BBC Research & Development is the technical research department of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Function

It has responsibility for researching and developing advanced and emerging media technologies for the benefit of the corporation, and wider UK and European media industries, and is also the technical design authority for a number of major technical infrastructure transformation projects for the UK broadcasting industry.

Structure

BBC R&D is part of the wider BBC Design & Engineering, and is led by Jatin Aythora, Director, Research & Development. In 2011, the North Lab moved into MediaCityUK in

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

along with several other departments of the BBC, whilst the South Lab remained in White City in London.

History

In April 1930 the Development section of the BBC became the Research Department. The department as it stands today was formed in 1993 from the merger of the BBC Designs Department and the BBC Research Department. From 2006 to 2008 it was known as Research and Innovation but has since reverted to its original name. BBC Research & Development has made major contributions to broadcast technology, carrying out original research in many areas, and developing items like the peak programme meter (PPM) which became the basis for many world standards.

Innovations

It has also been involved in many well-known consumer technologies such as teletext, DAB, NICAM and Freeview. It was at the forefront of the development of

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

, stereo FM, and RDS. These innovations have led to Queen's Awards for Innovation in 1969, 1974, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2011. In the 1970s, its engineers designed the famous LS3/5A studio monitor for use in outside broadcasting units.Prakel, David (August 1979)
"BBC's Home Service"
''Hi-Fi Answers'', pp67–9 (Courtesy link) Licensed to manufacturers, the loudspeaker sold 100,000 pairs in its 20+ years' life.Seydor, Paul (2 December 2008)
"Stirling Broadcast LS3/5a V2 Loudspeaker"
''The Absolute Sound''.

Closure of Kingswood Warren and move to London and Salford

In early 2010 the department had approximately 135 staff based at three locations: White City in London, Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey, and the R&D (North Lab) at the BBC's Manchester offices at New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. In early 2010 the Kingswood Warren site was vacated and the bulk of the department relocated to Centre House, in White City, London co-locating with the main campus of the BBC in London, whilst a significant number have moved to the new North Lab in MediaCityUK in

. BBC R&D has more than 200 employees in their UK labs.

Future projects

BBC R&D engineers and researchers are currently active on approximately 50 projects, including 7 active national and international collaborative research efforts. These include R&D projects built around BBC Redux—the proof of concept for the cross-platform, Flash video-based streaming version of the BBC iPlayer.

References

External links

* * *
BBC R&D Reports list 1933–1996
(PDF, 965 kB)

Video clips

*
What is broadcasting? , Matthew Postgate , TEDxManchester (2009)
at TEDx

Miscellaneous

Location of South Lab
on

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Ae ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Research and Development Audio engineering Digital Video Broadcasting Engineering research institutes Freeview (UK) Organisations based in Salford Organisations based in Surrey Radio technology Reigate and Banstead Research institutes in England Science and technology in Greater Manchester Scientific organizations established in 1923 Sound production technology Sound recording technology Television technology 1923 establishments in the United Kingdom