DI ITAL CT0 MU'T-E m DIGITAL COMPUTER ARSL IJI' OFFICE OF NAVAL ISUAWCU L Vol 17 No 4 _- - ' '-' of left 000 ITed to-# n Met 68 014 ' • MATIIEMATICIL SCIENCES DIVISION Gordon D Goldstein Editor FMargo A Sass Associate Editor H Ki1ore MYvonne Editorial Assistant Elaine K Strohi Editorial Assistant October 1965 CONTENTS Ok Page No EDITORIAL POLICY NOTICES 1 Editorial 2 Contributions 3 Circulation COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSING NORTH AMERICA 1 Advanced Scientific Instruments Division of Electro-Mechanical Research Advance 6050 6070 and 6060 Systems Minneapolis Minnesota 2 Airborne Instruments Laboratory Division of Cutler-Hammer 902 Numerical Control System Deer Park New York 11729 3 Burroughs Corporation B8600 Data Processing System Detroit Michigan 48232 4 Honeywell Inc H-820d Wellesley Massachusetts 5 Univac Division SperryRandCorporation Univac 1830 MilitaryComputer New York 19 N Y COMPUTING ENTERS Continental Airlines Management Information System Los Angeles California 90009 2 University of Illinois Department of Computer Science ALCOR ILLINOIS 7040 7090 Compilers Urbana Illinois 61803 3 The University of Iowa Data Reduction for Explorer XXV Iowa City Iowa 52240 4 University of Kentucky Computing Center Analog Simulation on the 7040 Lexington Kentucky 40506 5 Office of Naval Research Navy Automated Research and Development Information System NARDIS Washington D C 20360 6 New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Control Data 6600 New York N Y 7 University of Southern California Hybrid Computer System Los Angeles California 8 Tulane University Computer Laboratory New Orleans Louisiana '0118 COMPUTERS AND CENTERS OVER EAS 1 Aachen Technical University on rol Data 6400 Computer Aachen Germany 2 Electrologica EL WICOMATIC Den Haag Netherlands 3 Elliott-Automation Computers Limited Internal Re-organization London Wl England 4 Elliott Brothers Limited Scientific Computing Division NCR Elliott 4100 Computer Borehamwood Hertfordshire England 5 Universitb de Liege Centre de Calcul et de Traitement de L'lnformation DOCEO Adaptive Teaching System Liege France 6 The University of Liverpool Department of Applied Mathematics Computer Laboratory Liverpool 3 England 7 Oxford University Computing Laboratory Oxford England MISCELLANEOUS I American Stock Exchange Automation Plans New York N Y 10006 2 Bell Telephone Laboratories Long Distance Error Control 463 West Street New York 14 N Y 3 Bryant Compute- Products Division of EX-CELLO Corporation PhD-170 RandomAccess Memory Walled Lake Michigan 48088 4 Carnegie Institute of Technolo PhilcoVlsual DisplaySystem Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 19134 5 Control Data Corporation CONSRUCTS Computer-Directed Drawing System Minneapolis Minnesota 55440 6 Control Data Corporation Traffic Surveillance System Minneaplis Minnesota 56440 7 8 9 10 University of Illinois Coordinated Science Laboratory PLATO II and 1II Urbana Illinois Jefferson Medical College Hospital Patient Account System Philadetphia Pennsylvania 19107 University of Kentucky Computing Center Lexington Kentucky 40506 University of Louisville Computer-Aided Instruction Louisville Kentucky 11 University of Michigan Time Sharing System Ann Arbor Michigan 12 University of Missouri Medical Center Automated Laboratory Data Handling Columbia Missouri 13 National Bureau of Standards MAGIC Washington D C I 1 2 2 5 6 9 11 12 12 13 13 15 15 16 17 17 19 19 24 25 25 283 29 30 31 32 '4 The Under Secretary of the Navy 25 September 1961 Reproduced by the CLEARINGHOUSE for Federal Scientific Tachnical Information Springfield Va 22151 ' 38 39 40 41 41 V 43 46 U 0 Approved by f7 1 - 26 NAVSO P-645 - Editorial Policy Notice EDITORIAL The Digital Computer Newsletter although a Department of the Navy publication is not restricted to the publication of Navy-originated material The Office of Naval Research welcomes contributions to the Newsletter from any source The Newsletter is subjected to certain limitations in size which prevent publishing all the material received However items which are not printed are kept on file and are made available to interested personnel within the Government DCN is published quarterly January April July and October Material for specific issues must be received by the editor at least three months in advance Rt is to be noted that the pliblication of information pertaining to commerical products does not in any way imply Navy approval of those products nor does it mean that Navy vouches for the accuracy of the statements made by the various contributors The information contained herein is to be considered only as being representative of the state-ofthe-art and not as the sole product or technique available CONTRIBUTIONS The Office of Naval Research welcomes contributions to the Newsletter from any source Your contributions will provide assistance in Improving the contents of the publication thereby making it an even better medium for the 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 i1 F the editor for future issues Material for ape- cific issues must be received by the editor at least three months in advance It is often impossible for the editor because of limited time and personnel to acknowledge individually all material received CIRCULATION The Newsletter is distributed without charge to interested military and government agencies to contractors for the