Conscious that everyone doesn’t necessarily use a common set of terms or language, we wanted to ensure a common understanding between ourselves and all third parties be they partners, businesses, suppliers, academic institutions or individuals. We have created a glossary of terms that explain some of the terms used in our web pages, talks and communications, dividing them up into technical and general terms used.
Resilience is a term used in many different ways across industry.
Resilience within the energy sector generally refers to the availability, reliability and quality of supply of an energy system and its ability to perform.
Resilience within the transportation sector can mean different things depending on the market vertical but generally refers to reliability of components or systems and/or their ability to continue operating in an acceptable manner despite local failure modes or unusual environmental conditions.
Resilience in the world of Information Technology is used to describe redundancy of services, perhaps using components in twos as what is commonly known as ‘high availability pairs’.
When we refer to resilience within ResilienceWorks, we’re actually referring to the collective resilience of systems as a whole. It’s not just “how they’re designed”but also how they work, function, behave and are able to handle the degradation of functions or services without causing failure. This can be applied to all areas including energy, transport and information services.
Cyber Security is a term used to refer to the security integrity of information systems. The scope of this includes operational and information technology deployments (OT and IT) and includes platforms such as vehicles. Cyber Security is a wide ranging topic and includes, but is not necessarily limited to:
- Information security
- Digital identity
- Encryption and data obfuscation
- Threat monitoring, detection and resolution
Operational Technology or OT is a term used to describe information systems that are embedded in operational platforms or systems and are not typically part of standard enterprise Information Technology solutions i.e. servers, desktops, laptops, etc. OT systems include programmable controllers that form part of production lines, embedded electronic components that form part of platforms such as vehicle control units.
The Security Operations Centre (SOC) is an organisational component that monitors an IT infrastructure for threats, responds to these threats when detected and deploys mitigation or containment actions through a Network Operations Centre. The SOC typically consists of a number of component parts:
Sensors; that sit within the infrastructure and receive logging data as well as monitor traffic looking for abnormalities or traffic that corresponds with specific threat profiles (IDS).
Security Information and Event Manager (SIEM); an engine that correlates all logs and event information, allowing users to view threats, correlate them, create rules for tracking and responding to threats. These solutions can also support analysts in analysing incidents post event and perform forensic analysis on the log data sets.
SOC Analysts; an organisational role that works within the SOC capability, utilising the tools to carry out monitoring tasks and also conduct analysis of events.
Many vehicles operate based on a standard set of rules and perform simple tasks that are repetitive and utilise small subsets of well defined information. Autonomous systems are different, in that they can in effect make decisions based on vast quantities of information, and utilise technology such as neural networks, machine learning or artificial intelligence in order to make these decisions rather than hard coded logic.
Autonomous systems are also capable of adapting to an environment and changing their behaviour depending on the desired outcomes of that system, as apposed to a deterministic logical system that cannot adapt and will simply process in exactly the same way regardless of history or current environmental conditions.
This is incorporating the ability to trust components within an electronic/digital system, trusting data they provide, their provided identity, transmission bearers and so forth. The combination of these capabilities forms digital trust.
The electricity system consists of generation, storage, transmission and distribution. Generation can come from a range of fuels and renewable sources, batteries can be used to store electricity. Generated electricity typically enters the transmission network to be transported nationally, and then passed on to regional and local distribution networks, stepping down in voltage levels, such that the electricity arrives at the point of consumption at the desired voltage level and required capacity.
A Micro Grid is a localised electricity system that can incorporate generation, storage and distribution. They can be connected to the national or local energy network and can act as a ‘balancing mechanism’ within those networks.
Most of our electricity is consumed as it is generated. This is changing as more storage becomes available to the system. The ‘Balance’ of the system is to match supply with demand as these levels fluctuate throughout the day, week, months and seasons.
The Tech Valley’s is an integrated portfolio of projects and is a part of the wider Cardiff Capital Region, a project that’s investing £1.2bn of public money to leverage another £4bn of private investment across South East Wales. The name designates the area targeted for economic regeneration after the loss of heavy industry in the 1980s and is designed to be a Regeneration Catalyst for the area. The objective is to attract and grow technology companies, work with education both locally and nationally, and create technology based jobs.
Collaboration with the campus is a joint activity between two or more parties, working towards a common goal. This could be development, research or testing using the facilities within the ResilientWorks centre. Collaborations incorporate funded lines of activity from all partners taking part and are supported by the centre through the provision of facilities, technical know how both academically and from business.
The businesses and services that ‘are there because people are there’ examples include, healthcare, energy, housing, construction, tourism and retail on the high street. The Foundational Economy forms a significant part of the Welsh Economy.