Master’s Thesis: Connected Defence — Next-Generation Data Platform for Military Intelligence and Operations

Connected Defence — Next-Generation Data Platform
A strategic Master’s thesis exploring secure, cloud-native architectures for defence-critical operations.
Focusing on confidential computing, secure remote attestation, performance benchmarking and application integration in mission-sensitive contexts. The platform design emphasises data integrity, trust and compliance under real-world operational constraints.

Research Focus

• Applied the NATO Architecture Framework (NAF v4) to orchestrate cloud, edge and high-performance computing workloads for joint operations.
• Engineered confidential computing patterns—including remote attestation pipelines—to uphold multinational data sovereignty.
• Standardised interfaces that prepare the platform for sensor fusion, situational awareness and digital twin extensions.

Contributions

• Delivered a proof of concept that enforces zero-trust access, auditability and resilient data exchange across coalition stakeholders.
• Mapped security control catalogues to NATO data-handling guidance such as D32, ensuring traceable compliance across mission systems.
• Produced deployment and validation runbooks that translate academic findings into operationally actionable architectures.

Artefacts

• 263-page thesis document (download below) featuring architectural blueprints, capability roadmaps and evaluation metrics.
• Infrastructure-as-code packages (Terraform and AWS CloudFormation) bundling confidential computing services, remote attestation workflows and automated guardrails.
• Reference data models and API catalogues prepared for future sensor, situational awareness and digital twin modules.

Download the thesis: Master’s Thesis PDF