Federal Government and to contributors of material for publication For many years in addition to the ONR iitial distribution the Newsletter was reprinted by the Association for Computing Machinery as a supplement to their Journal and more recently as a supplement to their Communications The Association decided that their Communications could better serve its members by concentrating on ACM editorial material Accordingly effective with the combined January-April 1961 issue the Newsletter became available only by direct distribution from the Office of Naval Research Requests to receive the Newsletter regularly should be submitted to the editor Contractors of the Federal Government should reference applicable contracts in their requests All communications pertaining to the Newsletter should be addressed to GORDON D GOLDSTEIN Editor Digital Computer Newsletter Informations Systems Branch Office of Naval Research Washington D C 20360 LI Computers and Data Processors North America Advance 6050 6070 and 6080 Systems 4dweitied Strpieptir histrulment Ibivi ioij o Eledtro-Aledthanhal Rrsearrh Inc AfahuapoJM Afjpinnrla Advanced Scientific Instruments announces the development of three new computer systems The new systems-Advance 6050 6070 and times of 28 5 microseconds Input output access directly to Lhe arithmetic section as well as to memory is also featured five systems Other members of the family introduced 6 months ago by ASI are the Advance 6020 and 6040 The Advance 6070 system is designed for the rapidly expanding systems market Multiprocessing capability is provided by a very high-speed arithmetic processor in addition to the standard processor Arithmetic operations are accomplished independently of and simultaneously with the main processor System capability can be further expanded by the addition of auxiliary processors Some sample processing times are sine 42 microseconds square root 48 microseconds and aretan 70 microseconds The Advance 6080 system is designed for time-shared operations multi-programming capability and the use of remote stations Features include memory protect by either hardware or software control and hardware relocation 6080-expand the Adva nce Series product line to The new units directly support ASI's objective of previding machines with the highest system productivity in their class for the customers they serve The new machines provide both specialized hardware in some of the targeted customer areas such as the 6070 for seismic data processing as well as in general hardware such as the floating-point 6050 which offers increased productivity in all scientific and engineering fields The time-sharing features in the 6080 are among the most advanced and powerful yet announced and should have great value to customers considering this mode of operation With these products ASI is taking another step to solidify its position in the computer industry ASI's new systems are entirely modular in concept and feature expanded processing capabilities All systems are upward program compatible All systems include the latest innovations in monolithic integrated circuitry Memory size can be expanded up to 32 000 words word length is 24 bits plus parity A wide choice of peripheral options is available Prices start at $104 000 for the basic Advance 6050 system and range upward according to configuration specified Prices for the Advance 6070 begin at $132 000 prices for the Advance 6080 start at approximnately $150 000 The Advance 6050 system includes such features as double precision floating point hardware with floating point multiply execution times of 17 1 microseconds and floating point divide 902 Numerical Control System AirboriT 1 J trunwniLp Laboratory Division o Cuter-llammer Deer Park New York 11729 Cutler-Hammer's AlL Division Deer Park New York announced in June the receipt of an initial contract for 10 numerical control systems for use with the Wiedematic Turret Punch Press manufactured by the Wiedemann Division of Warner Swasey Company Designed from the ground up for maximum efficiency in the numerical control of turret punch presses Cutler-Hammer's new Model 902 Numerical Control System provides features of particular interest to sheet-metal jobbing shops An auxiliary tape reader is incorporated into 2 the design of the system to provide the system with a reliable low-cost memory that increases the productivity of the machine and simplifies programing for repetitive hole patterns The time required to prepare a tape by conventional manual means is reduced by a factor of 15 where repetitive hole patterns are called for Tape checking and first-piece inspection times are similarly reduced and a computer is not required to use the system at full efficiency The control system is of the absoluts tr•y with each position dimensioned with respect to an absolute zero position reference The control input is provided by standard I-inch 8-track punched tape in accordance with EIA Standard RP-227 character coding is in accordance with EIA Standard RS-244 Word address format Is used in accordance with EZA Standard RS-273 For programed dimension of table position and the turret selection number is preceded on the tape by a coded address This format provides advantages In simplifying programing and tape preparation since any data which does not change in a succeeding block need not be repeated on the tape Five-digit input 99 999 