DIG ITAL COMPUTER a0p tstoWli EWS Y E T R Intl 0 1I Iltilom July 10 50 imtiu 1 thldildloth hi l'itiu Vill IIIJ No ' 3 Paage No COMU fL AND LA fA Phi-CL K W'it r AhM1'ACA I oIrnell Ao krnatilol a l'ahorat ory 1i Ie r jit rol l oll N Y roe t allirnia 110-b Iailo 0 kl- C'ron it Ink A 1 W AC MANIAC 1I Iotm Alaoinkio Now Moiil %i 1 Imoa Alom 8 A iotilfik I to4 m'4104 o t n n tlAS kConilmtr I'r ilwio n NJ 4 bor in tolkl Uiniv red m loses rrtiAnd I vol pntnt Weltllngillm O' % 0I 8 Pillowt t it1ki'a titi ' ttiOMPY f NQJN 1'AUNF K 1 Aitr Provicto tlroitine Cantori 041st Retcitrlion 1 ebo ratory W4giln A li thr irda 3 Stat u M itinnesota Cilput r Hikity Saint 14aul Minn of Standa rdo ComIkiwton lWboraorv Wafshnldoglon DX i National titan m 4 isv kard tl11 1 Comtp ite r Corjniroticm TltI I X and MU l-lIVk RTl'k 1h1 Angeles California Coiipptallios ind Date a tdict lol Cente r I oo N lao WltiiieCorli Angeles Ckirl III U S Na al Air Missile 'Ceat Coi er RAY AC Po int M%41U Caklif 7 i U Naval Air Station Naval Attrooet Culistr Paitimont Iliver Maryland il 9 10 U 8 Naval P rovilng G romnd Naval Ordnance Compotation Genie r Dahlilren Virdinia UI S Navy ltiurean of Ships Clectrosi Computetr Ii ranch Codet Akio Washington OXC Now Yorkt Utitv rmlly AK C Cowtputing and Applied Mathemnat ics Coeter New Yorlt Now Yorik T 16 Auti ri 11aiiahW-0apolls Roilearvib tat s itt 4 4 III '7 7 i II 14 is I1 COMPONEN'ri T ' 11 Data Processing System saliellurY S Atktralia A latitutto Namioiialo Por Lim Appl1 aeionia Del Calcolo I'INAC-l' rranti MARK I C'aimputor Romeri Italy L Nippon Telephone And Telegraph Public CorpI MUSASINO-l Tokyo Japan 4 Max - Planc'k- litelMull Cir Physik 0 1 G Ia 0 2 and G J G ttingon Germrany S' Provisional Iii rnational Comptitation Centre Rome Italy o 1 0 TWrrUgi0%jhmCorp 1Electrographic Recordluig Detroit Michigan 17 I8 A Laboratory for Elokctronics Iric RASTAD tIollson Mass A Minneapolis-lionflywoll Soria 7000 Digital Data Recorder lleltsvillle Mary land 4 Stanford Research Institute 111gh Speed Elolctrcinic PrIntor Menlo Park California Cotrbtin CT1 jD L TeUdr C I d 19 19 for Digital Computer Newsletter DDC3 0C 18I ha mn Tst Im crpprosd Approved by 20 August 1957 fteNv cear NAVEXO8 P-645 - m W Ire- COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSORS NORTH AMERICA I'VOICKIPUIIN 'ORNK 1 1 AV4IINAV'k K'Al t AIK KA T Y INC' 'ipTh' oeetmo of the flirs agtaI ovylt'n v5apabi sit p rvos' lln h'avosgnisitig 1 111 41identifying Its surroundi nli without ally humanl I I alasingi or volittill halltwolle succesafuliy steition romosroh payes'hogi lst atl tho Cornell Aproitautival l 41torolory Ink' of IlulfaIi N Y undtsor cont ract fill- the tOffiv-s of Naval ltepeaa'ch Information Systems liratich Washingitog WC ' Itt'uiei Allis proven by D r Pralli Mimonbiaia Although the piloit niosioI of atmoashitokea sitisige spovcivially fors thoks' fuiit'tisoi is aladtaitloe yvaa front voaiipietlon thr 'l'rvoptros' isyslota has hooni s'ffssctivs'Iy nianuiatsd tilt an IPM 704 computer many timeso in proving Its vinonet tsil practicability It hasl an each case donionstratod tht' abillity not only It% larn what It 10 ''shOWn1 ' lxl Itse'lf Mslsi at apatallily tit opoatanetiusly '4w aching Tlhe ps'rvoplixsn will consist of til trco nnectei unilts which at's' valable of respoinding its a PPI i'opiate signals or Impulses Andi which diliver output signAls analogous In many ways it nervo Impulses While Itohe bsiv organiaotion of the porcuptron io similar to that of A biulogivat systemn vertatat differenice awil sinipliticationoa hould he noted For' title thing the projec tin ates which is fsiwitt In all asivanred biological oyatemins Is not essential for the pwereptronl althoogh it does serve importanit tuwtions lin #onto muodls In slmjiiified models the retinal imints ate Rassumed to be connected directly to randomnly selcted unilte A-unit in the Atassos'iation system ftcond the responses it-unite of the perceptron Are typically binary devices which arv either onl or' off or which may somotimes have a third neutral condition At thii preiselt time little attention has been given to responses which must vary lit hitensity the It-liito tit the perceptron being use#' merely to signal the state of the system Third the responses of the perceptron actually combine the functions of the second association layer with those of the motor cortex The k-units transmit feedback signals to the association system with sonio essential constraints which sri' similar in effect to the constraints In local feedback loops botweeti layers of the association cortex The feedback culnectioina from an R-unit like those from the deep cortical cells return to the same A-units which are responsible for setivatning the unit in the first placso bi some models Alternative c'onstraints Are possible but thisi rule appears to be one which is most generally satisfactory The responses of the perceptron might best be interpreted as the analog of certain iatioelation volls which represent the brain's recognition response to particular visual forms or types of stimuli rather than the calls lit the motor cortex which regulate speech or movement The activation of atparticular response for the perceptron might mean for exurmplo that a triangle is presient or that a man's voice is being heard Each response is thus capable of representing at particular concept or abstraction in terms of which the environment is organiraed At the outtset when a perceptron is first exposed to stimuli the responsos which occ ur will be random and no meaning can be assigned to them As time goes onl however changes which occur In the aesociatiort system cause individual responses to become more and more specific to particular well differentiated classes of forms such as squares triangles clouds trees people etc The theoretical bases were well established during 1957 and at that time the simulation program was started using the IBM 704 computer to try to find out how well the theory would hold up in practice While the 704 could not possibly rival the perceptron in speed and flexibilfty of performance it is possible by examining each connection and A-unit of the system in turn and computing the appropriate signals which would be transmitted in a physical network to calculate the performance of a perceptron in response to a series of visual forms A large number of ouch simulation experiments have now been completed and all main predictions of the theory have beens substantiated Although there have been many theoretical brain models before the perceptron the main points which set it off frnm other attempts are lithvpi 'volitrun is tho first 1 yatean whitch appear it to 01s econoIcal 1 In the sense that It outa oref aW0i aV l 1a on non l iy lal problonin with it eaaal lota onumber tif units thant art pro'ecemt III III$ hunianl leip'outt svoteni All laaevioaaa oatmytn domleixs which Is In any way vornIatihlie arp tif a voinmpl'Ieiy la ohiltitivs olse 9 The pas'eopit oin Ism not buiilt to rigidt logival ampecifivations in which the failure tif a lawrtIcular uinit Ism likely to v'ause a laa'ekdtawm tif oleaction 'Ihle uleigii it the myst amIs bamed on imit amunml itolhr tf atatistiat taranios'amte c and sonioa gene mAt logical coastraitsrm kitt within theame limi1to the amtual ronelam'ilanina van be udrawnm fronat a table tini random imumboers 3 The gporceat ron doons not reovoollae formN lay atmatchilnMi them11 againstut a toa'ed invenittry of iAnIcIar 11a11001 'ti por gfoamniiti a amatheammatival aam Alydls III ihaaraetpratlet cm The recoganitiona lto aliaro cand voiammntlitlly iatmtaushwoas' tho nioniraay Is tit the form tif anow pathways thromugh tho syntiem rather than atvotiot ropromentatlon oft the original saimuii There ism in fact tio way of aessamtotrueting the original stiamuli froam the mmenmory with any atastlaite vertainty Noaaothlwteaa the protnability of obtaining ama appropriate rectignitioni amponimv cuint hie mader viratually poreafeet rospoamme ora naming re - 4 A a ammodel fama' the biological brain the ipervoteia n toes aot violate any known intformaiantisina abutm the c'e'itral nurvous amyatean It else the logiv of its conmeections the degree of m'eliahillity required tif inadividual unmits the permissible iaaadoan variation lit Its wiring diagrain and the kitnds of signals employed are all consistent with known anatomical and physiological data The difference# from the nervous system are generally in the direction of ainaptifieptioam rather than complication sfinev hItI often possible to achieve effsets In an electronic model which would require many colls andl connections in a biological system At only one point-the assumed value of the A-units-is there an assumpt ion which toss not have a clearly