His Majesty's Government Communications Centre (HMGCC) is an organisation which provides electronics and software to support the communication needs of the
British Government. Based at
Hanslope Park, near
Milton Keynes in
Buckinghamshire, it is closely linked with the
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
and the British intelligence community.
History
HMGCC used to have a communications centre at
Signal Hill near
Gawcott
Gawcott is a village about south-west of Buckingham in the Buckinghamshire (district), Buckinghamshire district in the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is in the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Gawcott with L ...
, in Buckinghamshire. Stephen Ball was Chief Executive until 2000, when Dr John Widdowson took over; Widdowson moved to
GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
in 2005.
Structure
The organisation employs more than 380 personnel
HMGCC Website
retrieved 2018-09-28 and the solutions it provides are bespoke to fit the needs of the government, its organisations, and specifically its intelligence assets. HMGCC is responsible for research and design in the following disciplines:
* RF engineering
Radio-frequency (RF) engineering is a subset of electronic engineering involving the application of transmission line, waveguide, antenna and electromagnetic field principles to the design and application of devices that produce or use signals w ...
* Signal processing
Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...
* Software engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development.
A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...
* Acoustics
* Audio engineering
* Operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
s
* GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
design
* Embedded systems
An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' ...
* System engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking ...
* Manufacture and application of microcircuits
* Study of power sources
* Operational research
Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...
* Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...
See also
* GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
* MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
* MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
* Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
* Hanslope Park
References
{{reflist
External links
Official HMGCC Website
* ttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1583320/Civil-servants-edit-Wikipedia-while-working.html ''Telegraph'' March 2008
British intelligence agencies
Cryptography organizations
Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Milton Keynes
Research institutes in Buckinghamshire