The Vetronics Research Centre (VRC) has been the only Academic Centre of Excellence in the UK conducting research and training in the subject area of Vetronics (Vehicle Electronics), sponsored by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and supported by Defence Science Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).
Started in 2004, the VRC has acquired funding primarily to conduct innovative research in the field of Vetronics for Land Systems on behalf of the UK (MOD). Its purpose is to research future technologies and methodologies and disseminate the information to the government, academic, and defence industry in the UK.
The VRC has also conducted research in the field of Avionics and Commercial Automotive, and has helped defence industry companies to develop demonstrators and testbeds for future military vehicle designs, offering expertise in the latest vetronics technologies.
We focus on specialised and targeted research to investigate new technologies and methodologies that can be applied in the immediate and near future. The majority of our research programmes have included a functional demonstrator deliverable to provide a practical hands-on experience of the research outputs. Developed systems are designed in a modular fashion to make them re-usable for an extension of the programme or even in other related applications, reducing re-development costs down and providing and increasing set of testing environments.
The VRC conducts training courses on current and upcoming Vetronics technologies and architectures to disseminate our knowledge and experience within the Vetronics field. As a research centre we have worked closely with a number of committees and working groups that design and define the systems and methodologies for future military vehicles and other platforms. Some of these technologies and specifications are MilCAN, TTP/C, TTEthernet, DDS, VSI Standards & Guidelines, Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA), NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture (NGVA), Digital Video Distribution (DEFSTAN 00-0082).