The history and traditions in the field of military communications.
Location
Royal Signs Museum, Blandford, United Kingdom
Objective
The Royal Signals Museum is located in Blandford Camp in the beautiful Dorset countryside and only a stone’s throw from the scenic and interesting Georgian Town of Blandford Forum. It is the national museum of Army communications and the exhibits and displays show the part that communications have played in the many wars and campaigns of the last 150 years. The Museum collection is regarded as being of National importance. The Royal Signals Museum exists to preserve the history and traditions in the field of military communications. It tells the story of military communications from the Napoleonic Wars onwards enhanced by the vivid use of graphic panels, display cases, audio-visual aids and tableaux.
Approach
NorthernLight developed ‘Operation Secret Waves’. This exhibition explains the development of British Military communications equipment from the heliograph in the Zulu wars till satellite communications in the Gulf War. The main objective of this exhibition is to interpret the technology of the Royal Signallers Museum’s collection.
‘Operation Secret Waves’ has been conceived as an armoured communication vehicle with a driver’s seat and a shelter area. The driver’s seat deals with a brief history of the development of the British military communications. One of the seats in the truck cabin has a steering wheel and accelerator to drive through a simulated 3D landscape, depicting historical military operations and the military communications devices predominantly used in that time. The shelter of this armoured truck is packed with state-of-the-art communications equipment that the visitor has seen in other parts of the museum. Radio, satellite communication and telegraphy/telephony is highlighted in this area. Mounted graphics provide historical context to the activities and on screen we made extensive use of video to guide visitors through the exhibition.
