ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D History: 2010s

The department is heavily involved in delivering technical innovations for major sporting events held in the UK. Youview & ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Microbit are launched, the prototype of which is developed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Research & Development.

2010

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Kingswood Warren closes

Kingswood Warren closes for the final time, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D staff move to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's West London Campus and Manchester. 

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Kingswood Warren, a sprawling Victorian manor house with some 1960s buildings on the side

Successfully transmitted a live music event using Super Hi-Vision signals

This was from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Television Centre to NHK in Japan.


Freeview HD launches

The technical launch of Freeview HD services takes place in December 2009, initially from Crystal Palace and Winter Hill, using the new DVB-T2 broadcasting standard. Full Freeview HD services launch in March 2010 .

2011

Queen's Award for the Piero Sports Graphic System

The Production Magic team at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D has been working on new techniques and applications of computer-based image processing for TV production for many years. Some of this work was recognised in the form of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the "Innovation" category, for their contribution to the Piero sports graphics system.


 

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D North Lab moves to ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ MediaCityUK in Salford

 MediaCityUK is the new location for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ North (ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Five Live and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Breakfast are broadcast from there). ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Oxford Road in Manchester is decommissioned.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media City UK a modern office building

2012

World's first Super Hi-Vision coverage of the Olympic Games

With live transmission from London to Japan and the USA. The games were held in London and the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ was the host broadcaster. The opening ceremony was broadcast live on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ 1 and achieved one of the biggest UK television audiences in recent years.


ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Connected Studio launches

A man in a VR headset

YouView launches on 26th July 2012

Joint venture between the public service broadcasters in the UK. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D contributes heavily to its launch.


HM The Queen officially opens ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ North and sees ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D's work

Queen Elizabeth II accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh opened ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ North in MediaCityUK and staff gave the royal party a short demonstration of the work undertaken by the Department. 


2013

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D's Central Lab in One Euston Square, Central London opens on 23rd June 2013

It becomes ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D's 3rd lab.


 

2014

World's first implementation of a live end-to-end UHD broadcasting system over IP at Commonwealth Games 2014

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A studio gallery

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Connected Studio and World Service (international) partnership programme launches

Three men with lanyards

2015

Replacing NICAM decoder in New Broadcasting House in London

NICAM stands for Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex.

New NICAM unit

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Taster launches on 26th January 2015

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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Taster on a mobile phone

Built the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ micro:bit prototype

Pocket-sized codeable computer with motion detection, a built-in compass and Bluetooth technology, given to school children in year 7 for free.

Tony Hall delivers a presentation about the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Microbit in his hand

Work on a joint HDR proposal with NHK begins

On the 15th May 2015, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ announced they had begun work with NHK to develop a joint High Dynamic Range (HDR) proposal that would be proposed to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Freeview Play launches in October 2015

2016

ITU Recommendation defining two HDR transfer functions

On the 6th July 2016, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced Rec. 2100 which defines two HDR transfer functions one of which was Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) developed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D and NHK.

HLG edit from Planet Earth II added to iPlayer IPTV platform for UHD testing

On the 8 December 2016, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ announced that it was adding a 4-minute Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) edit from their Planet Earth II series to its iPlayer IPTV platform for public Ultra High Definition (UHD) testing.

2017

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Director General Tony Hall announces the Culture UK partnership

On 4th April Tony Hall announced CultureUK a new creative partnership designed to energise audiences, artists - and the creative industries. He cited that β€˜We have a world class Research and Development team at the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and I want to share their expertise. Working closely with the sector, and tech partners, I want us to look at new ways to captivate new audiences - storytelling in VR; immersive theatrical experiences; big creative collaborations that can only exist in the digital space'.

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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Media Centre- ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ announces Culture UK partnership

Doctor Who in Binaural Sound

A special binaural version of 'Knock Knock' episode 4 in the latest series of Doctor Who is made available on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer. Giving an immersive spatial sound experience for headphone listeners, it was remixed using ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D's binaural production tools.

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Peter Capaldi as The Doctor rescues his companion Bill as she dangles from the TARDIS in space

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Taster VR app launches on Android and IoS

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Taster VR logo

High Efficiency Video Coding standard wins Primetime Engineering Emmy

R&D made significant contributions to the development of the video compression standard H.265/HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), via the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC), which was awarded an Engineering Emmy.

