Editing Royal Signals and Radar Establishment

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{{Main|Royal Radar Establishment}}

The '''Royal Signals and Radar Establishment''' ('''RSRE''') was a scientific research establishment within the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] (MoD) of the [[United Kingdom]]. It was located primarily at [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]] in [[Worcestershire]], [[England]].<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1088/0305-4624/16/1/401 | title=The history of the RSRE | first=E. H. | last=Putley | authorlink=E. H. Putley | journal=Physics in Technology | volume=16 | number=1 | date=January 1985 | pages=13–18 }}</ref> The RSRE motto was ''Ubique Sentio'' ([[Latin]] for "I sense everywhere").

== History ==
[[File:JRM with the Queen.jpg|225px|thumb|right|Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visiting RSRE in 1976.]]

RSRE was formed in 1976 by an amalgamation of previous research organizations; these included the [[Royal Radar Establishment]] (RRE), itself derived from the World War II-era [[Telecommunications Research Establishment]], the [[Signals Research and Development Establishment]] (SRDE) in [[Christchurch, Dorset]], and the [[Services Electronic Research Laboratory]] (SERL) at [[Baldock]].

Beginning in 1979, the SRDE and SERL moved to Malvern to join the RRE's location.<ref name="Cold War Hot Science">Eds. [https://sciencemuseum.academia.edu/RobertBud/CurriculumVitae Robert Bud] and [[Philip Gummett]], ''Cold War Hot Science: Applied Research in Britain's Defence Laboratories 1945-1990'', Harwood, 1999 {{ISBN|90-5702-481-0}}</ref> There were several out-stations in [[Worcestershire]], including the ex-[[RAF]] airfields at [[RAF Defford|Defford]] and [[Pershore]] and the satellite tracking station at [[Sheriffs Lench]].

In April 1991 RSRE amalgamated with other defence research establishments to form the [[Defence Research Agency]], which in April 1995 amalgamated with more organisations to form the [[Defence Evaluation and Research Agency]].
In June 2001 this became independent of the MoD, with approximately two-thirds of it being incorporated into [[QinetiQ]], a [[commerce|commercial]] company owned by the MoD, and the remainder into the fully government-owned laboratory [[DSTL]]. In 2003 the [[Carlyle Group]] bought a private equity stake (~30%) in QinetiQ.

== Research ==
[[File:Portable satellite ground station, RSRE.jpg|thumb|Portable satellite ground station built in the late 1970s by RSRE, primarily for use with [[Skynet (satellite)|Skynet 2B]]. Deployed in 1979 to support the peace-keeping operation in Rhodesia.]]
Some of the most important technologies developed from work at RSRE are [[radar]], [[satellite communications]], [[thermography]], [[liquid crystal display]]s, [[speech synthesis]] and the [[Touchscreen]].

Predecessor organisation [[Signals Research and Development Establishment]] (SRDE) had been involved in the development of military [[communications satellite]]s, within the U.S. [[Defense Satellite Communications System|Interim Defense Communication Satellite Program]] (IDCSP) and the development of the British [[Skynet (satellite)|Skynet 1 and 2 satellite types]]. The SRDE establishment moved to a RSRE facility at [[RAF Defford]] near Malvern in 1980, which had the benefit of flat terrain for good [[satellite dish]] positioning and the nearby [[Bredon Hill]] for satellite simulators.<ref name=mraths-201807>{{cite web |url=https://mraths.org.uk/?page_id=2868 |title=Defford Satellite Communications |last=Harris |first=Dick |website=Malvern Radar and Technology History Society |date=July 2018 |access-date=19 January 2021}}</ref> RSRE was involved in the design and testing of Skynet 4 and its ground facilities and terminals.<ref name=rsre-198704>{{cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a187005.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325162641/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a187005.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=25 March 2020 |title=An Introduction to Military Satellite Communications |author=T C Tozer |publisher=Royal Signals and Radar Establishment |id=RSRE Memorandum 3976 |date=April 1987 |access-date=26 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=rsre-198901>{{cite report |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a209863.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815165821/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a209863.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=15 August 2021 |title=Tactical UK Military Satellite Ground Terminals - A Research and Development Review |author=P J Skilton |publisher=Royal Signals and Radar Establishment |id=RSRE Memorandum 4262 |date=January 1989 |access-date=19 January 2021}}</ref>

Contributions to computer science made by the RSRE included [[ALGOL 68RS]] (a portable implementation of [[ALGOL 68]], following on from [[ALGOL 68R]] developed by [[Royal Radar Establishment|RRE]]), [[Coral 66]], [[radial basis function network]]s, hierarchical self-organising networks ([[autoencoder|deep autoencoders]]), the [[VIPER microprocessor|VIPER]] high-integrity microprocessor, the [[ELLA (programming language)|ELLA]] hardware description language, and the [[TenDRA]] C/C++ compiler.

RSRE was an early researcher of [[TCP/IP]] in Europe, along with [[Peter T. Kirstein|Peter Kirstein's]] group at University College London and [[Norwegian Defence Research Establishment|NDRE]] in Norway.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Postel |first=J. |date=7 November 1980 |title=Internet Meeting Notes – 7-8-9 October 1980 |url=https://www.rfc-editor.org/ien/ien160.txt |access-date=9 February 2022 |postscript=none}}{{Cite web |title=Internet Meeting Notes |url=http://www.postel.org/pipermail/end2end-interest/2009-November.txt |postscript=none}};{{Cite web |title=Internet Delay Experiments |url=https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0889.txt |postscript=none}};{{Cite web|title=The Internet History|url=http://www.perflensburg.se/Privatsida/cp-web/AZXXIH.HTM|access-date=2022-02-09|website=www.perflensburg.se|postscript=none}};{{Cite news|date=2003-11-19|title=30 years of the international internet|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3280897.stm|access-date=2020-07-08}}</ref> The first [[email]] sent by a [[head of state]] was sent from the RSRE over the [[ARPANET]] by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] on 26 March 1976.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Metz|first=Cade|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/queen-and-the-internet/|title=How the Queen of England Beat Everyone to the Internet|date=2012-12-25|magazine=Wired|access-date=2020-01-09|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Left|first=Sarah|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2002/mar/13/internetnews|title=Email timeline|date=2002-03-13|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-09|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> RSRE was allocated [[Class A network|class A Internet net]] 25 in 1979,<ref name="rfc755">{{cite web|url=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc755|title=Assigned Numbers|last=Postel|first=J.|date=3 May 1979|publisher=USC - Information Sciences Institute|id=RFC755|access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref> which later became the Ministry of Defence address space, providing 16.7 million [[IPv4]] addresses.<ref name=ofcom-2014>{{cite report |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0031/37795/rtfm.pdf |title=Study into UK IPv4 and IPv6 allocations |id=Ofcom/140701-00 |publisher=Ofcom |work=Reid Technical Facilities Management |year=2014 |access-date=6 April 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=120&CATLN=2&FullDetails=True Records of the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment], [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]], UK
* [http://www.qinetiq.com/ QinetiQ] – the commercial successor of DERA and RSRE
* [http://www.dstl.gov.uk/ DSTL] – the MOD owned successor of DERA and RSRE

{{Qinetiq}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1976 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:20th-century military history of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Malvern, Worcestershire]]
[[Category:Defunct organisations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of electronic engineering]]
[[Category:History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Military communications of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Military history of Worcestershire]]
[[Category:Military research establishments of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1976]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1991]]
[[Category:Radar]]
[[Category:Research institutes in Worcestershire]]
[[Category:British Defence Forces]]