Sponsored By Oxley Developments
www.oxleygroup.com
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09 Jan 23. Oxley Invests in New ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System to Drive Business Improvements. As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, Oxley Group is implementing a new ERP system which will go live early in 2023.
Oxley has embarked on this ambitious digital transformation programme to drive efficiency through the full end to end manufacturing process. The new system will support the business in improving productivity and ensuring adherence to lead times and delivery schedules, with enhanced planning capabilities to ensure the business is ready to meet market demands.
Our recent Customer Satisfaction Survey highlighted that customers value responsiveness and accuracy of information. At Oxley, we’re committed to achieving this and the new ERP system will facilitate these improvements.
The drive for productivity and meeting industry 4.0 standards is prevalent throughout the manufacturing industry, the new Oxley ERP system will provide a platform for digitalisation and streamlining both manufacturing and support processes: delivering improved efficiencies, consistency and a better customer experience.
Data Security is critical for Oxley and the implementation of the new system will enable the business to maintain the highest level of cyber security, demonstrating commitment to mitigating the risk from internet-based threats through a certified assurance framework.
The team are committed to ensuring that the implementation process is managed seamlessly, and our number one priority continues to be servicing our customers with the excellent level of support they expect from Oxley. To discuss any individual requirements or for further information, please contact the sales team:
13 Jan 23. H3 Dynamics Announces Mobile Hydrogen Station for Hydrogen Drones & UAVs. H3 Dynamics has announced the global launch of H2FIELD-1, a new mobile hydrogen station capable of producing hydrogen in the field for unmanned aerial vehicles of all shapes, sizes and configurations.
Now hydrogen-powered airships, multi-rotors, vertical take-off and landing UAS and various fixed wing systems will be able to benefit from 24/7 hydrogen supply anywhere, anytime.
H2FIELD’s rugged IP-65 trailer-based solution brings hydrogen production to different drone operation locations. It can also be dismounted as a permanent installation and connect to solar panel arrays. H3 Dynamics can supply various configurations, with slow or fast charge options down to minutes per fill – depending on client requirements. H3 Dynamics’ system is extremely compact and can produce hydrogen on site – not just dispense it from other storage forms.
For hydrogen drone operators, H2FIELD-1 solves fundamental hydrogen accessibility in remote areas, unlocking a major logistical barrier for a growing base of hydrogen drone operators in industrial, defense, or even academic sectors. The only feedstock input is water.
H3 Dynamics has been working on a first transatlantic hydrogen-electric flight using liquid hydrogen storage systems currently being tested in France with ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse. Last week H3 Dynamics announced its hydrogen propulsion partnership with French airship maker HyLight, and the week prior with Australian VTOL UAV producer Carbonix whose airframes are made by Quickstep – Australia’s leading aerospace composites producer.
2023 will see more of these announcements as H3 Dynamics continues to transition battery-UAS manufacturers to hydrogen technologies. Compared to batteries, hydrogen electric systems increase battery-drone flight durations by several orders of magnitude, opening to many new possibilities in a market that is expected to grow five-fold to $100B by 2030.
H2FIELD-1 marks the start of H3 Dynamics’ foray into hydrogen infrastructure solutions for small, unmanned and increasingly large aircraft, from airfields to airports – with increasingly large output power and hydrogen storage capabilities.
“We are the evolutionary starting point to increasingly large hydrogen powered flight platforms, where testing, certification and regulatory approval challenges vary based on aircraft weight. We want to mature hydrogen technology in today’s existing uncrewed aviation market – and that includes working out hydrogen logistics and refueling systems,”
says Taras Wankewycz, CEO and co-Founder at H3 Dynamics.
About H3 Dynamics
H3 Dynamics is on a mission to decarbonize aviation. While the commercial opportunities around passenger-scale hydrogen aviation propulsion will take many more years to mature, the company is following a “start small” product and services roadmap that solves safety, technical, regulatory challenges by adding scale, weight and complexity over time. The company employs 94 team members from its 3 regional headquarters in Toulouse, Austin and Singapore. H3 Dynamics is a member of the Alliance for Zero Emission Aviation under the European Commission, Sustainable Aero Lab, the Lufthansa Cleantech Hub, the Paris Advanced Air Mobility Alliance, and Aerospace Valley in Toulouse. (Source: UAS VISION)
12 Jan 23. ADI Mechatronics and Mavtech partner on fuel cell technology. Tyre pressure, automation and driveline control specialist Mavtech Technologies have partnered with South African company ADI Mechatronics on industrialising fuel cell technology for electronic drive applications.
