Capability Statements
Alten UK has extensive experience of consulting and engineering work in a wide range of technology industries, with some key ones being shown below. Capability Statements illustrating our Role, Offering and Expertise are available on request.
-
Aerospace
-
Electricity
-
Energy
-
Healthcare
-
IT & Banking
-
Mobile Operators & MVNOs
-
Mobile Terminals
-
Telecoms / Satellites
Our Projects
Alten UK's engineers work on a wide range of projects for our clients. In most cases they form an integral part of the client's team, and use the client's development procedures and quality standards.
Our projects have covered numerous industry sectors and engineering applications, and sample projects are outlined below in relation to these:
|
Applied Mathematics:
Alten performed swirl flow and turbulence modelling for a major producer of industrial gases, enabling it to determine the likely efficiency of production equipment prior to building it. This modelling work required partnership between Alten and the producer's experts in the USA and Japan. For Airbus, Alten performed design and static calculations of the primary structure of the engine pylon, which supports engine attachments on the wings of the A380, static sizing of the fuel, hydraulic and extraction systems, and pre-dimensioning of the metal structure of the nose cone for the A400M.
Avionics:
Alten has provided engineering specification, design, development and integration services for several structural and system elements of the Airbus A380, and telemetry acquisition systems for both commercial and military aircraft. Alten's consultants have also worked with a large avionics company on an In-Flight Entertainment System, comprising a variety of products such as telephones, audio, video and data systems.
Banking & E-Commerce:
Alten provided network engineering services for a multi-site financial infrastructure which linked several Pan-European trading rooms. This network was business-critical and required high-security and availability, with proven links to the Disaster Recovery centre. For a large mobile telecoms operator, Alten designed an innovative system for pre-paid and value-added services, enhanced the web portal for new e-commerce services, and developed processes for payments made by electronic top-up, credit cards or cash via a third-party network.
Client/Server:
Alten provides highly-skilled people for most of the common RDBMS and several of the RAD environments. We have worked on financial, telecoms and internet implementations, and many others. We have experience with platforms such as MS Windows Server, UNIX, Sun Solaris and AIX, software such as Perl, C, Visual Basic, VBA, HTML, Java Script, XML, TQL, SQL and Pro*C, and network protocols such as TCP/IP, FTP, SFTP and FTAM.
Databases:
Alten provided the maintenance tools for a central data repository of operational data from several corporate systems of a large Mobile Telecoms Operator. This project included developing and enhancing data retrieval systems from large databases, some with source tables containing up to 40 million rows per day. Alten used products such as Oracle, Metrica, Ericsson's OSS, Business Objects and SAP, and performed data parsing and loading (with Perl, C and Pro*C), data extraction and scripting. For a Police, Emergency Services and Government project, Alten provided a liaison tool, comprising data transformation to XML format, Java middleware for data calculations and a bespoke web interface.
Electricity:
Alten provided consultancy advice to a Smart Metering entrant for every stage of ELEXON Market Entry and Qualification, from project scoping, requirements definition and development through to UAT, performance and market testing, and ensured their compliance with industry regulations and the completeness of their Market Entry application. For a major UK market participant, Alten provided bespoke replacement DC and DA systems, from user requirements and technical design through to implementation and maintenance. Alten also developed the data migration strategy and tools, and managed the migration of large volumes of complex data to tight timescales. Alten has developed and maintained its own suite of software packages which is used by various Suppliers to control market exceptions. This high-volume system is so effective that it repaid the investment by a 'Big 5' Supplier within months of implementation.
Electronics & Programming:
For the largest global petroleum services company, Alten re-designed the on-board electronics of a drilling probe in order to respond to extreme technological challenges, and organised their qualification, an R&D project which lasted for three years. The technical design included state of the art sensors, high-temperature electronics and microelectronics. For new LNG sites for a major foreign gas company, Alten was engaged to develop a technical analysis matrix to company standards, which was required for the review of over 70 supplier offers for electrical equipment such as switchgear, transformers and power supplies.
Energy: Alten has been involved with many Process Engineering projects for major Oil & Gas companies, world-wide. For a leading player in the refining of petrochemicals and gas, Alten designed a new processing unit for gasoline desulphurisation, focusing on efficient processes and instrumentation which would reduce equipment costs. For a major oil exploration company which was developing off-shore oilfields and installing pipelines, Alten provided calculation methods for the dimensions of the pipeline network structures, and defined logistics processes for the manufacturing of LNG transfer lines and their installation offshore. Alten also supported numerous projects for the technical co-ordination of design, methods, metallurgy and technical procurement for oilfield infrastructure equipment, for example the design and development of injection and oil/gas export facilities, a HAZOP review of refinery units, and LNG storage terminals.
