Engineering what comes next.
Developing innovative and disruptive concept solutions, from TRL 1 to 9. Five themes we are working on now, and the twenty-five years of first-principles thinking behind them.
Five themes. One customer problem each.
Recognising that established processes do not fit every development challenge, we apply first-principles judgement to the questions the customer has not yet been able to answer.
Integrated full electric propulsion for subsea platforms
- What it is
- A roadmap and technology framework for replacing the conventional steam-turbine, gearbox and shaft-line propulsion train of a subsea platform with an all-electric architecture: turbine generators running at constant optimal speed feeding a central high-voltage bus, a variable-frequency motor drive, and an energy storage system that supports the bus through transients.
- Why it matters
- Removing the gearbox and decoupling the motor from the reactor and turbine response promises faster throttle response, higher efficiency, lower noise and vibration signatures, less maintenance, and far more freedom in machinery arrangement.
- Our angle
- ADL led the collaboration that delivered Phase 1 on time and on budget: a horizon scan of nineteen conventional and future motor technologies scored against eleven weighted criteria, with a technology and decision matrix independently evaluated and endorsed by the customer. A preferred UK-sovereign technology has been selected and the roadmap now runs through preliminary and detailed design to a ground-based demonstrator.
Power generation and energy storage
- What it is
- Auxiliary and emergency power for electric platforms: air-independent fuel cell systems fed by stored hydrogen and oxygen in place of diesel generators, and lithium, sodium, zinc and solid-state battery technologies with their management and charging systems in place of lead-acid, plus supercapacitors and flywheels for power delivery.
- Why it matters
- A diesel generator forces a subsea platform towards the surface to breathe; lead-acid batteries give short endurance in a large, maintenance-heavy envelope. Electric platforms are only as dependable and as quiet as the energy behind them.
- Our angle
- Thirty-five energy storage technologies assessed within a ten-year horizon against thirteen weighted criteria, prioritised on safety and fire stability, survivability, readiness, supply risk and integration; immersion cooling for high-power electronics assessed alongside. Safety and dependability from the cell up, to UL 1642 and UL 2580, Def Stan 00-35 environments and the platform’s own standards.
Aeronautical data systems and network infrastructure
- What it is
- Modernising the defence aeronautical data infrastructure that carries navigation, surveillance and communication information between sites, and the production networks behind the flight information publications, charts and procedures that aircrew plan and fly with, with enhanced security, safety and availability.
- Why it matters
- Aviation safety now rests on data integrity across national and international networks as much as on the equipment at the aerodrome, and aeronautical products must be right and on time every 28-day AIRAC cycle, on systems that stay secure and available.
- Our angle
- Architecture and data-integrity assurance for latency, corruption and unauthorised access, drawn from our work on the national onward-routed radar data network and a nationwide ATM transition. Most recently, a Futures Lab task assuring a defence aeronautical information production network: high-level hazard and threat assessment (STRIDE, JSP 440 guidance), software tool qualification to DO-330 and ED-215, DO-178C proven-in-use arguments for COTS tools, human factors, hardware reliability and availability, and an options analysis for a virtualised, pre-production-backed and better-secured architecture.
AI and neural-network health and usage monitoring
- What it is
- Neural networks applied to platform health and usage data for predictive maintenance and hazard annunciation, plus the architecture to run them.
- Why it matters
- A model that sees a failure coming pays for itself, if the duty holder can trust it.
- Our angle
- Neural-network health monitoring heritage, and the assurance discipline to bound and accept a non-deterministic function in a safety case.
Control and instrumentation assurance for the nuclear sector
- What it is
- Independent technical assurance of safety- and security-significant digital control and instrumentation: software-based and configurable-logic high-integrity safety systems, assessed for the nuclear regulator and its supply chain.
- Why it matters
- Nuclear C&I carries some of the most stringent assurance requirements in industry, and a regulator needs independent eyes that bring functional-safety depth and cyber resilience in the same team.
- Our angle
- SIL and DAL derivation, hazard analysis and claims-arguments-evidence safety cases from the IEC 61508 lineage, with working familiarity with IEC 61513, 60880 and 62138; PWR emergency coolant and alarm system assessment; Cyber Essentials Plus, DCC Level 2 in progress; a partner network including ex-submariner naval engineers.
First principles since 1997.
A company drafted on paper at university, built on research, restarted as a consultancy and now focused on UK Defence.
Drafted on paper
The name, the logo and the specialism are chosen and the business roles defined while its founder is still at university, along with a plan for how the company would be run. The first research and development begins.
Aerospace Design Ltd incorporated
The company is registered and early research follows two threads: artificial neural networks for aircraft health monitoring and hazard annunciation, and analogue-to-digital connectivity between a mobile phone and household appliances, years before it became commonplace.
Bio-diesel that a major oil company asked about
A side venture with a colleague produced bio-diesel of a quality fully interchangeable with standard diesel. The fuel was good enough that a major oil company asked how it had been achieved.
Restart as a consultancy
The business is formally restarted as a one-person consultancy, taking systems safety and systems engineering experience from multi-billion-pound defence programmes to customers directly.
The concept programme
Three years of research and development, alone and in collaboration, producing four concept solutions across space, automotive, biomedical and consumer sectors.
Brand, website and the frameworks
A live business-to-business contract with DE&S through the Aurora Engineering Partnership starts the defence consultancy in earnest. The brand and the first full website follow, with a professionally produced company video, and ADL gains access to every route it works through today: Aurora, Futures Lab, the Defence Sourcing Portal and Dstl R-Cloud.
Collaborating with academia and industry Now
ADL is a proven Futures Lab lead organisation, collaborating with academia and manufacturing entities. It is down-selected to the Aurora Engineering Delivery Partner provider network, leads Phase 1 of a government propulsion technology programme for subsea platforms, and works towards direct contracts with the National Armaments Director group and the Front Line Commands alongside industry primes. The team grows to eight.
Bring us a problem the process can’t solve.
ADL is a proven Futures Lab lead organisation, collaborating with academia and manufacturing entities. We take concepts from horizon scan to demonstrator, and we are as comfortable writing the bid as delivering the research.
- Futures Lab and Defence Innovation bids and delivery
- Understanding the user perspective: Concept of Use (CONUSE), Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and User Requirements Document (URD)
- Horizon scans, technology matrices and trade scoring
- Derived requirements and initial design
- Technology test, demonstration and certification readiness
- Academic and manufacturing partnerships, TRL 1 to 9
Have a concept that needs an engineer?
Tell us the problem and the readiness level you need to reach.