The two companies have entered into a cooperation agreement with regard to generating power for electric vehicles by means of hydrogen fuel cells, which Mavtech Technologies will produce.
ADI Mechatronics is a relatively new company, established in 2021, that specialises in electronic control solutions, control software and the design and development of electric vehicle drive systems. It is headed up by Managing Director Thaakir Aricum, who was previously employed by Denel Vehicle Systems as a design engineer.
Mavtech Technologies was established in 1995 to offer vehicle control solutions to the South African vehicle manufacturing industry. It has built up well over two decades of experience supporting various Central Tyre Inflation Systems (CTIS) and recently launched its own Tyre Pressure Control system. It has supported tyre pressure control systems on more than half a dozen vehicles, including the DCD Protected Mobility Husky and Denel Land Systems G6.
The company has over the years designed, developed and supplied a long list of Vehicle Auxiliary Control Systems tailored to customers’ requests. These systems range from basic features such as air horns and steering wheel height adjustment locks to more complex Vehicle Drive Line Control Systems which include intelligent safety interlocking features. These features have been installed on a wide range of South African designed vehicles destined for the international market.
(Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
12 Jan 23. Sweden’s state-owned mining company LKAB has said it has discovered Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals north of the Arctic Circle. The discovery bolsters the continent’s ambition to rely less on imported raw materials needed for the green transition. The deposit, dubbed Per Geijer, is located in the Kiruna area of northern Sweden, in the province of Lapland, and contains more than 1mn tonnes of rare earth oxides — the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe, the company said. Speaking at the company’s existing iron ore mine in Kiruna — itself the largest in the EU — chief executive Jan Moström said it would take several more years to establish what the deposit contained. “We have ongoing exploration activities in this deposit, which means for us it’s open, it’s not closed — we don’t actually know how big it is,” he added in a press conference. Moström stressed the regulatory challenges lying ahead as the company seeks to exploit the discovery. “If we really want to pursue the green transition we must find ways to speed up this process quite substantially.” Rare earths deposits are — contrary to their name — fairly common across different geographies, but it is the extraction of the minerals that is the most challenging part, because of complex processing and intensive environmental effects. It would take 10 to 15 years before the raw materials could be delivered to the market, Moström said, but if permitting processes at a Swedish and EU level can be accelerated this timescale could be cut by upwards of 50 per cent. The company plans to submit an application for an exploitation concession this year. At present more than 80 per cent of the world’s rare earths processing capacity is in China and the EU predicts that demand for the metals used in electric car motors and wind turbines will increase fivefold by 2030. The mining company’s announcement came as European commissioners visited Kiruna in the opening days of Sweden’s six-month rotating EU presidency. The EU has put the drive for greater self-sufficiency in raw materials at the top of its agenda as it seeks to curb its reliance on China and Russia and shore up its ambitions to boost homegrown green technologies including wind and car batteries. The European Commission is working on plans to lower regulatory barriers to mining and production of critical materials such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, needed for wind farms, solar panels and electric vehicles. The work has taken on greater urgency amid a stand-off with the US over its $369bn Inflation Reduction Act, which offers huge industrial subsidies aimed at boosting green technologies in the US. The US scheme has triggered fears of an exodus of green investment from the EU across the Atlantic, amplified this week by Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo, who complained of “aggressive” US efforts to woo EU companies. Some member states are sceptical about how far the EU can go towards lowering its reliance on imported raw and refined materials given the regulatory obstacles, stressing the need to stick with a free-trade agenda aimed at unlocking deals with mineral-rich continents such as South America. Valdis Dombrovskis, trade commissioner, has emphasised the need to widen the union’s network of free trade agreements, pointing to Chile, and its vast stocks of lithium, as the EU seeks to sign a deal updating a 2002 agreement. The EU also wants an agreement with Australia, another raw materials powerhouse, by next summer. (Source: FT.com)
11 Jan 23. Dstl’s quantum laboratory – Making better, faster decisions with quantum computing. Industry partner PA Consulting has worked with Dstl on prototype tools using advanced quantum principles alongside essential elements of human decision-making. Fast and accurate decision-making is crucial to making the best use of resources within defence and security, and ultimately, keeping people safe. And while humans are an essential part of the decision-making process, scenarios are becoming increasingly complex for humans alone in a fast-paced world.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), has a mission to advance UK capability through the development and application of novel or innovative science and technology. PA Consulting has been working with Dstl and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for many years on a range of new technologies to build understanding of its operational challenges.