is standard A six-digit input system is optionally available for machines with larger table movements Full-range positive and negative dimensions are programable Dimensions The production capability of the machine is further enhanced by the availability of a library of ready-made computer-prepared programs for the second tape reader that enable the machine to punch large circular holes at high speed These holes are nibbled by a standard round punch at speeds better than 100 hits per minute These ready-made tapes cover a wide choice of hole diameter punch diameter combinations and provide a range of from 24 to 120 hits per circle Convenient graphical means let the programmer easily determine the particular hit schedule best adapted to his particular requirements Circular holes of any diameter within range of the work piece can be produced on a Wiedemann Turret Punch Press are given in inches and are assumed to be positive unless prefixed by a minus sign Trailing zeros can be omitted Turret rotation is clockwise for positive turret commands and counterclockwise for negative commands Full-range zero offset capability is provided Zero offsets may be inserted manually by front panel controls or automatically from tape commands The tape-controlled zero offset capability permits a second tape reade'r to be used profitably as a low-cost memory Repetitive hold patterns or hit programs can be punched on one tape and the entire program repeated at intervals determined by the tape offset commands in the tape on the other reader Control resolution of the system is 0 001 inch with the machine control combination providing X and Y piercing accuracies of i 0 004 inch at positioning speeds of 1000 inches per minute simultaneously in both axes The hit rate is 70 per minute for moves of 3 inches in both axes exclusive of turret indexing For shorter moves hit rates over 115 per minute can be achieved The first numerical control system using two tape readers was installed in late 1964 and has been working a 20-hour day ever since Many advantages both direct and indirect accrue to the user of this new control system Simplified programing shorter tapes reduced inspection and significant manufacturing economies have been achieved The cost savings resulting from the two-tape reader method depend on shop practice and product mix The economic advantages increase markedly as the number of lots of relatively large quantities increases Variations in lot size from one run to another maybe weeks later can be readily accommodated by the inherent flexibility that the second tape reader provides The control system is fully transistorized and uses modular plug-in construction to Simplify servicing and minimize the on-the-Job stocking of replacement components Built-in trouble-shooting indicators reduce the time required for diagnosis and front-accessible test points on the logic modules aid the maintenance man in trouble-shooting Cutler-Hammer Model 902 Numerical Control System for the Wiedematic Turret Punch Press is a fully transistorized system that controls the two orthogonal machine axes the turret selection and the initiation of the punching cycle Housed in a cabinet occupying a floor space only 4 feet by 2 feet the new Model 902 provides all the electrical controls for the machine and is equipped with a sloping front panel at convenient height for fast fool-proof operation Fully gasketed construction ensures a favorable environment for the tape readers that is both dust- and oil-tight Internally generated heat is minimized no air conditioning is required in normal shop environments The operation of the two-tape reader systern can be briefly described as follows the hole pattern is programed only once and punched on a tape for tape reader A A series of zero offsets is programed on another tape for use in tape reader B A signal coded in the tape transfers the positioning control from one 3 tape reader to the other as required The fullrange zero offset capanlity in the ba•ic cuol u system permits the second tape reader to select a zero offset in X or Y or both so that the basic hole pattern as programed un Lape A can be repeated at the programed spacing over a large sheet of stock The zero offset between adjacent parts is programed with proper consideration of bend and shear allowances By use of the two tape readers the machine punches one complete hole pattern switches to the B tape reader offsets iLself to the next part location switches back to the A tape reader and repeats the pattern When the full number of been completed the stock is repatternsmhas dand shered into strips along one axis moved adsheare then sheared from each riulp i strip is tripped During the punching operation the tap r dcr- - -- - -- re-_-t h naut hinck of information When the punch is clear the table moves to the next programmed portion and thc turrets index to the next ponch The punch cycle is tripped the next tape block is read and the operation continues in similar fashion until the st p at the end of the tape program Control of the table movement is through high-response hydraulic servovalves for fast table motions and high positioning accuracy An INDUCTOSYN T and resolvers provide position feedback on each axis A precision tachometer geared to each axis provides velocity feedback for absolute servo stability and high accuracy positioning without overshoot System damping is