Identifiable counterpart in the biological brain and this appears to be duo to diff icult lee of measurement rather than Incompatibility of the concept It The perceptron Is the first system which has been proved capable of spontaneous organmisation and symboilsathin of Its environment along lines which bear some definite relationolhip to the hum an concept of similarity While statistical schemes for the correlation and differentiation of patterns have boen proposed previously and might be implemented by a digital computer the porceptron appears to be the only system which hillhrently operates lIn this fashion as a p roperty of Its organisation rather than through the e xecution of a logical program ALWAC Ml-E - EL-TRONICS IN C HAWTHORNE CALIFORNIA - Since the merger of ALWAC Corporation with El-Troamics Inc In March ALWAC has become the ALWAC Compuiter Division EI-Tronics Inc One of the recent installations and computer applications Involves the ALWAC lll-E which was installed at the Menaateo Manifacturing Company Burbank California In addition to the standard accounting and pay voll applications Menauco will employ their 111-E for the nuniericat control of machine tools A general purpose numerical control routine NUCOP I and 11 has been developed by the ALWAC applications staff This routine is designed to prepare from blueprint information a punched paper tampe that will direct a three dimensional numerically controlled milling machine In a continuous path operation through any mathematically definable or Approjcimable surface The Air Frame Industry has stated that NUCOP represents a significant contribution to the advancement of numerically controlled milling machine techniques Recent IU-E systems delivered early this year or scheduled for Installation within the year include David Taylor Model Basin Data Reduction Broadview Res arch Corporation Service Bureau and Operations Research and the Tecbnilcal Reaaearch Group New York who will use their system for research projects including nuclear physics chemistry and electronics IIIE systems are scheduled for installation at Liggett Drug Co Connecticut and Pharmaceuticals Inc New Jersey in the first quarter of 1959 They will be used for Inventory control accounting and other commercial applications The first magnetic' liqe system for the ilU-K has been installed at the Personnel Roeeareh itoard of the Adjutant Lieneralle Office Washington D C The last 31 000 character per seound buffered 33 word magpetic core and flexibie magnetic system was delivered in February tf this year and wao quickly checked out It Is now in productive operation for the voluminous record keeping functions of the PRB Litton Industries has also recently received and accepted their Magnetic Tape System which will be used with its now extensive 11-39 tar business applications as well as the design problems which have long been associated with the Litton installation Litton reports that during the month of April their system has operated a total of 380 8 hours This represents a remarkable 97 % of up-tinme and productive operation MANIAC I1 - LOS ALAMOM ACIFNTIFIC LABORATORY 1 O6 ALAMOS NEW MEXICO The MANIAC 11 designed and built by the Los Alamos dclentific Laboratory see Digital Computer Newsletter January 1955 is now in operation with its 12 288 word barrier-grid cathode n'y tube memory Its novel facilities for easy and effective human Intervention have already proved valuabh' Work is in progress on a formula coding technique allowing direct entry into the computer of formulae typed on an 84 charactor Flexowriter This Flexowriter will be modified for automatic half -ine advance and retract without etrriage return to permit completely general sub and superscripting PRINCETON IAS COMPUTER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY - PRINCETON N J Princeton University see Digital Computer Newsletter October 1957 will terminate operation of its poesent computer formally lAB by 30 June 1958 The IAS computer had originally been designed and built by the late John von Neumann and his group at the Institute for Advanced Study It was the first general purpose stored-program computer and the fastest computer at that time The LAS computer was copied by several institutions with slight modifl•ations and the IBM 701 was largely based on Its design In July 1957 the LA computer was taken over by Princeton University after the computer staff had been drastically reduced The decision to abandon the computer is due to the increasIng difficulties in its repair and maintenance and to the availability of reliable commercial machines The possibility of exchanging codes between organizations owning one of the widely distributed commercial models has also contributed to Princeton University's decision An IBM 650 has been ordered as a temporary replacement but it in felt that Princeton Univ-rsity together with its various research projects will soon need a bigger and faster machine presumably an IBM 704 Ol FICE OF IESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT -- U S PATENT OFFICE WASHINGTON D C - Since the middle of May of this year the Patent Office has been employing the ILAS machine see Digital Computer Newsletter October 1957 operationally to perform patent searches Noveliy searches of applications for patents directed to polyethylene resins and their methods of synthesis are being performed by ILAS on a group of 246 U S patents and 30 foreign patents directed to this field Future work will expand the search file to include additional foreign pateuts as well as periodleal literltnre ILAS permits the asking of questions which have a more complex logic than is possible with conventional card sorting equipment The search file contains 6 219 cards which averages about 22 cards per patent Sorting is at the rate of approximately 500 cards per minute A complete search including programming of the machine requires approximately 22 minutes -3 - COMPUTING CENTERS DATA REDUCTION LABORATORY - AIR PROVING GROUND CENTER EGLIN AFB FLORIDA - With the merging of the Air Force Armament Center and the Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin Air Force Base Florida digital computer facilities have been consolidated under the Data Reduction Laboratory PGVLD of the 3208th Test Group Technical Facilities Air Proving Ground Center An IBM 704 Conmputer was delivered in March joining the Univac Scientific Model 1103 the Datatron 205 and the IBM 650's In the Laboratory's computer complement COMPUTER STUDY - STATE OF MINNESOTA - SAINT PAUL MINN The 1957 Legislature appropriated $50 000 to the Commissioner of Administration for the purpose of conducting a study to determine which administrative activities might be profitably placed under electronic computer operation It is believed that this is the most comprehensive study of this type undertaken to date by a state government The completed study report states that installation by the Minnesota state government of an electronic computer will yield an estimated annual savings of $600 000 to $1 000 000 The study Is the first of its kind covering all operations ever undertaken by a state government It grew out of the Minnesota Self-Survey a comprehensive analysis of all state administrative operations launched In August 1955 by Governor Freeman under direction of Commissioner of Administration Arthur Naftalin The report recommends the establishment of an electronic computer center that would initially embrace eight major applications Including 1 The general statewide accounting function This Is now performed on a decentralized basis by the various state departments Under the computer program the function would be performed centrally under direction of the State Auditor 2 Income tax collection Now partially mechanized this function would be fully converted to electronic enabling greatly accelerated processing of returns with vastly improved accuracy and computing more extensive auditing of individual returns S Gasoline tax collection and refunding While partly mechanized it is still a burdensome manual operation Under computer operation the function would be performed more rapidly ut reduced cost and with fewer errors 4 Motor vehicle registration This function is now in the process of shifting from a wholly manual operation to tabulating machines It would be further mechanized under the computer program resulting in a more economical procedure and improved service with fewer errors It would also provide important statistical and tabulating byproducts and improved reference files which are in constant use The program would remain under direction of the Secretary of State 5 Gathering and reporting of welfare statistics This activity is now performed separately under