technology which may alter the types of capability which are required in the longer term. Analysis of existing systems to determine vulnerabilities based on technology and its implementation or use. Definition of mitigation approaches to address short-term capability gaps. We have well-developed methodologies to support the analysis and visualisation of these problems as well as help form recommendations and identify system designs which mitigate these risks. This includes both product and capability-driven technology roadmapping, scenario-driven requirements capture, and custom analysis techniques developed from our security work. Media consumption 10
About Cambridge Consultants Cambridge Consultants is a world-class supplier of innovative product development engineering and technology consulting. We work with companies globally to help them manage the business impact of the changing technology landscape. With a team of more than 700 staff in the UK, the USA, Singapore, Japan and India, we have all the in-house skills needed to help you from creating innovative concepts right the way through to taking your product into manufacturing. Most of our projects deliver prototype hardware or software and trials production batches. Equally, our technology consultants can help you to maximise your product portfolio and technology roadmap. We re not content just to create me-too products that make incremental change; we specialise in helping companies achieve the seemingly impossible. We work with some of the world s largest blue-chip companies as well as with some of the smallest, innovative start-ups who want to change the status quo fast.
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