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R&D releases β€˜The Inspection Chamber’, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s first interactive audio play for Amazon Alexa

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Inspection Chamber logo

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ launches first broadcast HbbTV service in the UK

R&D was involved in writing the latest HbbTV 2.0.1 specification, ensuring that the service – which will move the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ away from existing Red Button technology- meets the needs of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s interactive services as well as the wider UK broadcast industry.

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Blue Planet II in UHD, HDR, HLG

All seven episodes of the landmark natural history series Blue Planet II are published to iPlayer, following a small trial with Planet Earth the previous year. Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) is an High Dynamic Range (HDR) system specifically developed for television by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D and Japanese broadcaster NHK.

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Blue planet 2 UHD

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ RemArc wins Dementia Innovation of the Year award from Alzheimers Society

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Reminiscence Archive (RemArc), a tool to trigger memories in those with dementia using archive material, was designed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Archives and launched on R&D’s Taster platform.

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Rem Arc screenshot showing Crackerjack

β€˜Lost’ Morecambe and Wise episode restored

R&D worked with archivists and experts from Queen Mary University of London to reclaim rare footage of an early Morecambe & Wise ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ broadcast from an heavily degraded acetate film reel.

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Morecambe & Wise fragments

2018

Launch of Civilisations AR app

In March, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ released its first augmented reality app to accompany the Civilisations series on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two. The app, created by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D and Nexus Studios, gives users β€˜hands on’ access to ancient artefacts from around the world.

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Civilisation app VR on a phone

'iSpy Sound Detective Agency' wins ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio & Music award

'iSpy Sound Detective Agency', a binaural adventure series produced by CBeebies Radio in collaboration with R&D's audio team, won 'Best Digital Innovation' at the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio & Music Awards.  Judges praised the show for introducing children to the concept of visual impairment through its innovative use of R&D's binaural sound production system.

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ispy graphics of a cartoon girl and a dog

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s first Ultra High Definition (UHD) live streams on iPlayer

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ announced that its coverage of the FIFA World Cup would be broadcast in UHD and HDR on iPlayer- a first for the corporation.  This was followed in June by live UHD-HDR streams of the Wimbledon Championships on iPlayer. That year the wedding of Prince Harry Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle was also recorded in UHD. 

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iPlayer UHD World Cup titlescreen

Audio Definition Model Renderer wins EBU Technology & Innovation award

R&D engineers Chris Pike and Thomas Nixon received the European Broadcasting Union's Technology & Innovation Award for their work on the next-generation audio 'EBU ADM Renderer', alongside partners from the EBU.  

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EAR renderer award being presented

R&D and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Four create β€˜Made By Machine: When AI Met The Archive”

An experimental documentary co-produced by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Four, 'Made By Machine: When AI Met the Archive' saw an AI editor designed by R&D delve into ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Four's archives and create four β€˜mini ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Four’ programmes, without any human input: the first of its kind in the broadcasting industry.

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AI met Archive titlescreen

Alicia Grandjean wins 'Future Stars of Tech' Web Development award

Alicia Grandjean, a software engineer in IRFS, won the Future Stars of Tech award for her achievements in the 'Web Development' field. 

The 'Future Stars of Tech' awards are open to IT professionals or business professionals in the technology industry who have started their career in the last eight years and clearly demonstrate strong potential for becoming a successful technology leader.

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R&D wins ACM Best Paper and Doctoral Consortium awards

Members of the 2-IMMERSE consortium, including R&D engineer Maxine Glancy, received the ACM's 'Best Paper' award at TVX2018 conference for their paper, 'New Production Platform for Authoring Object-Based Multiscreen TV Viewing Experiences'.  

Neelima Sunil from the University of Nottingham also won the ACM doctoral consortium award for 'Building Trust in Personal Data Driven Media Experiences', which was based upon research conducted whilst on placement with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D.   

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Low latency UHD live streams 

In September, R&D announced that it has solved the issue of delays between internet-delivered live streams and live broadcast TV, as seen during World Cup 2018. 