five reporting systems Under the computer program these systems would be integrated into one reporting procedure thus eliminating duplicate files and consolidating all information pertaining to an individual case in one record 6 Highway cost accountiag This is now performed on tabulating equipment but under the computer program it would b - accomplished more economically and at greater speed because the present system according to the report requires a multitude of sorting collating summarizing and other handling operations whereas the computer can produce all the required reports in one operation -4 - 7 Payroll preparation This activity has been the subject of a separate management improvement program which has already resulted in extensive mechanization and partial centralization Under the computer program the payroll would become fully centralized with greater speed and accuracy 8 Highway engineering computations Now partially performed on an electronic calculator of limited capacity thAi function under the computer program would be given wider machine application relieving engineers for essential professional activities such as designing and research and construction supervision It is estimated that use of the computer would reduce construction costs by as much as $600 per mile The eight functions now require 727 full-time and 348 seasonal employees at an annual salary cost of $3 331 000 With the computer operation they would required 453 full-time and 152 seasonal employees at an annual co st of $2 262 000 The conversion would save 274 fulltime and 196 seasonal positions now costing $1 079 000 The computer would permit abandonment of a number of machine rentals providing additional savings of $144 647 for a total savings for both personnel and equipment of $1 224 000 Against these savings however must be applied the cost of the computer center itself This is estimated at $633 751 per year leaving net annual savings of $590 000 The computer center would require 38 full-time and 36 seasonal employees for the eight applications which means that a total of 491 full-time and 188 part-time employees would be needed for operations that now require 727 full-time and 348 seasonal employees In addition to these savings the survey showed that an estimated $271 000 would be saved by extending computer use in highway engineering Also in income tax collection it is conservatively estimated that $141 000 in additional annual revenue for the Income Tax Fund would result because of improved automatic auditing procedures The aight functions that would be converted initially represent approximately 60 per cent of the state's data processing load After these applications have been completely installed other functions could be readily converted adding still further savings Installation of the computer will require legislative action This action is planned for 1959 COMPUTATIO N LABORATORY - NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS WASHINGTON D C - The capacity of the IBM 704 installation at the NBS's Applied Mathematics Division has been augmented by the addition of an 8 000 word magetic drum This will facilitate the use of FORTRAN TRICE AND MULTW ERTER - PACKARD-BELL COMPUTER CORPORATION LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA The prototype TRICE system see Digital Computer Newsletter April 1958 was delivered to the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal in May This system has generated stable sine waves as high as 8 000 cycles per second in realtime An analysis has been made of open form of the Impact Prediction problem using TRICE as a computer The equations of motion for a 5 000 mile ballistic trajectory can be completely integrated in approximately one second with a step size in range of 1 20 mile This should give considering the trajectory solution only an error in range of approximately one part in 25 000 -5- or 1 5 of a mile Copies of this report are available for those interested by writing V A van Praag Packard-Bell Computer Corporation 1905 Armacost Avenue Los Angeles 25 California An interesting application of TRICE and MULTIVERTER components has been made in the area of a Realtime Coordinate Conversion This use is in connection with the new missile trucking equipment which requires digital accuracies and high rates of speeds COMPUTATION AND DATA REDUCTION CENTER - RAMO-WOOLDRIDGE CORP LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA in January 1958 the former Digital Computing Center of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation became t0•e Computation and Data Reduction Center of the Space Technology Laboratories an autonomouL operating division of the Razno-Wooldridge Corporation The Center's activities are handled in four major departments Data Processing and Operations Department Computer Programming Department Mathematical Analysis Department and Data Analysis Department In addition to the UNIVAC Scientific Model 1103A Computer and the Epsco ADDAVERTER described in the July 1957 Digital Computer Newsletter the facilities include an extensive Data Reduction Center as well as an IBM 704 Data Processing System The 704 went on rent- at the Research and Development in Hawthorne California on January 6 1958 This new computer has 8 192 words of core storage and 8 192 words of drum storage There are 8 magnetic tape units on-line The extensive peripheral equipment installation includes facilities for offline card-to-tape tape-to-card and tape-to-printer information transfer The Center's 704 computer usage has increased steadily since January During the fourth month of operation April productive time totaled 336 hours Excluding time for preveatative maintenance during April the computer was available 98 1% of the power-on time The 1103A computer usage remained fairly constant during the first four months of 1958 at an average of 450 hours of productive time per month Excluding time for preventative maintenance the computer was available for 95 6% of the power-on time Three Uniservo tape units now on order for the 1103A computer will soon supplement the existing 7 tape units and will considerably improve the operating efficiency RAYDAC - U S NAVAL AIR MISSILE TEST CENTER POINT MUGU CALIF The capabilities of the RAYDAC input system are being further expanded to provide for the processing of digital radar data recorded on magnetic tape This data can be processed into the computer at rates up to 40 samples per second with the capability of accepting data words either high-order-first or low-order-first The input system is currently capable of processing paper tape at 200 characters per second IBM cards at 240 cards per minute and digital telemetry magnetic tape at rates up to 1000 samples per second NAVAL AIR TEST CENTER - U S NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER MARYLAND - The operating statistics for the Datatron installation at the Naval Air Test Center for the five month period ending 31 March 1958 are as follows Nov Hrs Production Code Checking Idle Down Time Total 1957 % 159 8 112 1 87 6 61 5 1 5 1 1 4 7 3 3 253 6 178 0 Dec Hrs 1957 Jan Hrs 1958 % % Feb Hrs 1958 % Mar Hrs 1958 % 111 1 16 4 2 2 69 0 74 3 11 0 x 5 4b 2 114 7 88 5 4 0 11 2 69 5 53 6 2 4 6 8 73 9 64 2 0 3 16 0 49 3 42 8 0 2 10 7 90 9 59 0 1 4 5 8 63 8 41 4 1 0 4 0 198 7 133 0 218 4 132 3 154 4 103 0 157 1 110 3 -6- t0 The first hour of each workday is utilized for preventive maintenance The remainder of thi workday 7-1 2 hours is used as the basis for computation of the operating statistics Percentages in excess of 100 arise wLen the computer is used for production or code checking after the regular workday Idle time includes time lost during the basic 7-1 2 hour day due to power failure or air-conditioning malfunction The large amount of down time during December was the result of primary power equipment failure NAVAL ORDNANCE COMPUTATION CENTER -- U S NAVAL PROVING GROUND DAHLGREN VIRGINIA - The 16 000 character per second Charactron printer-plotter see Digital Computer Newsletter January 1958 for on-line use with the NORC was delivered and is now undergoing checkout It is expected to be available for use in June 1958 A Technical Memorandum No K-13 57 High Speed CRT Printer Programming Manual has been published for guidance of pro pective users Construction of the Universal Data Transcriber UDT is in progress with a scheduled completion date of January 1959 A cortract has been awarded to the Computer Control Company for the 8192 character magnetic core memory to be used in the UDT Plans are underway to connect the Computation Laboratory directly by teletype to the Vanguard Computing Center and the Naval Research Laboratory in connection with planned increased use of NORC