Projects

Prologue

What follows is a representative sample of projects spanning the period since leaving BT (2000): Operating under the banner of Cochrane Associates Ltd (to 2020), followed by Academic Projects and freelance assignments. It serves to demonstrate the diversity of a world of expanding tech and the scientific/engineering realisations of an ever-challenged profession.

Hacker Behavioural Identification.

Challenge: The inadvertent recruitment of a ‘Black Hat/Rogue Hacker’ into a company or organisation can go undetected for a significant period and cause significant damage.

**Solution: **A statistical analysis of hacker interviews often reveals key traits that appear to be common among SET (Western White Male). Further analysis of the SET (SEA Male): SET(Rogue State Male): SET(Chinese Male) et al proved inconclusive due to a paucity of published/publicly available materials.

Outcome: A proof of principle, including sample-size sensitivity, was established for the SET (Western White Male), identifying pertinent interview and enquiry questions that would serve as initial warnings and alarm bells!

Whistle Blower/Criminal/Activist/Agent Detection

Challenge: The last 30 years have witnessed a steady rise in the incidence of data leaks, theft, manipulation and implants, leading to unwanted public disclosure, reputational damage, and other forms of retribution. This has largely been fuelled by naive, disloyal, disenchanted, and partially informed employees and contractors across government agencies and companies. Detecting individuals/groups migrating their intent and allegiances for whatever reason, and mechanism, is in general beyond human capacity.

Solution: AI has the capacity to identify behavioural changes in humans, devices, equipment, and networks - all of which tend to be habitual during normal operations! What is required is the ability to detect all aberrations and investigate their initial cause - and the symbiosis of AI and human skills appears a perfect combination.

Outcome: Perhaps the most significant evidence of viability is the Chinese system operating at the population and societal levels, with bounds on behaviour. However, in the context of this study, experiments and observations are generally supportive of the base hypothesis, and it is a matter of gathering training data, an installation/population at a time.

Artificial Intelligence System Assessment

Challenge: A defence company required an assessment of multiple AI solutions for integration into a complex system with thousands of fixed and mobile assets with hundreds of networked nodes. Exhaustive testing was impossible due to combinatorial complexity.

Solution: An entropic measure of comparative intelligence based on sensors/inputs, actuators/outputs, processing power, and memory capacity was derived.

Outcome: Accurate system assessment and selection completed within days. The formulation has since been successfully used to evaluate numerous networked systems.

Banking Security Enhancement

Challenge: A major banking group faced progressively weakening online security as customers used various owned and unowned devices across fixed/mobile locations. Requirements: >1000-fold security improvement with no visible customer changes, no software downloads, dongles, cards, or readers.

Solution: A comprehensive study identified 22 proposed systems with significant security gains, ranging from 10,000- to >1,000,000-fold enhancements.

Outcome: The implementation of a real-time covert biometric measurement solution that achieved >10,000-fold security improvement upon global rollout.

Gas Pipeline Protection

**Challenge: **Design a deployable system covering hundreds of route miles able to identify terrorist, criminal, and other threats, capable of providing >30min attack warning.

Solution: A multi-technology approach detecting threats from the far field (over-the-horizon) and near field (1-10km of a point of contact) - able to identify individuals/groups, ground-based, and airborne vehicles.

Outcome: Complete system design approved for deployment with supplier modifications and enhancements.

Defence Innovation Framework

Challenge: A major defence organisation had become overly dependent on systems integration by OEM suppliers. This limited innovation and flexibility and slowed supply. In short: totally unsuited to modern warfare!

**Solution: **The creation of a comprehensive innovation framework addressing 0-2, 2-7, 7-12 year timeframes, augmented by ‘skunk works’ operations. To be realised by targeted recruitment of key individuals and SME acquisitions to rapidly achieve critical mass.

Outcome: A near full-scale return to in-house innovation, development, and design with positive impact on market perception. Enhanced capability, capacity and flexibility.

National Charity Operations Optimisation

Challenge: A child welfare organisation experiencing growing disconnect and inefficiency, with conventional phone-based operations while the target demographic used IM, TXT, Games, and Social Network messaging systems.