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Football match

R&D wins IBC 2018 awards for AI in Production and media innovation

In September, R&D engineer Craig Wright accepted the 'IBC Best Conference Paper' award on behalf of his co-authors, for their paper on AI in production.  Head of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D Reality Labs David Johnston also accepted a joint 'IBC Special Award' for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's "Damming the Nile" VR experience from ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ VR Hub and R&D’s β€˜Civilisations AR’ app, in recognition of their innovative uses of these new technologies. 

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IBC AI award being presented

Civilisations Festival wins Prix Italia award 

Part of the CultureUK programme the 'Civilisations Festival' - a partnership between the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D, ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Arts and museums and art galleries across the UK, built around ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Two’s 'Civilisations' series- won a Prix Italia for 'Cross Platform working', in recognition of the "huge cultural and educational value" of the collaboration.

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Civilisations Festival programme page

'Nothing To Be Written' wins Raindance Festival VR award 

'Nothing To Be Written', a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Proms Virtual Reality experience delivered by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ VR Hub, 59 Productions and the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Research & Development spatial audio team, won the 'Best UK Experience' award at the Raindance Immersive Stories (Virtual Reality) Festival 2018.

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Civilisations AR wins Lovie award

The 'Civilisations AR' app - produced by R&D and Nexus Studios- won a Lovie award in the 'Best Use of VR' category.

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R&D engineers win SMPTE Digital Processing Medal and Fellowship

The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) awarded their prestigious Digital Processing Medal this year to R&D engineer Tim Borer, in recognition of his "significant contributions in the areas of image processing, particularly motion-aware video frame-rate conversion and video compression algorithms, including techniques used in phase correlation-based frame interpolation."

SMPTE also bestowed a Fellowship, one of only 15, to R&D engineer John Fletcher.  Fellowships are awarded to "individuals who have, through their proficiency and contributions to the motion-picture, television, or related industries, attained an outstanding rank among engineers or executives in media and entertainment."

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Live UHD streams on iPlayer win 'What HiFi?' innovation award 

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's first-ever live 4k HDR streams on iPlayer, captured during this year's FIFA World Cup and Wimbledon tennis championships,  won the 'What Hi Fi?' award for Innovation at their 36th annual awards ceremony.

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HbbTV awards for multiscreen experiences and HbbTV testing

The 2-IMMERSE collaborative research partnership- which includes ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D- won the HbbTV award for 'Best Multiscreen Experience'  for their Moto GP concept demonstrator.  It was also runner-up for the Judge's Grand Prix prize.  The jury felt that the demo was a β€œVery sophisticated application, HbbTV 2.0 and Multiscreen at the highest level".  

Robert Foreman, R&D Technologist, also received 'Best Individual Contribution to the HbbTV Association' award, for his work on the HbbTV Test Suite Activity.  The jury said β€œRob is one of the most significant contributors to the HbbTV test suite.”

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Inclusive Boards name Ian Forrester in top 100 'Most Influential BAME Leaders in Technology' rankings

Ian Forrester, R&D Development Producer, was named by Inclusive Boards as being one the top 100 most influential BAME leaders in technology in the UK, in a report published in the Financial Times.  

The report was released as part of the launch of the Inclusive Tech Alliance membership body, which aims to increase diversity in the technology sector.

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Lauren Ward wins EPSRC Connected Nations Pioneers award

Lauren Ward won the EPSRC  in the 'Making Digital Technology Work for People' category, for her work on the use of object-based broadcasting to reduce the barriers to television content experienced by people with hearing loss.

Lauren is a PhD candidate from the University of Salford, who recently completed an internship with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D’s audio team.

Lauren Ward

First public trials of 5G Augmented Reality app for Roman Baths

R&D holds the first public trials of an AR app, distributed over an experimental 5G network at the Roman Baths in Bath, as part of the 5G Smart Tourism project to explore if a high-bandwidth, low-latency mobile network can enable high quality immersive experiences on mobile devices.

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Bath 5G app on a screen

2019

'Nothing to Be Written' wins UploadVR award

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Prom's World War One-set Virtual Reality experience, 'Nothing To Be Written', which features a binaural soundtrack mixed by R&D, won UploadVR's 'Best Mobile VR Experience' award.