for satellite orbital computations Programs are now being written and checkout is progressing The Computation Laboratory is interested in discussing computational programs for the NORC The rate for good machine time is $195 per hour Contact the Director Computation and Exterior Ballistics Laboratory U S Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren Va Ext 235 ELECTRON COMPUTER BRANCH CODE 280 - BUREAU OF SHIPS WASHINGTON D C - Bureau of Ships Calculations of circular frame strength for submarines have been performed on the IBM Card 650 in the Bureau A plied Mathematics Laboratory DTMB Preparations are In progress for the installation of an IBM 704 at the Applied Mathematics Laboratory David Taylor Model Basin Carderock Maryland with turn-over to the Laboratory about August 1 This computer will replace one of the two UNIVAC I's presently installed at the Laboratory The 704 with 32 000 words of core storage will be used to further the laboratory's program of scientific computations and to permit greater use of the remaining UNIVAC I for business data processing applications The 704 will be an interim installation ultimately to be replaced by the Remington Rand LARC AEC COMPUTING AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS CENTER NEW YORK NEW YORK NEW YORK UNIVERSITY The day shift use of the IBM 704 system at the AEC Computing and Applied Mathematics Center at New York University has rapidly grown in recent months and reached 100% utilization of available time in April This time is primarily reserved for research problems and is divided between the Center and outside users In addition a second night and part or all of a third shift week-end is currently being used for production running by contractors of the Naval Reactor Branch of the AEC In April the magnetic core storage capacity of the 704 was increased to 16 384 words Three additional tape units were installed to bring the total to 12 with 10 units on-line The new equipment was Installed primarily to meet the needs of NRB users however by arrangement it can be used by other groups with access to the machine -7- - COMPUTERS OVERSEAS DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM - THE AUSTRALIAN WEAPONS RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT SALISBURY S AUSTRALIA In 1953 the Weapons Research Establishment WRE in Australia found it necessary to consider improved methods of data processing to handle the increasing missile trials load and the more stringent demands of the missile contractors On analysis it was found that some 70% of the effort in the manual processing of trials information was used in converting the data on various film records into numerical form while the remainder was spent in actual calculation and display of results It was also noted that data processing could be separated into the distinct phases of data recording data conversion into digital form calculation display and information assessment From these and other similar considerations it has been possible to introduce an automatic digital system at WRE in which all phases of processing have been coordinated and designed to operate at the required speed and precision Thus some 90% of the data gathered during a trial is now recorded on magnetic tape together with a constant reference frequency on another track Since most of this data j in the form of frequency by accumulating the suitably multiplied reference frequency for a given number of data cycles one obtains a count proportional to the data frequency Clearly this count is independent of the original recording or replay speeds so that this form of data recording is suitable for direct automatic digital conversion The remaining 10% remains on film but is converted semi-automatically into digital form All digital data is read into an automatic computer which undertakes most of the monitoring checking sorting and calculation thereby reducing processing effort increasing speed of processing and transferring most of the standard analysis and assessment from scientific staff Generally one can say that all information from range instrumentation with the exception of that from theodolites airborne and high-speed behaviour cameras is recorded on magnetic tape in such a way that the recording equipment at the range is a minimum and can be operated by remote control These magnetic tape primary records if necessary are changed to digital secondary magnetic tape records by appropriate automatic digitizing converters at WRE The 3 or 4 types of instruments still providing film primary records are converted by semi-automatic film readers of the BOSCAR and Telereader type into secondary digital records on punched paper tape These secondary digital records are read by the computer which performs all the necessary checks and calculations and finally displays the results on an output magnetic tape punched paper tape or printer as required The output magnetic tape is then supplied to a high-speed display unit which gives the necessary graphs and or tabulations All the processing equipment such as film readers automatic converters etc have been made as flexible as possible to cope with the records fkom new or ad hoc instruments which may be used in some trials Similarly data from other sources may be fed into the computing system at any processing stage or data may be displayed for supervision without passing through the computer It should be noted that the system has been designed to handle the average missile firing rate in one shift operation - peak loads are handled by working extra shifts and weekends This will be clear from the details of the system described below Data Recording The methods of recording data from theodolites and other telescopic instruments on film are well-known and need not be discussed here For the frequency-modulated and time-multiplexed 24-channel telemetry multi-track magnetic tape is used as the re '•rding medium at a speed of 75 in sec On one track of this tape a 100 kc reference signal is written during the trial the zero time or Z T P being denoted by a 100 microsecond burst of another standard frequency instead of the reference signal The frequency band of the demodulated signal from each telemetry receiver is recorded on other tracks after the band has been translated to a nominal 30 to 9C kc The refer ence signal serves two purposes on playback after multiplicatior it is used for all digitizing 8- and counting so that wow and flutter effects are insignflicant after dividing down it provides the elapsed time of observation of the 24 telemetry channels As part of the normal range facilities this tape can be played back to give a compressed quick-look film record or a highspeed frequency-time histogram on 35 mm film of the 24 channels against time For doppler instrumentation multi-track magnetic tape is used in a similar fashion to that for telemetry In this case the tape speed is 7 5 in sec and the frequency band is either d c to 300 cps or 50 cps to 3000 cps The lower frequency band is utilized when the signal in modulated on to a carrier before recording on a track and the higher band is utilized when recording directly In either case the reference frequency is 10 kc The most important factors resulting from the use of magnetic tape have been that any quick-look records can be generated after the trial thus reducing the complexity of the receivers particularly in down-range sites and that the reference frequency recorded in parallel with the range data has made automatic conversion into digital form a relatively shiple process Data Conversion Semi-Automatic Film Reading Equipment The equipment for reading film primary records consists of three BOSCAR's two Telereader-Telecordex's and one OSCAR modified to supply 5-hole punched paper tape output in a form directly suitable for input to the digital computer system All are standard commercial equipment Telemetry Converter This converter was designed and manufactured by WRE to give a digital representation proportional to any frequency lying in the band 30 to 90 kc by sampling at rates of up to 3 kc The sampling may be either contiguous or of varying mark-space ratio For converting telemetry the primary record is played back at 7 5 in sec or one-tenth recording speed and the equipment supplies groups of 24 eleven bit numbers to the secondary tape in a format suitable for direct input to the computer system using a tape speed of 100 in sec and a packing density of 100 bits in The telemetry conversion relies on the provision of the special synchronizing frequency in the first of the 24 channels Successive sync frequencies which may occur at 40 to 140 sec are used to provide 24 gating strobes which may be manually set in relation to each