PA’s prior experience in operational analysis, the mathematics of decision making, applied physics and quantum computing techniques has allowed them to identify the opportunity for a new approach to using machines to support human decision making. The solutions PA proposed were rooted in a hybrid of classical and quantum computing techniques transferred from their experts in the financial sector and applied to defence-related challenges.
Funded through MOD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) – the government organisation that finds and funds exploitable innovation for a safer future – PA created prototype tools to help make better decisions, faster while keeping the essential elements of human decision-making.
Future evolutions of these tools are expected to play a key role in improving many decision-making processes across the MOD, lowering risk, optimising resources and, ultimately, keeping people safer. This work also helps position the UK at the forefront of practical quantum algorithm development.
Principal Scientist at Dstl, Dr Martyn Fletcher said: “We suspected that quantum computing had potential but we needed to put this into a military context and working with PA Consulting they are helping to provide the right approach to practically evaluate near term potential from both the quantum and the defence operational viewpoints.”
The work has:
• applied advanced quantum principles to the challenge of making operational decisions better, faster and with more human impact
• created real-world demonstrations of the potential for today’s quantum computing to address today’s military operational challenges
• improved the quality of decision-making by providing a tool enabling people to rapidly explore the trade-offs involved in decision-making
Enabling faster operational decisions in a complex environment
As the science arm of the MOD, Dstl’s role is to help the MOD apply science and technology innovation to strengthen the nation’s defence and security. Dstl is alert to the need for improving the quality and speed of decision-making in an ever more complex operating environment, and so it needs ideas on how disruptive technologies could provide solutions.
Quantum technology is a fast-maturing field of mathematics, physics and engineering. One branch, quantum computing, enables agile decision-making by identifying an optimum course of action by trialling all scenarios and outcomes simultaneously. This cannot be done using conventional computing tools.
Paul Martin, PA quantum technology expert elaborates: “What we needed to show is that quantum computing potential can be tapped, and that this new disruptive technology can begin to address today’s optimisation and operational challenges, regardless of market sector. To fully address such challenges, very significant improvements must be made in the hardware and software.”
Applying disruptive technology to real-world challenges
PA has worked with Dstl and military end-users to define challenges where quantum computing could make a significant improvement to today’s issues. To achieve this, PA brought a unique and distinctive mix of expertise to the challenge, combining operational analysis expertise with physics, mathematical and quantum expertise. In parallel PA drew on their experience helping companies in the financial services sector make highly confident and speedy decisions.
Realising the opportunity of quantum computing
One way to understand which challenges quantum computing can solve is to test and learn. PA, together with Dstl and its military advisers identified 22 possible use cases and narrowed these to an initial 2 to explore the possibilities.
The resulting innovation was a hybrid of classical computing and quantum computing solutions hosted via Amazon Braket – Amazon’s quantum computing service. The 2 selected use cases were to answer the questions ‘where is the best place to put communications assets to ensure a resilient network?’, and ‘how to best use limited resources, given their constraints, against a to-do list?’ These are both examples of solving problems that rapidly scale to a complexity beyond the capability of humans or classical computing solutions.
The next step was to understand how MOD operational challenges could be programmed into the computer. Quantum compute software is comparable in maturity to classical computing in the 1960’s – this required PA to program very differently and transform the problem definition into the mathematical formulation required for a quantum computer. The instructions were then relayed to the Braket service on the cloud to run the calculation on today’s hardware. The result was a hybrid solution with data formulated and presented by the classical computer, but with calculations carried out using quantum techniques – making the best of the capabilities of both forms of computer.
This hybrid classical/quantum approach allowed MOD users to make an efficient exploration of trade-offs, producing a wide range of solutions from which they could choose. This provided the human impact that is essential to good decision-making and enabled Dstl leaders to communicate to their teams the reasons and the diligence they took in reaching the decisions.
Making the most of limited resources
In the case of resource allocation, the problem is already extremely complex, trading off objectives, different resources, varied tasks and appropriate timing to reach each solution successfully. Owing to its complexity, this is a task that needs the balance of computing and human experience. The team therefore challenged humans to beat the hybrid classical/quantum solution. The feedback from this test was simple: today’s quantum computers make decision-making better and faster.
Supported by this evidence, PA enabled expert defence planners to rapidly identify a range of good decisions, and then, using their experience, select the most operationally applicable and resilient.