Healthcare:
In support of Electronic Patient Records (EPR) sites, Alten facilitated user workshops to define requirements and data catalogues for a range of hospital systems, including Accident & Emergency, Nursing, Obstetrics, Diabetes, PACS, PAS, Finance and Human Resources. For a multi-site, multi-Trust Picture & Archiving Communication System (PACS) procurement, Alten worked with each Trust to produce Change Management Packs, comprising a Benefits Realisation Plan, a Change Management Plan and Pre- and Post-PACS Process Maps.
Internet & Intranet:
Alten has contributed to several major e-commerce and web portal site development projects, especially in the areas of active page design, Java applet design and database backend integration.
Man-Machine Interface:
Alten has provided skilled consultants in MMI design for projects ranging from mobile handsets to large-scale database implementations.
Mechanical Engineering:
Alten has performed a wide variety of technical work and studies, for example: structural calculations using SACS, with sizing of support modules for turbo-generators; specification, design and installation of pipelines, in compliance with technical regulations; a thermo-mechanical study of the failure of a tri-ethylene glycol regenerator.
Mobile Operators & MVNOs:
Alten has performed numerous projects for mobile operators & MVNOs, including a technical study for a branded user interface, with prototyping on Linux and Java-based terminals and UI API development, and the design and development of an in-memory database for pre-paid and value-added services, which used intense multi-threading querying and parallel data processing to improve performance and capacity by 400%. Alten also developed a bespoke client/server solution to manage worldwide configuration and circuit setup on RAN and CN, with a 'drill-in' interface representing the different network layers, configurations and parameters.
Mobile Terminals:
Alten developed software for mobile terminal devices, including 'context-aware' services and applications with the terminal adopting different setup and configuration according to numerous parameters such as its location, time, luminosity, profile, connectivity, acceleration and user actions. Alten also developed and modified a mobile OS kernel, middleware and low-level code to prototype a new mobile platform, incorporating both single- and multi-tasking capabilities.
Network/Systems Management:
Alten's consultants were responsible for many aspects of the roll-out and management of a nation-wide data network for a UK public sector organisation, in an environment using technologies such as microwave, ISDN, X25, EDI, C and ATMs. They performed roles such as Project Manager, Capacity Planner and Network Controller. Alten also developed a bespoke software platform which provides complete visibility of each telecoms equipment item used on national networks across Europe: this dynamically generates network topology schematics with GIS mapping, which permits selection of layers to support network monitoring, fault-resolution and responses to alarms.
Object Oriented Methodologies:
Alten designed an Object Oriented Architecture to port a telecoms application to a full-featured C++ environment. This enabled the client to simulate numerous roll-out scenarios and potential protocol enhancements, making use of management algorithms and focused C++ libraries to support modelling, cost control and ROI options.
Real-time & Signal Processing:
Alten designed and developed hardware for a back-plane data bus in a Radar Signal Processing application, developed data capture hardware, and designed and developed a bespoke FPGA. For the Digital Radio Altimeter of the Airbus A380, Alten contributed to the development and validation of the core FPGA. Other products used by Alten on these applications included PCB, VHDL, Xilinx, Modelsim and Altera Quartus 2. In a production testing environment with high-speed data capture, Alten UK provided technical expertise for an ATE which simulated users' actions and automatically captured the device responses, processing them in a near-real-time mode.
Space, Satellites:
Alten has developed hardware and programs for a data processing unit on a satellite payload, taking into account electrical, mechanical and RF constraints (radiation etc). For a satellite exploratory mission, Alten designed, developed and implemented mission-critical software required for guidance and navigation: this work included validation and verification of telecommand and telemetry software. For several satellite projects, Alten engineers provided project management, design and integration for payload repeater equipment, reporting to the spacecraft manager: this work included supplier selection, design manufacturing, delivery and risk management. For satellite environment control, Alten performed specialist electrical and functional verification for the water separation and total-used-charge systems.
Telecoms & Telephony:
Alten works with several major networking and telecoms companies, providing consultancy in QoS issues, network architecture improvements and projects on behalf of their clients. Alten has also provided consultancy and support services to clients developing call-centre and CTI applications. Our clients typically process large volumes of data, and must comply with stringent regulations. Alten has developed tools for KPI generation, SLA monitoring and Business Intelligence reporting.
Wireless Communication:
Alten's consultants have implemented a billing and management system for pre-paid mobile telephony, and performed numerous roles for clients developing GPRS and UTMS infrastructure and handsets. For a telecoms manufacturer, Alten developed a simulation tool for validating various radio scenarios, providing features such as stress testing of users per antenna, optimisation of spectrum efficiency and interference reduction by site, modelling transmitter and receiver independently. Alten represented this client at industry meetings, and presented a 'White Paper' at a conference.