other These strobes gate the data frequency into a counter which is preset to the number of data cycles over which the average frequency is to be determined While these data cycles are being counted the multiplied reference frequency now effectively 3 2 mc is accumulated in the reference counter and eventually producing a count inversely proportional to the data frequency This count is then recorded on the secondary magnetic tape as an 11 bit number the most signif Icant bit of which is zero while the next ten give the count for frequency Since the synchronizing frequency is of no further use after separation of the switch cycles the elapsed time of this channel is accumulated in another and is recorded on the secondary tape in the channel 1 position as an 11 bit numher the most significant bit of which is always unity while the next ten give the time to 600 microseconds The display on the secondary tape therefore consis a of repeated groups of 24 eleven bit numbers 23 having zero In the most significant position and the elapsed time code having unity in this position This coding permits the computer to perform the required sorting and monitoring processes on the data Facilities also exist on the converter for digitizing only portions of the primary record by comparing with preset switches the total elapsed time accumulated from the reference frequency The accuracy of conversion varies with the number of data cycles counted the frequency being digitized and the noise distribution and leve in the data frequ ncy but is never worse than 1% full-scale and for normal records is less than 0 5% The conversion is usually repeatable to within 0 3% Doppler Converter This equipment was desip ed and constructed at WRE and uses a conversion process si-mii-ar to that adopted for the telemetry converter in thi• case a preset number of doppler cycles is set up and the time for each group of cycles is proN Ided by counting the multiplied 10 kc reference signal This count is recorded as a 13 bit numbe on magnetic tape as before and provides both a Yneasu'e of the frequency and by accum'ilation M the computer -9- the' v'llmlitd Il1 8titcltiti' AW1it 'hhi ari'l-at•l Ilis'e li Al 1110adp 1w11 O Il 1 1i1 0 11VIlUdteS'N III POi pUt 'I that the'I4'ilallm' I 1111 I 'tn 'v ' and1114 I hat ov Ic'ar • -l0i iI'h lPlod ly a 11W 14 t I'illp btll aa il thle hIte'lvill r iv l'C ivll 'lte'l I' i I2 bilI tio plailli mpti 1111' 41111 1 I'lllp till 'To vi all'u l that Adhlleicuto aiWIala ial' rPcvlv'iot for v'oduntthIns ai t 'at'ki1ip filter with a l'tiv titl 50 to 3000 '1 Ill u%od tl the inpult In I1i 1 11 titf a d'I Itl 30t0 ciai 4Ig01a4 the p1111ary tape In piayed btack at 75 ln '•Nv' or 10 ti11 m r 41111'P-' h i aplwoe alnd It 110 i1h'l'eIr frqueitll'y 111111ved prior to paamallig tih pliina h kiglh the trc'kiaIg flluti1 wlilc'h then e'ov1is IN' l l•ctI l rantio For A 50 ht 3 00 Q1 Input 1 0Al4 th prihna1y tapi in supplid Itl l the ohnvrter at 7 5 in e1 hl bioth vaisea tth output Is at 10 k' oni A vicondtary tape 11oving At 100 in ' ec A iraiph I 1roquenvy varintlon with Onto tio alao pruvidhlo Indopondo1tntly from the fIlte1' for aupervlfiary moinitoring The accur1acy of the conver1'tor Is such am It onuro' that AftIr' Invol'ao Intoerpolat itn hi the computer to providh the numbor of cy'lpea for equal incroenenta oftime A mlaliniutl ool'r otf 0 1 cycle Is achieved qCpI put a'r The WREDAC WJ0 Digital Automatic Computa'r Is the computor used lin the syStell And was originall3 constructed to a WRE specification by Elliott Iroa London lIt 1055 s the 403 computer The present basic feature are Digit Frequency and Type 333 keC Single Address Serial Word Length 34 bits or 102 microseconds Order Length 17 bits or 2 orders per word High-Speed Store 51 words consisting of 127 four word and 4 one word nit kel delay lines The latter are B-lines which are also parl of the store Backing Store 16 384 words on a magnetic disc rotating at 2 300 rpm There are 64 tracks of 256 words and each track tI accessible for the reading or writing of 64-word blocks Auxiliary Store Three 1 4 magnetic tape twits operating at 100 in sec with a stop-start time of 10 milliseconds and a packing density of 100 bits in 2 400 foot spools are normally used Input 1 Punched 5 hole teletape via 2 high-speed readers at 200 characters sec 2 Magnetic tape via the auxiliary store Output 1 Punched 5 hole teletape via 2 perforatorsj at 25 characters sec To be replaced by 200 character sec punches 2 Magnetic tape via the auxiliary store Radix Representation Binary operating in range -2 to 2 Instructions 32 arithmetic and logical 32 transfer i e inter-store and input output Operation Times Addition Logical etc 102 to 408 microseconds Multiplication 1 738 microseconds Division 3 468 microseconds Square Root Programmed 7 to 15 milliseconds Circular Functions Programmed 14 to 16 milliseconds - 10 - In llow At 'etoltmiliIII that %hp'11'aeemle0'g'Iio li ilai llit l ihuu 1h hole 11161IIpvd geletre v'al hoeU4041 aN a Itutfe' atut1' fill 04 word tralloafows I' tho ilime' ptore' onlv 04 'wird tranale'i 0 vanl levc'r 1his the' 11aee' cseoetea Igs tsa 4wel w111s 1 cc lag holf wordsm vanlle It ieanafe' rod lto sIV wll i' 1lofie high- Npueod Aiiero A Vhird lilt 11141411001Ic ap' 11 1a110101 IN01roate'e than 17lihlts athilft VI'l INops lot than1 16 tillts Nhun tho wordsp I roieeI ht' autilecteat fe' dstat vonvol 011111 oQupllecunt a1re' alwayN tre'hsle'da holf wetrdlm it tIl lapolft5 PSS T Ihe' tiehlo 01111 00 or toleut ewkllikit %little1 011e'w'eur wlmtltane'ewtu or tit 611V 1 Iy1 aloo withiout 40e'' tg '0e1 1toe Thrv'e oklotloeslcrnsil Aret ltropsstt IWine anjiie'oit lit the' WHKI AC hy ecoanaof tit oc'all e'rdero Thewe' arri' 1 ''Ilse 111-t1nos ' per the' orlglceal cetneute' It was thought thal 4 11-11ne's would hto MCI1'Iem11 tore licrnial puerpl 0e we 111twoe'r It hovearno obvyetios that thoooe oisei ltiloo inuot he' invrolodg ski thatl icroiramning eoo e 111he 10 noode not bho roatrivte'e It Ia philite'tt thore'foro let tnt a'udlier the' lUse Ii-Ilne'' urtlior wl h will Cllow fori furthor itroutup cif 4 111-11mo Your ilt the gaoropa will allow eac'h h-line' let modifly the' others lit aeque'nvoe before' oboying the' oirder while the' other' four will Ito Indoepondont am at prsevent 3 'U041 Loigc 'The proevechtro pipoeIated IN thal on ''ceeipt of the' ordler 'Use' Logic it '' 0 -n- 16 the' nuecoodift orders will be obeyed using the' machine' as if It were a voinputpi' opec'atini lit the' mode of the pro'scrmibed logic unitl the' inext Use' Logiic order Ist recelved The fira't two Iogicos will bo floating binary arithmetic and character operation with built-in oheek'lag hletith tit then liermIt the prosent Mtoro and most of the' arithme'tic welt tit bov used Ge'ne'rally all the extra hsrdwdre' assoviated with the' logic will be supplied in e'xtornal eabinets Which can tie manually awituheci into or out oit the' normal computer ieyatemt 3 Use' Unita ' My a similar' process tot that cleacrilied in%A above' it is pr'eposed to introduce a transfer order which causes unit n 0- it- 10 to Ite umod ats input outpuit unit typo Ilt 60-m'84rhim permits groups of two inagnot it tape unitsi tollitape readers or putches to bcu used simiultaneously and does not Introdoce extensive' modifications to the transfer order code Similarly facilities will exist for attaching new intput output mystoms as they are' developed output Low Speed The input medium used for this type of outpuit Is 5-hole teletap Tabular for'mat obiained by standard teleprinters at 7 characteors@ second Gr sphical display is obtained by mean@ of the low-speed plotting unit This consist of a 14 row see Lorena reader Libraucope plotter and relay storage Up to 8 numbers can bp read at a time any two of which can then be selected as the X and Y coordinates for the plotter The plotting speed is about 12 points per minute High Speed This unit supplies graphic anid or tabular outputs from the digital magnetic tapes generated within the processing system and consists of at 100 In sec magnetic tape unit line printer 4 digital plotters and the electronics and storage necessary to link this equipment Usually the magnetic tape records consist of repeated blocks of up to 34-bit words In hinary form with a space of at least 1 inch between blocks and 08 Inches between words The action of the display unit a as foliows The number of words I to 24 to be treated at each stage of output in preset by a switch on the control panel The types ocf output iLe graphical or tabular or both and the number and distribution of words to be supplied to each output unit are also bet up independently by selection plugboards on the control panels When started the converter reads the required