VMASS (Vehicle Mounted Acoustic Sensor System) is a new product line within the Communication and Acoustic Products Group (CAP) which forms part of the Customer Services and Support Business Line within Maritime Mission Systems. VMASS provides a land vehicle operator aid for the localisation and classification of gun shot, cannon fire, and helicopters, and has the potential to significantly improve situational awareness on the battlefield.Key Responsibilities:- Algorithm development and verification using MATLAB- Establishing continuous integration process (JenkinsCI)- Development of testing automation tools- Algorithm configuration management

Thales have a long history of providing world-leading satellite communications products for the avionics industry. With the Multi-Domain Compact Satcom product line, Thales can provide internet and mobile communications on commercial aircraft through the use of modern COTS digital signal processors, and high-performance software defined radio algorithms.Key Responsibilities:- Development of generic testing framework for software defined radios (Python/C/C++)- Establishing test-driven development within team- Embedding development process within continuous integration system (JenkinsCI)

TEASE (Trust Enabling Augmented-Reality Support for Information Environments) is an innovative data mining tool used for quantifying trust metrics of online information stored across a number of platforms (social networks, world wide web, etc.).Key Responsibilities:- Development of trust algorithms- Design and development of information fusion (Enterprise Integration Framework - Spring Integration)- Prototyping web-based visualization tools (JavaScript/SVG - D3)- Assisted with project coordination with other consortium partners- Assisted with project promotion at both internal and external conferences

As a KTP associate, it was my primary objective to develop the organisation’s information technology capabilities. This manifested in several important projects:• Service Engineer CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – In support of expanding this particular area of the business, the organisation required a system to manage customer information and coordinate their engineers to serve those customers. I personally developed the system from the ground up using a MySQL database, CakePHP framework (Apache and PHP underneath) and Bootstrap for the user-interface (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery underneath). • AdminBase CRM Web Front-end – I identified a need within a business area where installation managers required information contained within the CRM’s database but did not require the full functionality of the client application. I wrote a system which interfaced with the CRM’s FireBird SQL database which delivered the information over the internet at no additional cost to the business. I utilised similar technologies that were employed in the Service Engineer CRM.• Corporate Website – Through frequent outsourcing of web development, the relationship between the organisation and its online identity had degraded substantially. I was able to revive it by migrating what little information which was currently captured on the website to WordPress , empowering staff with the ability to publish their own content to the internet with ease. Essentially the responsibility for maintaining the website was brought back into the organisation. By using WordPress I could extend its functionality further through its vast plugin library. For example I was able to install a contact form plugin (Gravity Forms) which would allow customers to enter their information on the website and then through further development, it could publish the information to the organisation’s CRM directly.

The role required me to manage and coordinate cover of up to twelve lifeguards across two community swimming pools. Because the role didn’t have much contact with each lifeguard, it was important to utilise collaborative IT solutions to help support communication of important health and safety announcements and personalised rotas to ensure that the workforce remained well informed at all times. The role also required me to arrange monthly training sessions in order to maintain lifeguard proficiency and continued professional development. Using my knowledge of information technology, I was able to introduce two of the following innovations to the role:• Electronic Scheduling – When I took other the role, the lifeguards were allocated their shifts via a single paper rota issued at the beginning of each month. I felt that the system was inflexible in the sense that if one shift changed, the rota needed to be reissued to all lifeguards, regardless of whether it effected them or not. I replaced the system with Google Calendar which would allow me allocate a separate calendar to each lifeguard and in essence give them a personalised view of the shifts they were to work. In the event a shift was changed, it could be easily accomplished with only those effected being notified. A natural progression from this system was that as more people have smartphones today, the lifeguards could link their phones to their calendar and so access their rota wherever they may be.• Timesheet Generator – One of my responsibilities was to produce the timesheets each month on behalf of the lifeguards so they would get paid. Since the rota was now stored using Google Calendar, I developed a C# application which connected to Google’s Calendar API and populated the relevant fields in an excel spread sheet for a specified lifeguard. This reduced the time to produce timesheets from two hours to a matter of minutes.

This project required me to liaise with academic staff in the department of experimental psychology to develop a simple memory test application using touchscreens. The aim was to extend this concept into a largely automated process from the design and scheduling of experiments across multiple servers and the aggregation of results after their execution. There was a substantial emphasis on providing a cost-effective solution which could be used by other academic institutions through the adoption of open source technologies. In an effort to minimise development time, both the server, designer, and reporting applications were written in C#, however it needed to be compatible with the Mono framework so it could be compiled for both Linux and Windows environments in an effort to be supported across multiple operating systems. Since the client PCs used Intel’s low-cost Atom architecture careful attention was paid to the use of limited system resources. Not only did the role required me to interact with a number of subject matter experts to ensure the necessary requirements were gathered and met, but also manage a small team of software developers and electrical engineers.

TouchGo Technology Ltd. is a start-up company based at the University of Reading’s Science & Technology Centre which specialises in developing touch-screen vending machines with cool features like voucher printers and Paywave/PayPass technology. They have recently developed several working prototypes which you can check out on their YouTube channel. There is also a case study on Intel’s website which broadly outlines what they have achieved so far.I joined TouchGo through a knowledge transfer accelerator project which was operated through the University of Reading’s Knowledge Transfer Centre. The project lasted six months and the aim was to deliver a customisable user interface framework which could allow vending machines to be deployed anywhere and dispense any variety of products. I developed the front-end in Microsoft’s .NET Framework, using XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) to template various components of the UI which made it easy to apply new content (e.g. product images) to the UI without the need to redevelop the entire interface.I also developed a back-end management system in Microsoft’s Silverlight technology which would allow configuration of the UI and then store it in a MS SQL database. A shell component which exclusively managed the vending machine’s software was responsible for downloading the latest configuration from the database via a websever. The idea was not deploy vending machines to a location where there was no broadband but to install a 3G modem inside the vending machine which it could use to contact the webserver and publish performance data.

Research inexpensive massively parallel computing platforms for the use in bioinformatics.

Worked on a variety of projects which included managing IT infrastructure migration, deployment of experimental IT solutions for research applications, liaising with customers to aid integration of IT into business, long-term support of scientific applications and hardware and management of intellectual property for acquired technologies. Although the day-to-day aspect of the role was distributed with deploying hardware and software into the research environment, I was privileged to be involved in a variety of different projects:• Vehicle Registration Database – This was a migration project where I redeveloped an existing PHP prototype website using ASP.NET and AJAX technologies. The application itself was to allow staff members of the research centre to personally manage their car’s parking permits so that security could be better informed to which vehicles where permitted on site. • Automated Backup Server – Although I had encountered backup solutions before, I’d never dealt with one which had automated handling of the tapes. The aim of the project was the transfer of knowledge from previous support analysts who had originally supported it at another site.• Video Monitoring Servers – The project was to configure and install 24 blade servers which would monitor up to 192 individual camera feeds of live experiments 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The role also required my to support both the hardware and software components ensuring that staff members had access to the video feeds remotely from their homes during the weekend.