__NOTOC__ The Signals Research and Development Establishment (SRDE) was a British government

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

research establishment, based in

Christchurch, Dorset Christchurch () is a town and civil parish on the south coast of Dorset, England. The parish had a population of 31,372 in 2021. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part of the Historic counties of England, hist ...

from 1943 until it merged with the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) in

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern (, locally also: ) is a spa town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is ...

to form the

Royal Signals and Radar Establishment The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) was a scientific research establishment within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Kingdom. It was located primarily at Malvern in Worcestershire, England. The RSRE motto was ''Ubique ...

(RSRE) in 1976. Its focus was

military communications Military communications or military signals involve all aspects of communications, or conveyance of information, by armed forces. Examples from '' Jane's Military Communications'' include text, audio, facsimile, tactical ground-based communica ...

(signals).

History

The establishment had its origins in the Royal Engineers Wireless Telegraphy Experimental Section founded at

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

in the very early part of the twentieth century. It moved to

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

, initially into the former Royal Dockyard (at that time a military stores depot) where it formed part of the Inspectorate of Royal Engineers Stores, before moving on to Woolwich Common. In 1914 it was operating out of a van at Woolwich, but in 1916 it settled into its own premises, becoming the Signals Experimental Establishment. The establishment was renamed SRDE at the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; it moved briefly to

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

before settling in Christchurch in 1943 after the radar teams left to Malvern. The Woolwich buildings then became part of the

Atomic Weapons Research Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s SRDE was involved in the development of military

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s. It participated in the U.S. Interim Defense Communication Satellite Program (IDCSP), and a trans-Atlantic link to a U.S. station was first established on 18 June 1966. It also led the development of the British Skynet 1 and 2 military communications satellites, the first of which launched 22 November 1969, and performed their initial in-orbit testing. Skynet 1A was the first military satellite in

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

. In 1976, under the Director of John Mills, SRDE merged with the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) and the Services Electronic Research Laboratory (SERL) to form the

(RSRE), headquartered in Malvern, Worcestershire. SRDE remained in Christchurch until 1980, when it moved to a RSRE facility at RAF Defford near Malvern.

Topics of research

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

communications * Battlefield communications * Optical fibres *

Image intensifier An image intensifier or image intensifier tube is a vacuum tube device for increasing the intensity of available light in an optical system to allow use under low-light conditions, such as at night, to facilitate visual imaging of low-light proce ...

s for

night vision equipment A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD) or night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The ...

* Mine detectors (including non-metallic mines)

References

External links

* - archived in 2019 1948 establishments in England 1980 disestablishments in England History of Dorset History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Military communications of the United Kingdom Military history of Dorset Military research establishments of the United Kingdom Science and technology in Dorset Space programme of the United Kingdom Military installations established in 1948 Military installations closed in 1980 British Defence Forces {{UK-mil-stub