number of words from magnetic tape transforms them into binarycoded decimal form for printing and then stores these words in serial registers using a selection plugboard The selected numbers are then supplied to the output display units and when the display Is completed a new block of data is read The whole process ret % ato twice a second The output equipment conscists of a line printer and 4 graphing units The line printer is manufactured by Bull Paris and is used at 2 lines sec 92 characters line Each of the 92 wheels in the line Is set ul' for printing by the printer selection plugboard from thc possible It x 14 - l1i le irids utireid hiring the hinsry'idsoimal l onvelslot The symbols i d n kite Ouillied till 4t1ttintd from uaptiaIl pulsN emiter uourties lit the pluthlunrd The Oraphlnlt units vttnslt of 4 modified Mlblax It flavlmlie recorders For plotting pmr- Iosees the revolvers have the following features 1 The full scale deflecllon of IIV or I helix revolution in represented by 1 014 vounts 3 I'lotling donp t e of 40 or 10 points in are available 3 A graticule is generated and displayed automatically during opiration and is fainter in intensity than the plotted points 4 Marker points are displayed at the beginning and end of eatih holix revolution 5 Eitther 4 x 2 75 in graphm or 1 x 11 in graphs can be plotted on any unit S Numbers to each unit or to any of the 4 channels of each unit can be multiplied by 1 I or 4 7 Numbers for plotting must be in the range -I to 1 or 0 to I prior to scaling Two points on each of up to 16 graphs can be plotted twice a second and this may be with or independently of the printer Facilities exist on the control panel for reading every second third or fourth block W words from the tapo Using this feature it Is possible to decrease the plotting density on the graphing units to 5 points in and since the vertical graticule is generated every 10 points this means that its dimension can vary from 0 3 x 25 to 0 3 X 2 0 In For rapid roproductioA of results an Osalid or Dyline process is used for both graphs and tabulated results Operating Statistics 1956-1958 Parenthetically it Is worth noting that all the equipment for the system was delivered and installed by the middle of 1955 but that about 18 months and 30 man-years of effort were required before the automatUo system completely replaced the corresponding manual processes The total elapsed time between a trial and the presentation of final results has been reduced to one-tenth of that required by the manual system the cost of processing trials information has been reduced by a factor of at least 20 The peak load capacity of the automatic system is about 50 times that of the manual system andthe complete cost nf the automatic system has been recovered in the first two years of operation Data Recording No data is available on reliability of the film recording processes but in the maetic tape recording procedures however there have been only two failures in obtaining tape records in the past 18 months and these were due to faulty setting of the reference signals in the firdt two months of operation In general It has been found that tape recording is more reliable and can be more precisely processed than the equivalent film records Film Reading Equipment These units have been operating on a single shift of 7 hours per moh and have been effective for 85% of the total time switched on At day fol-trtest least three-quarters of the remaining 15% down-time has been ascribed to electro-mechanical output troubles particularly in punching of teletape Automatic Converters For single-shift operation of 7 hours per day over the last 18 montlis these units have I en 95% effective in 'o case has processing been delayed by any more than 5 hours because of converter malfunction Most of the 5% down time can be ascribed to malfunction of 12AT7 and 12AU7 valves in binary counting stages - 12 - Diittal Computer WREDAC From July 1956 to March 1957 the tomputer waok switched on lor a VR-d 40-hour week Prsm March 1957 to December 1057 the period wee a 5-day SF-hour week while from December 1957 to March 1958 a 5-day 70-hour week has been used on the average For these periods the statistics are Average Avvr'ko Average Average Average July 1056- Mar 1957- Dec 1957- Mar 1957 Dec 1957 Mar 1956 4L hrs 10 8 20 2 57 hrs 110 6 40 1 70 hrs 10 6 50 2 70% 72% Total rime Available Week Sulteduled Maintenria aWeek Uaiachduled Maintenatce Week Effective Time Week Standby Week Efficiency Factor Totali DiapWy Units In the past 13 months these units have been switched on for the same periods as th W'JI AeT During this time they have been about 90% effective and in no case has display been delayed for any more than 4 hours The main cause of down-time has been printer and plotter breakdown FINAC-FERRANTI MARK I COMPUTER - ISTITUTO NAZIONALE PER LE APPLICAZIONI DEL CALCOLO - ROME ITALY Computer Maintenance During the second year of operation June 1956 - June 1957 the total-ui- TIf ewait 2 08 hours and the average weekly efficiency of the computer was 01 2% Corresponding values for the first year 912 hours and 89 1 see Digital Computer Newsletter January 1957 The rates of valve replacement and fault time causes are given below in approximate figures and show the corresponding values for each year One magnetic drum has been replaced after one and a half years of operation Replaced % lTt yr 2nd yr 6AL5 EF55 EF50 12AT7 EF91 C R T 5 15 45 35 35 70 Type of Fault Power Supplies Valves Other Components Construct Failures Basic Waveforms C R T Store Drum Input-Output Other Causes Unidentified Parallel Printer 12 12 40 40 35 25 During the first three quarters of the third year June 1957 - March 1958 the useful computing time was 1 096 hours and the average efficiency 90 4% Fault Time % 1st yr 2nd yr 23 17 3 3 3 19 4 12 5 11 - 1 18 9 1 12 21 18 9 2 3 6 Scheduled engineering time has been 657 hours since large modifications have been carried out New equipment installed and new order codes On September 13 1957 a new Creed Model 25 Perforator was installed The acceptance test of the perforator consisted in punching about 108 000 characters which it did with no errors The average punching speed is about 26 5 characters per sec with activated check contacts 7 months experience has shown that the punch is very reliable when properly set Only occasional adjustments have been necessary Before the end of the summer a second Model 25 Perforator and 2 Ferranti 35 mm Magnetic Tape Units will be installed -13 - In connectlim with the installation of the mapgetic tape units new circuits have been added to be used for double precision arithmetic These two new feature% are expected to be particularly useful for the solution of large systems of linear equations especially in cases of ill conditioning or double precision operation two orders are used to set or raset a flip-flop When the flip-flop is in the reset state the computer works as usual that is the instructions regarding accumulator and multiplier refer to 40 bits When the flip-flop is in the set state the same instructions refo•r to 80 bits A Jump if overflow occurred instruction controls both simple and double precision arithmetic This allows fixed point operation also in case of ill conditioned systems of linear equations speeding up computing time For the new circuits 106 valves have been installed and 37 removed MUSASINO-1 - NIPPON TELEPHWNE AND TELEGRAPH PUBLIC CORP TOKYO JAPAN - The first large-scale digital computer with the Japanese invention the Parametron made its debut at the Electrical Communication Laboratory of the Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Public Corporation the Japanese equivalent of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in March 1058 The computer to be used mainly for scientific purposes has been designed and constructed by Saburo Muroga with S Yamada K Takashima and others since 1955 Operation Parallel fixed point binary 40 bits single address Instructions Approximately 130 Speed Repetition frequency 10 kc 2 5 milliseconds average for an addition order and 10 milliseconds average for a multiplication order Arithmetic Features Carry detection circuitry and high speed multiplication Components 5 356 Parametrons for logical operation and memory selection 519 vacuum tubes for high frequency source and neon indicators Memory 256 words Ferrite cores with non-rectangular hysteresis Information is written into and read from cores upon an alternating current principle Power Stabilized dc output of about 5 kw Input-Output 6 hole paper tape with odd parity check Photoelectric reader and teletype equipments The Parametrons are driven by a 2 4 mc high frequency current modulated by a threephase low