The 2 cases the team considered can be applied to a range of opportunities including routing, timetabling and pattern spotting, in addition to other scheduling and resource placement tasks.
Positioning the UK at the cutting edge
Together with Dstl, PA is helping to position the MOD at the forefront of exploiting developments in quantum technology; this work has shown that today’s Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) processing technology can enhance complex decision-making. Key decision pathways have been made better and faster as a result of the utilisation of the 2 test cases.
Dstl will continue to invest further in quantum computing solutions and hardware. This work will help mature real-world use-cases and develop further applications that will ultimately save time, money and lives by making better decisions, faster.
The work has also opened up a valuable and strategically significant opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in sectors beyond defence.
Stephen Till, a Senior Fellow at Dstl said: “The 2 use cases PA has explored have shown quantum benefit can be derived even with today’s NISQ processor technology. With further developments in system architectures and hardware expected, the work has increased our confidence that quantum information processing will help solve many of MOD’s important challenges. To my knowledge, this is the first piece of work to demonstrate quantum benefit using a NISQ machine to solve militarily important problems and that will build confidence and underpin continued investment in quantum information processing by the UK MOD and Government.” (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
09 Jan 23. US Army Invited CodeMettle’s INB2 Technology to PC22 Exercise. CodeMettle, an innovative software developer of Network Operations (NetOps) software applications, announced their involvement at the recent Army Project Convergence 2022 (PC22) Exercise with the Integrated Battalion and Below (INB2) program. INB2 is a multi-waveform monitoring and management capability that started as a Network Cross-Functional Team (N-CFT) initiative in 2019, through the Adaptive Acquisition Framework, Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA). INB2 participated in PC22, proving their network management capability of the TrellisWare TSM Waveform and Tactical Radio Integration Kits (TRIK) as part of the Integrated Tactical Network (ITN). CodeMettle’s platform-agnostic NetOps software application allows Soldiers to visualize and manage disparate radio technologies and waveforms within a single NetOps platform in a distributed battlefield management scenario. INB2 also aligns with the Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative by displaying a joint Secure But Unclassified Network Common Operational Picture (NetCop).
“Siloed or poorly integrated defense network technologies can delay time-critical communications and decisions,” said Richard Graham, CEO of CodeMettle. “For the all-service experiment, we were proud to provide defense leaders and operators a unified view of multiple technologies across disciplines, paired with essential tasking tools that speed issue identification and repairs.”
Product Manager (PM) Tactical Cyber Network Operations (TCNO) and Product Lead Network Manager installed and configured INB2 for Air and Ground TSM network management. The INB2 capability enabled monitoring and managing the network and provided a situational understanding of the tactical radio network at the Exercise Control S6 NetOps cell. INB2 is the first application to provide this capability for the S6 from the ITN tactical edge to the highest echelon.
As part of DevSecOps and Agile Software Development Methodologies, CodeMettle received real-time feedback back from operational Users. This collaboration allows for continual improvement and flexible responses to changes in need, and understanding of the problems to be solved – enabling CodeMettle to deliver a better capability for the Warfighter.
“Defense leaders, network operators and Warfighters were delighted to see multiple technologies on one screen,” commented Graham. “They also validated many of the benefits of integrated network operations and offered valuable feedback on which tactical data is most important to see – and how they want to see it. We’ll use that input for future product enhancements.”
About CodeMettle
CodeMettle serves defense, government and commercial partners through innovative and scalable commercial software products. Our agile solutions solve the most complex data integration, network operations and process challenges. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, CodeMettle provides a suite of distributed and scalable Network Operations products that enable enterprises to analyze, organize and consolidate complex data, processes and operations.
09 Jan 23. Percepto approved to deploy highly automated Beyond Visual Line of Sight drones for remote operations at record-breaking altitude. Percepto, the leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider, today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has allowed operators to use Percepto’s drone-in-a-box solution to perform highly automated Beyond Visual Line of Sight (HA BVLOS) inspection and monitoring operations at a large Texas solar power plant. The drone operations are approved for up to 200 feet above ground level, double the altitude of any previously approved HA BVLOS drone operation in the U.S. This uniquely high altitude will enable greater operational flexibility to monitor larger areas and taller structures, including mapping and modeling use cases.
Without a pilot or visual observer on site, Percepto’s advanced technology enables an automated detect and avoid (DAA) cycle. This eliminates the need for remote pilot in command intervention if other aircraft are detected within the airspace. This automatic airspace deconfliction capability paves the way for centrally controlled drone-in-a-box fleets of multiple sites in the future.