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Katy Noland wins TVNewsCheck’s 'Technology Women To Watch' award

Katy Noland, Senior R&D Engineer wins a 'Technology Women to Watch' award, from TVNewsCheck's 'Women in Technology' industry awards.  This prize recognises β€˜women who show the promise of contributing significantly to advancing their industry technologically’.

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R&D launches Orkney 5G radio trials 

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D announces a world-first trial on Stronsay, Orkney Islands, which enables participants to receive live ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ radio over experimental 5G mobile connections.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D is a partner in the 5G RuralFirst testbed, which is exploring how 5G connectivity could benefit businesses and communities in remote areas. 

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Orkney staff using a 5G phone

R&D South Lab moves to Lighthouse

Research & Development moves its South Lab to the Lighthouse building, adjacent to Broadcast Centre at White City Place, London, as Centre House is decommissioned.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Lighthouse building

Makers Academy name Misa Ogura in first 'Women in Software Power List'

Misa Ogura, R&D Software Engineeer, was included in the first annual 'Women in Software Powerlist' announced by software development academy Makers.  The Powerlist recognises women rising stars in the UK's software development sector, as well as aiming to make female role models more visible.

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Misa Ogura

Civilisations AR app wins Peabody Futures of Media Award

The 'Civilisations AR' app, developed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D and Nexus Studios, won a Peabody Futures of Media Award for outstanding digital storytelling, in their 'Mobile' category.

The Peabody Futures of Media Awards "celebrate the spirit of innovation and the most powerful narratives in an ever-changing digital landscape".

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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D: Civilisations AR- Bringing the collection into your home

World Cup live UHD streaming on iPlayer wins Connie award

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's first-ever live UHD-HDR broadcasts on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer, captured during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, won a Silver 'Connie' award in the Premier TV category.

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FA Cup broadcast in UHD HDR for first time 

R&D collaborated with industry partners to develop a single production workflow for live HD/SDR and UHD/HDR broadcasts, which debuted for ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Sports’ FA Cup Final coverage on 19 May.  

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Screens showing a football field

5G: Rory Cellan-Jones makes first live news report over 5G network

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones reported on the launch of EE's 5G network launch from Covent Garden, using that same network - the first time a 5G network has been used by a production team for a live TV programme. 

R&D’s Technology Transfer team helped co-ordinate the collaboration between the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and BT that resulted in the delivery of Rory's report.

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Rory Cellan-Jones in Covent Garden with a 5G phone

New Article Formats wins ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News 'Best Digital Innovation' award

R&D's work on 'New Article Formats', led by IRFS' Tristan Ferne, won 'Best Digital Innovation' at the  held in London.  Judges selected winning entries based on "incredible teamwork, creativity, innovation and real dedication to making ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News the best in the business".

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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News app screenshots

Interactive Blue Peter Garden VR game launched

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ launched Blue Peter Garden Explorer, a VR game for children developed by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ R&D with ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Children’s Blue Peter team.  Through 360Β° video and interactive navigation, Blue Peter fans can explore the famous Garden from the comfort of their own home.

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Blue Peter garden game titlescreen

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Click makes interactive 1000th episode with object-based media tools 

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Click’s 1,000th show is the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ’s first full-length interactive programme, letting users choose how they want to watch it.  It was produced using  ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Research & Development's StoryKit object-based media tools and was released on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Taster on 5 July 2019. 

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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Click announces interactive 1,000th episode:

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Click logo

Personalisable social media documentary made with object-based media tools

β€˜Instagramification’ is a documentary about one of the world’s biggest social media platforms.  Each viewer experiences the documentary based on a combination of their mood, personal preferences and the choices they make; seeing a slightly different, personalised version of the story. 

'Instagramification' was devised and produced by , an independent production company, using R&D's StoryFormer authoring tool.  It launched on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Taster on 5 August 2019.

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Instagram splash screen

Chris Poole wins HbbTV 'Best Individual Contribution' award

Chris Poole was honoured by the HbbTV Association with a '' award, in recognition of being a "huge supporter of the development and use of HbbTV in the UK".

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