frequency The repetition frequency of the latter will be modified upward soon to increase the computer's operation speed Also magnetic drum magnetic tapes and CRT display will be installed soon The computer has many unique features Because of the expected long life of the Parametrons there should be little need for component replacement Therefore the maintenance and operating expenses should be about one third that of a comparable vacuum tube computer with almost no maintenance personnel After a 10 minute warm up the computer is always available for computation The initial cost of the computer is very low - nce the Parametron consists simply of a pair of ferrite cores a capacitor a resistor and a coupling core The computer has worked - 14- very suvccesfully without faunts memory since itsofcompletion of the high stabilities of the Parametrons and the magnetic cores with because non-rectangular hysteresis Theonly difficulties have been bad soldering After eliminating this problem there has been no component trouble during the recent few months and it is expected to be a trouble free computer before long I G Is G 2 ANDS G U 3 - MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT Ft R I1HYSIK- GdTTINGEN GERMANY All four types of computers have been or are being developed by the ArbeLsgruppe Numerische Rechenmaschinen at G8ttingen which forms part of the MaXx-Planck-Institut fur Physik director Prof W Heisenberg astrophysics division and are installed at the institute itself There has been a previous report on the G 1 and the G 2 in the Digital Computer Newsletter July 1955 The punched tape controlled computer G 1 has operated 33 000 hours to date of which 27 000 have been productive Because programming of this computer is very simple and easy to learn G 1 has proved-in spite of its low speed 3 operations sec -to be especially valuable for the younger members of the institute G la During this year the G 1 will be replaced by the G la the development of which haE just been completed The trial runs have been successful G la is much faster larger and more convenient than the G 1 and is one of the modern paper tape controlled computers It's specifications are nput Control and input from one of ten photoelectric tape readers which operate with a maximum speed of 200 characters see and can be stopped at the next character Order representation An order consists normally of 4 characters one for 24 different operations two for sector selections on the drum and one for track selector input see below Internal number system Serial binary floating point mantissa 43 bits plus sign exponent 7 bits plus sign 1 bit to mark a number Storage Magnetic drum max access time 20 milliseconds capacity 1800 words 30 tracks times 60 sectors with 3 characters selectable 40 words with 2 characters selectable 44 words dead storage for conversion between binary and decimal system at the input and output Output Electric typewriter 10 to 17 characters sec tape punch 50 characters sec with output buffer Speed Average 20 operations see with floating point arithmetic Special features of the order code Arithmetic operations addition subtraction multiplication division and square root by preorders adjustable to cort putation with simple or double word length both floating or fbecd point At double word length computation the average speed is reduced only slightly to I6 operations sec Transfer orders Transfer to another tad'r tarw er to the tape operating before the one carrying the transfer order conditional skip orders depending on sign mantissa sign exponent marked number and 2 manual switchea on the control panel Address modifications In a tape controlled machine they are not impossible but time consuming To overcome this difficulty there are two extra features 1 Cyclical shift shifts the contents of a selectable part of a track on the drim the part begins with the first sector of the track one word to the lower address cyclically e g contents of cell numbers 1 2 23 is restored in cell numbers 23 1 22 -15 - 2 The fourth character of an order 0 to 9 can call up any of the 30 tracks on the drum determined by the settings of the track selector with 10 independent inputs and 30 outputs controlled by a preorder Address modifications are possible by substitution of markod characters fromn the order tape by figures from the accumulator via the output binary-decimal conversion G la contains 524 tubes and about 3000 germanium diodes 3 copies of the machine are almost completed G 2 The drum controlled computer G 2 has been in service since 1955 Since the fall of 1956 tl'has been in operation almost 24 hours per day including weekends 3 hours of the day are reserved for maintenance and further improvements of the machine The total of the productive machine time of the G 2 has been 14 500 hours up to the present During 1957 G 2 has been in operation 7 900 hours 95% of the scheduled time 6 800 hours have been productive Because the mechanical paper tape reader of the input unit is too slow it is being replaced by a photoelectric reader of the type used with the G la G I and G 2 aplications The machines G 1 and G 2 are being used exclusively for pure research-by members or the scientific staff of the MPI fUr Physik of the MPI fUr Str mungsforschung and other scientific institutes The problems dealt with belong to a large number of fields of research e g astronomy and astrophysics esp theoretical cosmic radiation plasma physics fluid dynamics and magneto-fluid dynamics quantum mechanics and field theory and nuclear physics G 3 The high speed parallel computer G 3 is still in the state of development The core memory for 4096 words and the arithmetic unit are completed This machine will be reported upon In a later issue It has been announced that the institute will be transferred to Munich in September 1958 PROVISIONAL INTERNATIONAL COMPUTATION CENTRE ROME ITALY The Provisional International Computation Centre waF established by a bi-lateral agreement concluded in September 1957 between Unesco and the Italian Institute of Higher Mathematics Instituto Nazionale dl Alta Matematica pending the establishment of an International Computation Centre on a permanent basis The Provisional Centre has been created for a period of two years but will automatically cease to exist when the intergovernmental Convention establishing an International Computation Centre comes into force The Provisional Centre commenced its activities in January 1958 It is located in a modern building on the outskirts of Rome in the so-called Zona dell'Esposizione Universale a Roma The premises available will permit the installation of several machines and will provide adequate staffing facilities when the Centre is fully developed The main function of the Centre will be to ensure mutual assistance and international collaboration between existing bodies dealing with computation and information processing in particular as regards scientific and technological studies The Centre will promote the exchange of information both on scientific matters and on the facilities existing in various countries The Centre will also help on request the countries which do not possess their own computation equipment This assistance may consist either in undertaking certain computation tasks with the help of existing services or In giving advice for the creation of national centres The Centre will also help international organizations which require its assistance The Centre will promote the training of specialized staff It will also endeavour to be a link between the users and the designers of computation equipment - 16 - COMPONENTS ELECTROGRAPHIC RECORDING - BURROUGHS CORP DETROIT MICHIGAN -- Burroughs Corporation Detroit has announced a production prototype model of a highspeed data recorder that can translate electronic impulses into an immediate plain-language hard dry copy The device can receive messages automatically and assemble into printed characters and words at a speed of 30 000 matrix characters per second Their technique labeled Electrographic Recording lends itself to producing either matrix or preformed characters The printing process utilizes a controlled source of electricity to form small charged areas on a high-resistivity surface such as a coated paper The electrostatic latent image formed by the charged areas is made visible by application of powdered ink permanently fixed by the application of heat The recording head comprises 35 tiny wires leading into and through an odd triangular-shaped piece of plastic The wires are polished flush with one corner of the triangle or printing head to form a rectangle seven wires high by five wires wide 72 of these •eads in a row form a matrix printing lines They do not touch