“Gaining this approval marks a significant milestone to provide remote and autonomous inspections at industrial sites, fulfilling Percepto’s mission to provide safe and reliable critical infrastructure,” said Percepto Policy & Government Affairs VP Neta Gliksman. “We are grateful to the FAA for their diligence in reviewing Percepto’s safety case, and we look forward to continue to support the critical infrastructure community across the U.S.”
The solar power plant deployment for which this approval was provided serves as a model for many other industries, including oil & gas, mining and utilities, to increase site efficiency through automated remote inspection operations. Percepto’s automated drone-in-a-box technology has been deployed by many of these industries to streamline preventive maintenance, drive efficiency, increase safety and reduce operational costs.
About Percepto
Percepto is the leading autonomous inspection and monitoring solution provider, revolutionizing how industrial sites monitor and inspect their critical infrastructure and assets.
Listed in TIME magazine’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021, Percepto’s AIM platform fully automates visual data workflows from capture to insight, leveraging the Percepto Air drone-in-a-box portfolio, alongside other robots and visual sensors. Using advanced machine learning and AI, Percepto AIM provides an end-to-end autonomous inspection and monitoring solution to assess risk, minimize downtime, drive efficiency, increase safety and reduce operational costs.
Percepto’s solutions are trusted by Fortune 500 customers on six continents including Siemens Energy, Delek US, Koch Fertilizer and ICL Dead Sea Works. The company is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards including Edison Gold Award and Frost & Sullivan Global Enabling Technology Leadership Award. For more information, visit www.percepto.co.
(Source: PR Newswire)
06 Jan 23. The UK attempt to make hypersonic flight a reality. Reaction Engines is part of a consortium developing an engine for military aircraft that could fly five times the speed of sound. The UK attempt to make hypersonic flight a reality. Two workers at aerospace start-up Reaction Engines are meticulously threading hundreds of ultra-thin metal tubes beneath a set of small bars. Once each module is complete, sheets of these tubes are arranged in overlapping spirals to form a system that can cool air from 1,000C to below zero faster than the blink of an eye. The Oxfordshire-based group is part of a UK-led military project aiming to make hypersonic flight a reality with the development of an unmanned air vehicle capable of flying at Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound, or 3,800mph. The consortium, which includes aero-engine group Rolls-Royce, the Royal Air Force and the defence research agency DSTL, hopes to fly a demonstrator vehicle as early as the middle of this decade. “The UK needs to accelerate out of the blocks on this,” said Mark Thomas, chief executive of Reaction Engines. The emphasis of the UK project was to build a “low-cost” and “reusable” hypersonic vehicle that came back ready to fly another mission, he added. The search for ever-higher speeds has fascinated engineers, scientists and the general public for decades. In 1967 the US’s X-15 hit a speed of 4,520mph — 6.7 times the speed of sound — when Major William Knight piloted the rocket-powered experimental aircraft. One of the stars alongside Tom Cruise in this year’s box office hit Top Gun: Maverick is the hypersonic fighter jet SR-72 Darkstar. Although fictional, the plane evokes Lockheed Martin’s SR-71, which in the 1960s set a speed record for a piloted jet aircraft of Mach 3.2, or 2,455mph. The US, Russia and China are developing missiles that can fly at hypersonic speeds, making them harder to track and intercept than conventional ballistic missiles. (Source: FT.com)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley offer a range of Military Marine NVG friendly LED lighting that includes navigation lights and controls, flight deck landing lights and interior compartment lighting. Our lighting products are used by Navies around the world including our own Royal Navy on UK Aircraft Carriers, Canadian Frigates, Swedish Submarines, Australian Surface vessels and Submarines, on board French Naval Carriers and in Naval Gun Turrets.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-r/
The technology is extremely energy efficient and built robustly, with proven long life. The lighting is NVG friendly, dimmable and programmable to allow for operations with aircraft pilots using military night vision goggles. They offer superior design giving high reliability for the most demanding environments with high sealing and the ability to meet the most stringent EMC standards.
https://oxleydevelopments.cmail20.com/t/t-l-cdhkulk-yujhutkljd-y/
Oxley are proud to say that we are working in partnership with SeaKing to enable a control panel to be offered with our LED Navigation Lighting. All of Oxley navigation lights have been specifically developed for vessels over 50 metres.
Contact Marcus Goad on 07850 917 263 for more information or to arrange samples.
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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