Since it was formed in 1958, TRT (UK) has played a leading role in the creation of products and services which became a major commercial success. A few of the most significant ones are described below.
nuVa®
Collaborative working is essential in today’s business world to ensure the rapid flow of ideas and understanding. Working closely with a number of academic institutes, TRT (UK) created nuVa®. The nuVa® system builds on our natural way of working, combining high quality audio and video communications with an intuitive shared desk that allows multiple users to work together in real-time irrespective of their geographical location. Under licence to TRT (UK), nuVa® was launched to the open market by cereno, specialists in collaboration conferencing solutions.
Indoor Positioning 
Indoor positioning presents a number of significant challenges. The approach which has been developed by TRT (UK) to address those challenges is based on Frequency hopped Ultra WideBand (UWB) radio. The use of frequency hopping, as opposed to the classical narrow pulse version of UWB allows greater building penetration, resulting in an affordable level of infrastructure.
Jaguar-V
Jaguar-V was the world's first frequency-hopping military VHF radio, and was sold to many countries worldwide, earning in excess of £300 million for the (then) Racal group. The development of the frequency-hopping and synchronisation algorithms, and of the ASICs that implemented these, was carried out at TRT (UK) in the late 1970s. Jaguar-V went on to win a Queen's Award for Technology for Racal-BCC (now part of Thales Communications) and Racal Research (the former name for TRT (UK)) in 1984.
Cellular and Packet Radio
In the early 1980s, TRT (UK) played a leading role in the development of the TACS analogue cellular radio system. As a result of this, the Vodafone company was created by Racal, and operated the UK's first cellular radio network. Later, TRT (UK) was involved in the specification of the European (now worldwide) GSM digital cellular system, and jointly with Marconi and British Telecom produced the first working GSM prototype. In the late 1980s, TRT (UK) designed the first commercial packet radio network, called Paknet, which was subsequently operated by Vodafone. Originally designed for processing credit card authorisations, the network has since been used for such diverse applications as vehicle tracking, meter reading, betting and alarm systems. It has also been deployed in several other countries.
Aeronautical Satcom
TRT (UK) produced prototype equipment for initial trials of aeronautical satellite communications for ESA and BNSC in the 1980s. These led in 1990 to a single-channel product called SatFone which was produced by Thales Avionics, incorporating modem and error correction software written by TRT (UK). In 1992, Thales Avionics in collaboration with Honeywell upgraded this to the multichannel SatCom (MCS 3000/6000); TRT (UK) again designed the modem software, as well as the transmit and receive ASICs. Development at Thales Avionics has continued, and the current version, MCS 4000/7000, was released in 2001. These products have been certified for more than 10 different airframes and sold to more than 20 of the world's leading airlines. The product won a Queen's Award for Technology for Racal Avionics (now Thales Aerospace Division) in 1997.
WatchWord
WatchWord is a standards-based token for user and message authentication. A compact, handheld device, it provides financial organisations and their customers with all the confidence and security they need for delivering - and using - remote services. Needing no docking stations, card readers or specific terminal equipment, users of WatchWord are free to do business in the way that suits them. The secure cryptograms created by WatchWord tokens are normally authenticated by server or host based software systems supported by Thales hardware security modules. Tamper-resistant design coupled to Triple DES encryption ensures strong security. At the same time simple customisation and programming, together with built-in emulation facilities, make for ready system design and integration. TRT (UK), working on behalf of Thales e-Security, designed the WatchWord II in 1992. The current version, WatchWord 3, was updated with Triple DES support and released by Thales e-Security in January 2000.
GSM Test Set
GSM phones were the first mass-market digital radio, and as such their testing required significant changes from earlier products. It is necessary to measure such parameters as phase trajectory error, which requires sophisticated digital signal processing. TRT (UK) played a key role in the design of test sets for these phones, in particular in the digital signal processing area. The products are marketed by Racal Instruments and earned them a Queen's Award for technology in 1995.
Wide-Area Differential GPS
Wide-Area Differential GPS (WADGPS) seeks to improve the navigation accuracy of the GPS system, by transmitting corrections for satellite clock and position errors and for ionospheric effects. It differs from the more conventional Differential GPS in that the corrections are applicable worldwide, and not just in the vicinity of a reference station. TRT (UK) has been involved with WADGPS since the initial ESA Wide Area Measurement Campaign in 1992; subsequent work has included the MAGNET system and the North European Satellite Testbed (NESTBED), and has continued through to the present day, with the development of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), which will be operational in a few years' time and will permit aircraft landings using satellite navigation alone. A further area of current work is the development of a dual-frequency WADGPS system, capable of providing 20cm accuracy worldwide.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition
In response to a number of terrorist attacks in the UK in the early 1990's, we were briefed by the UK Government to develop a high performance licence plate recognition (ANPR) system to be used in all weathers, visibilities and at high speeds. The system was designed to assist in the prevention of terrorist attacks. The system developed by us was called Talon and was taken to market by Racal Messenger Limited. In 2000, Appian acquired Racal Messenger Limited and now supply the Talon software.