the paper but are maintained at a fixed distance from the paper surface Electric pulses selectively charge all 35 wires or any combination of these in each head A normal line of type is made possible by setting up the first character in the line across all 72 heads The only head that prints is the one selected by a coincident pulse to the back plate or anvil The electrostatic charge can be deposited in one microsecond The second character in the word would be set up across the line and printed serially in a similar manner The size of the image depends mainly upon the polarity the electric field strength and the surface coating used on the paper A relatively low negative voltage applied to the point electrode gives small round dots Features of the technique are I High Speed A mark can be put on paper in a duration as small as one microsecond and printed characters formed by a five-by-seven dot matrix have been recorded at rates of 1 050 000 dots per second Plain language messages can be produced at speeds of 300 000 words per minute and more The only limitation is the speed at which paper can be handled 2 Highly reliable By going directly from electronic impulses to static charges on the final usable copy many intermediate steps are eliminated This results in a high order of reliability absence of errors and low maintenance cost 3 Limited motion The -nly mechanical motion involved in the technique is the handling of the continuously moving paper under the printing head Little wear of the pin electrodes or the like is involved since they never touch the paper itself but merely send a charge through the paper from the pin to the grounded metal plate anvil 4 Inexpensive The system is basically low in cost and consumes very little power The power required to print 5 000 characters per second serially is about 5 watts in addition to that necessary to move the paper and fix the recorded images The paper is a little more expensive than ordinary writing paper 5 Practically noiseless It id relatively quiet the only noise is due to the moving paper No mechanical hammer action is involved 6 Clean The printing does not involve any mcssy wet or damp processes ate hard dry readable copy is obtained on odorless non-toxic paper - 17 - An immedi- 7 Permanent Permanent recording with no fading is achieved By eliminating the inking and fixing steps the paper can be erased and used over again or can be read electronically by picking up the electrostatic charge The electrographic ink consists of a single powder without electric charge To ink the latent image on the paper's surface the paper is passed through an inker containing the dry powder to give a visible image with virtually no background discoloration The image is made permanently visible by passing the inked paper over a temperature-controlled hot plate The three steps in the process are consecutive and are performed as the paper moves at the appropriate speed for the particular recording application The high pulsing rates made possible by this printing technique allow reasonably high recording speeds to be obtained in a small-sized low powered low-cost recording device If straight parallel printing is used line-at-a-time page printer then phenomenally high speeds are made possible Applications for the electrographic recording device cap be readily visualized for labeling or strip-printing digital computer output systems page-printers and plotters teletypewriting and telemetering high-speed strip charting and facsimile The technique applied to the New York Stock Exchange for instance would completely eliminate the ticker-lag behind sales on a busy day RASTAD - LABORATORY FOR ELECTRONICS INC BOSTON MASS The Computer Products Division of the Laboratory for Electronics Inc has been awarded a contract by the U S Army Corps of Engineers for a Random Access Storage and Display System called RASTAD This RASTAD consists of 3 high density file drums Model HD-4 nine viewers with 21-inch storage tubes and one symbol generator viewers and generator Model SM-2 multiplexing equipment interrogation keyboards for each viewer and central electronic equipment for tieing RASTAD to an Univac Scientific 1103A Computer In this installation the viewers will display alphanumeric characters and or map symbols Each viewer ir capable of displaying 12 800 alphanumeric characters or 25 600 map symbols The file drums will each store 1 600 000 characters Also this system may be expanded from the original three to thirty-three drums For the first time it will be possible in a large computer system using random access storage to query the files without interruption of computer operation The LFE HD-File Drums and SM-Generator and Viewers are designed for operation with computers made by other manufacturers where rapid random access to bulk storage or a rapid readout facility or both are essential to the effective operation of the system SERIES 7000 DIGITAL DATA RECORDER - MINNEAPOLIS-HONEYWELL BELTSVILLE MARYLAND - The Davies Laboratories Divisio of the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company has in operation at the Beltsville facility a demonstration model of the Series 7000 Digital Data Recorder Transcriber DDRT This system will multiplex all types of low-level transducers such as strain gages thermocouples potentiometers at 10 000 points per second and higher maintain overall system accuracy within 0 1 percent staticize to a time resolution of 1 2 microsecond perform analog-digital conversion to straight binary or BCD code and arrange preselected information on magnetic tape in a format and record length suitable for computer input System reliability speed long term stability and accuracy have been proven in operation Flexibility for modification ease of maintenance and simplicity of operation are stressed in - 18 - r the system design The DDRT is manufactured by Honeywell under agreement with North American Aviation Inc HIGH SPEED ELECTRONIC PRINTER - STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE MENLO PARK CALIFORNIA - A new system for high speed electronic printing has been developed at the Stanford Research Institute for the A B Dick Company 5700 West Touhy Avenue Chicago Illinois One embodiment of the system is a facsimile device which reproduces printed documents 8-1 2 x 11 inches at rates up to 3 per second The documents are scanned in an electro-mechanical scanner and the resulting 4 megacycle video transmitted to a special cathode ray tube The tube deposits a charge on the surface of ordinary paper by means of fine wires passing through the face plate The charge pattern Is developed with a powder and fixed to the paper Extensive laboratory tests show that the resolution is adequate for the legible reproduction of type as small as that found in telephone directories The A B Dick Company plans to have a prototype system in operation by the end of 1958 Also under development is a low cost electronic decoder which accepts six parallel wire binary code at the rate of 10 000 characters per second and produces the appropriate video patterns of any of 64 characters and symbols for printout on the facsimile tube Laboratory equipment for such printout is nearing completion The A B Dick Company invites inquiries from interested organizations as to the application of these techniques to such problems as high speed computer readout and large scale displays of radar and character information MISCELLANEOUS CONTRIBUTIONS FOR DIGITAL COMPUTER NEWSLETTER The Office of Naval Research welcomes contributions to the NEWSLETTER Your contributions will assist in improving the contents of this newsletter and in making It an even better medium of exchange of information between government laboratories academic institutions and industry It is hoped that the readers will participate to an even greater extent than in the past in transmitting technical material and suggestions to this Office for future issues Because of limited time and personnel it is often impossible for the editor to acknowledge individually all material which has been sent to this Office for publicatior The NEWSLETTER is published four times a year on the first of January April July and October and material should be in the hands of the editor at least one month before the publication date in order to be included in that issue The NEWSLETTER is circulated to all interested military and government agencies and the contractors of the Federal Government In addition it is being reprinted in the Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery Correspondence and contributions should be addressed to GORDON D GOLDSTEIN Editor Digital Computer Newsletter Information Systems Branch Office of Naval Research Washington 25 D C - 19 -