Interview: Dr. George Tuckwell, Divisional Director, Geoscience and Engineering, RSK
What are you most looking forward to at the Quantum.Tech conference?
As an end user eagerly waiting for quantum technology to provide new capabilities and business opportunities I am excited to learn about the progress and vision of those developing new technology.
As part of my role at environmental consultancy RSK, I am the project lead for the Gravity Pioneer project, which aims to develop a new industry of quantum cold-atom sensors that will detect and monitor objects beneath the ground better than any current technology, thereby reducing the need for investigative drilling or digging. The project is backed by a UK consortium, comprising 12 project partners from prominent organisations currently engaged in quantum technologies in the UK: Teledyne e2v, Fraunhofer UK, Altran, Geomatrix Earth Science, Magnetic Shields, UniKLasers, Silicon Microgravity, Optocap, QinetiQ, the University of Birmingham and the University of Southampton.
The project is currently in its early stages, and of course any new technology needs a lot of iterations to get it right. As we spend the time perfecting our quantum instrument, we are excited to see what other technologies are being developed and their progress. Innovation is key to my job role and RSK’s business principals and I am looking forward to seeing what new technologies are available and how they may be applied in the future.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the adoption of Quantum technology in 2019/ 2020?
Treading the fine line between hyping the potential and delivering real results. The Gravity Pioneer project is a prime example of this. We have some way to go before we have an instrument that is ready for commercial use. However, we are confident that with time, money (including £6 million in research funding from UK Research and Innovation) and our dedicated team of experts, we can get there. We are keen to show what the technology can do but must tread carefully to reassure end users. In the past, new technologies have been brought to market too early and oversold. This has resulted in end users that are understandably cautious about trying anything new. However, there are some problems that new technologies are required to solve. Traditional ground investigation techniques can be limited in sensitivity, penetration or cost. We must reassure the industry and demonstrate that our new gravity instrument is just as reliable, is more effective, and can do more than existing techniques.
What is going to be the biggest area of focus for your organisation within Quantum over the next 12 months?
To get the technology out of the lab and into the real world and demonstrating verifiable capabilities to end users. The team will be looking at removing systematic measurement errors in current devices; investigating and implementing new schemes for creating and manipulating cold atoms that improve the signal-to-noise ratio; improving performance through better component performance; and addressing key supply chain risks in certain components such as laser systems. The aim is to have a working prototype in the field in one year, which they will refine over the following year and a half to improve its performance in field conditions.
Top tips: How can you best engage and support the business to adopt Quantum technologies?
Technology being ‘quantum’ gets attention but doesn’t actually matter. What matters is what does the business get that it didn’t have before, and why would it care? One of our main aims is to make sure that the new instrument does exactly what the industry needs from it – its purpose is to fill a gap in the market, to detect the things that end users want to detect but can’t due to current technological limitations. In order to achieve this, we have liaised with construction companies and client organisations from the outset. Continual engagement with end users is key.
If you look 3 years into the future, what do you consider will be the biggest impact Quantum technology will have on your industry?
To have quantum technology in the field replacing the existing technology with one which is more accurate and quicker to use.
Once the advanced performance of quantum cold-atom sensors is demonstrable, the economic and societal benefits of this new quantum industry will be significant. Principal designers, project managers and quantity surveyors will have access to a new technology that will provide unprecedented images of the subsurface, thereby significantly reducing the risk of unforeseen ground conditions affecting project costs and programmes.
This technology will be beneficial to several industries. Road networks will not be dug up so often, brownfield land will not be left undeveloped and users will be able to locate forgotten mineshafts, determine the extent of sinkholes and assess the quality of infrastructure without huge economic and societal costs.
The project team is already exploring how the technology can be applied in the civil engineering, aerospace, oil and gas, rail and defence sectors. Further research and innovation will enable refinement and performance improvement of this technology. Recent tests have looked at how quantum gravity sensors could be used to locate buried assets along the railway network. Hidden assets currently unlisted on existing asset databases should become visible. The team is excited about the potential that further research and testing could achieve.