INTRODUCTION TO THESMITH INSTITUTE:

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

Prepared by Heather Tewkesbury

October 2010© Smith Institute 2010

“My intention was, and remains, to solve business problems by the use of system-level thinking underpinned by the mathematical sciences”

Dr Bruce Smith, Chairman

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Smith Institute’s History

• Established originally as part of Smith System Engineering to enrich their supply of highly skilled staff

• Became an independent company in 1997

• Owned by members, no shareholders

• Continuous organic growth since 1997

• Chairman is Dr Bruce Smith

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How do we solve business problems?

ALGORITHMSALGORITHMS

DATADATA

MODELSMODELSIMPLEMENTATION IMPLEMENTATION

OR SOLUTIONOR SOLUTION

• System-level analysis

• Apply mathematical understanding

• Create, develop & connect

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What do people want us to do?

• Manage and reduce risk - NATS

• Increase safety and security - Cadbury

• Improve performance - Motorola

• Verify algorithms - Ofcom

• Access fresh ideas - Home Office

• Refresh staff capability - British Energy

Which sectors

• We have major clients in the public and private sectors.

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Technology Strategy Board

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Why do people work with us?

• Return on Investment - ARA

• Independence - MoD, Home Office

• Vision - Thales

• Technical expertise – British Energy

• Agility - Wragge & co, Motorola

Creating value through system-level thinking

State the

problem

Re-evaluate

Investigate alternatives

Model the

systemIntegrate

Launch the

system

Assess performance

Customer needs

Product &

process

Re-evaluate

Re-evaluate

Re-evaluate

Re-evaluate

Re-evaluate

Thales ASTRAEA, Motorola

Ofcom, Cadbury

ARA, Wittenstein, Home Office

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Embedded in business, creating valueEmbedded in business, creating value

2. Model delivery, Independent testing, Bespoke solutions, Data analysis

1. Maximising effectiveness of research spend, system-wide frameworks

4. Access to academic expertise, Access to industry

3. Professional development, training

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Case study: Thales Aerospace

• Robust algorithms for collision avoidance in unmanned air vehicles for ASTRAEA

• Limitations of existing approaches

• Identified a novel approach, implemented and tested it

““The algorithms have proven to be exceptionally The algorithms have proven to be exceptionally robust during testing in the Thales Systems robust during testing in the Thales Systems Integration Laboratory, where they have been Integration Laboratory, where they have been exercised against a number of avoidance exercised against a number of avoidance scenarios along with new detection, fusion and scenarios along with new detection, fusion and processing components.” processing components.”

Prof Simon Watts Prof Simon Watts Deputy Scientific Director Deputy Scientific Director Thales Aerospace Thales Aerospace

Case study: ARA

• RoI within 2 months, 20% savings

• Wind tunnel testing of aircraft wings

• Maintain output data quality with fewer measurement points

• New four-dimensional interpolation algorithm

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““Implementation of this data processing routine into wind tunnel testing will permit ARA to reduce the cost and time taken to manufacture a high speed wind tunnel model by approximately 20% and will enhance the visual presentation of the measured pressure data to the client.”.”

Dennis Stanniland Dennis Stanniland Chief Aerodynamicist Chief Aerodynamicist ARA ARA

Case study: HOSDB

• New ideas to address three challenging problems:

> Stopping vessels> Pattern matching> Signal separation

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>>Our technical staff, coupled with extensive Our technical staff, coupled with extensive contacts in the mathematical science base, contacts in the mathematical science base, allow cutting edge techniques to be applied allow cutting edge techniques to be applied rapidly and effectively.rapidly and effectively.

Case study: British Energy

• Refreshed internal capability

• Bespoke course material to fit with British Energy’s Systematic Approach to Training

• Advanced statistical techniques

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““We chose the Smith Institute to help us develop this advanced training session because of their expertise in applying complex mathematics in an industrial setting. The course tutors were adept at conveying complex ideas in an accessible way.  The Smith Institute took complete ownership of the course development and its alignment with British Energy's processes and kept us informed of progress throughout.”

David Ogle Group Head of Safety Case Development British Energy

Case study: Wittenstein

• Framework for testing and data analysis to determine the maintenance procedure

• Cost-effective maintenance that also meets operational and safety requirements of airborne systems

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““The Smith Institute helped us to develop a The Smith Institute helped us to develop a precise problem definition and to formulate a precise problem definition and to formulate a sound mathematical basis for our future worksound mathematical basis for our future work.” .”

Dr David Cowling Dr David Cowling Managing Director Managing Director Wittenstein aerospace & simulation ltdWittenstein aerospace & simulation ltd

Case study: NATS

• Critical evaluation and deeper understanding of the analysis methods

• Reliable estimates of extremely low probability events 

• Reliably modelling such rare events is fundamentally difficult

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““Working with the Smith Institute has enabled NATS Working with the Smith Institute has enabled NATS to take a fresh look at this difficult problem and to take a fresh look at this difficult problem and through their academic rigour and depth provided us through their academic rigour and depth provided us with some new pointers which enabled us to further with some new pointers which enabled us to further improve our risk modelling.”improve our risk modelling.”

Martyn Richards Martyn Richards Head of Operational Analysis Head of Operational Analysis NATS NATS

What we do in high performance computing

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• Proof of concept studies to gain insight

• Framework for using GPU technology

• Staff training and knowledge transfer to embed the new systems within your organisation

• E.g. Combinatorial clock auctions x15 speed up for some scenarios

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Our People: Staff

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Our People: Council

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Our People: Scientific Committee

Prof Colin Please Prof Colin Please ChairmanChairman

32 Academics22 Universities

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Smith Institute & your company

• Working together

• Best practise across programmes & projects

• Professional development

• Access to expertise

• Smith Institute staff – technical skills & system-level thinking, facilitation

• Scientific Committee & UK academics – specialist expertise

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Contact details

• Dr Heather Tewkesbury

Business Development Director

Heather.Tewkesbury@smithinst.co.uk

01483 579108

• www.smithinst.co.uk