Solution: Comprehensive operational analysis identifying communication channel mismatch, expensive in-house IT operations, and untapped value in historical data and case histories for situation modelling.

**Outcome: **Implemented text messaging channel with IM capability planned, cloud migration initiated, mobile working solutions deployed, and metadata analysis/situation modelling scheduled.

Oil Rig Instrumentation

Challenge: A major oil rig operator required key instrumentation for critical components (pumps, gearboxes) to monitor vibration, temperature, and chemical levels. Battery, wire, and slip ring solutions were not viable—a wireless solution was identified as essential.

**Solution: **A prototype system employed a 1kW magnetron positioned to illuminate the machine cavities, with detached, battery-free sensors on moving parts that extract power via an antenna, diode, and capacitor assembly, enabling real-time data transmission.

Outcome: Full-scale deployment delivered significant enhancements in operational data and improved plant efficiency through reduced downtime and optimised repair scheduling.

Paper Manufacturing Diversification

Challenge: An EU paper manufacturer sought to expand beyond commodity (plain) paper production, sensing new market opportunities, but lacking the expertise to identify and quantify potential target sectors.

**Solution: **Comprehensive market analysis of paper-based value-add opportunities including ticketing, RFID, Near Field technology, sensors, batteries, displays, E-ink, photovoltaics, nano-structures, bio-saturation, tags, fuel, packaging, and clothing.

Outcome: Strategic budget rebalancing, expanded business planning, and an enhanced R&D program leading to a new high-value-add product portfolio.

Telco FTTH Optimisation

Challenge: Phone company struggling with the practicalities of optical fibre rollout to meet the bandwidth demands of mobility, internet, and cloud computing, while managing the economics of the copper/wireless network transition.

Solution: A comprehensive system design was undertaken to provide dark fibre feeds and 1Gbit/s symmetric service at affordable pricing, with an immediate positive ROI through OPEX/CAPEX reductions, including the adoption of non-telco equipment and PSTN closure.

Outcome: All business customers have Fibre To The Home/Office at 1Gbit/s bidirectional capacity; the company doubled turnover and improved profitability; staffing was reduced, along with the man-in-van fleet and building stock; and new businesses were attracted to the area over ~5 years.

Sniper Detection and Location

Challenge: Extremely variable, high-energy, impulsive noise sources on a battlefield during wartime engagements and disasters render low-level audio signal recovery highly challenging. Standard post-microphone filtering suffers from acoustic saturation, leading to nonlinear distortion and a constrained dynamic range.

Solution: Close-coupled pre-microphone acoustic filters were designed using a custom CAD package to provide matched spectrum selection of specific weapons and the rejection of unwanted acoustic energy of explosions et al to improve dynamic range.

Outcome: High simulation-to-trial agreement with vastly improved microphone dynamic range in extreme noise environments. Successfully demonstrated sniper detection capability adjacent to continuous/burst-mode 50-cal machine gun operation.

Strategic Threat Analysis for Turbine Manufacturer

Challenge: A leading turbine manufacturer (gas/jet turbines for aerospace, marine, and power generation) sought to identify emerging threats to its products, future, and industry.

Solution: Comprehensive threat assessment identifying scale, timing, and market entry patterns. Predicted micro-turbine emergence as a new industrial sector for high-efficiency engines and localised emergency power generation, including amateur/hobby sector threat from accessible/low cost computer-controlled 3D manufacturing equipment.

Outcome: 5-year forecast proved accurate in scale and timing. Client implemented key staff retention, critical technology protection, and IP security measures while integrating threat analysis into business planning cycles.

Next Generation Military Radios

Challenge: An overseas defence organisation required a feasibility study for military radio evolution to meet modern fighting force requirements across land, sea, and air operations with reliable (no break) networking/interworking capabilities.

Solution: A multi-SDR (Software-Defined- Radio) solution was proposed, maintaining compatibility with all standard/existing operating protocols and conventions whilst also adding advanced capabilities: voice activation, mesh networking, false traffic generation, sub-thermal noise modes (undetectable), optimised TX energy usage, and multi-GHz short-range communication, and infrastructure-free connectivity/messaging.

Outcome: Client accepted final report, classified further publication, and initiated further detailed studies and collaboration with manufacturers and allies.