adjustable so that smooth control can easily be achieved and the system adjusted for long-term changes in machine characteristics press tripped The cabinet houses both the control system components except for the machine-mounted servo components ud all the machine electrical starters and contrn - Centralizing the control functions in a single cabinet simplified installation and improves maintainability MANUAL OPERATION TAPE - SEMI-AUTOMATIC In this mode the operator brings the machine to the position called for on the tape by pushing the CYCLE STARr' button After positioning the press must be tripped by maaual command By repeating the above sequence the operator will cause the next block of hi dformation to be read the work positioned ane the DIAL INPUT Dial Input mode permits the operator to insert commands for a discrete table position either x or y axis or both and or turret position by the operation of thumbwheel switches These instructions will then be carried out by automatic control The press must be tripped by manual command the table or turrets to position ony by manual thertabl or tutto any siton byimanual operation of job buttons and selector switches SPECIFICATIONS All controls and indicators for the machine control combination are mounted on an operator's control station on the front of the cabinet slanted at an angle for good visibility and conveniently located for operation CONTROL Type Point-to-point positioning absolute Resolution 0 001 inch MODES OF OPERATION x-axis motion 98 999 inch The control provides four standard modes of operation y-axis motion 98 999 inch TAPE-AUTOMATIC Turret posttions Up to 36 This is the fully automatic mode in which all table motions turret motions and auxiliary functions are performed in accordance with punched data in the tape Pressing the START button initiates the reading of the first block on the tape Table movement and turret indexing then occur simultaneously When both table and turrets have reached position the punch cycle Miscellaneous functions 4 mOO mO2 m03 m06 The control system is arranged so that additional miscellaneous functions mOl m04 m05 m07 mO8 and mO9 may be added later I I SPECTIFA1TAe r Tape input One inch 8-track Perforated Tape in accordance with EIA Standard RS-227 Character coding Format Format detail where 300-character sec photoclcctric punched tape reader Tape Reader DATA INPUT BCD in accordance with EIA Standard RS-244 Word Address Variable Block in accordance with EIA Standard RS-273 x±23y±23t±2m2 x cross motion coordinate y - in and out motion co- Positioning Speed - Max 1000 in min Acceleration Max 125 in sec 2 Deceleration Max - 125 in sec 2 Control Positioning Accuracy Production ±0 001 inch Rate ordinate t PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS turret selection 10% 65 hits min on A-30 machine 70 hits min on A-15 machine m miscellaneous function - End of Block character FlexowriterCarriage Return Assuming 3-inch moves on both axes and no turret changes B8500 Data Processing System Biunrougki Corporation Delrail Michigan 4N8232 Burroughs Corporation in June announced the B8500 modular data processing system a large scale electronic computer with monolithic integrated circuitry and total thin film memory offering logic speeds in billionths of a second The B8500 is aimed at extremely high volume high speed time sharing real time applications Because of its modularity it is capable of expansion into a system larger than any other computer now available or announced The B8500 has the versatility and power to handle both business and scientific problems of any complexity processing and time sharing capabilities make it Ideal as a centralized computation and comnmunications center replacing multi-computer installations It also makes practical a very high level of work-per-dollar In addition the system's versatility and reliability make the B8500 extremely valuable in military conmmand and control applications Because of the wide variety of configurations possible with the B8500 pricing of an individual system will depend upon the results of a system analysis to determine a user's needs and will range approximately from $5 to $15 million Eppert said The B8500 will be built and marketed through the Defense and Space and Special Systems Group headquartered in Paoli Pa This organization formerly the Defense and Space Group has been given its new name to reflect the increasing degree to which large computer and communication systems are finding use In commercial or special applications outside the defense and space field Eppert added The B8500's speed flexibility for growth and modification modular software and its multi- The system has been proposed for a number of commercial and overnmental applications and is available on a built-to-order basis The B8GOO is the culmination of a 6-year development program which has seen Burroughs the B5500 Information Processing System and the D800 Series Modular Data Processing Sys- sharing and software proved in experience by applications H-8200 liofleyw ll Iw Welk'ky Alaswhwhai Honeywell's electronic data processing division haz moved further into the thirdgeneration with the introduction of a new largescale computer using advanced microcircultry throughout The processor has within it 10 programming groups nine running active programs and a tenth called the master control group monitoring the entire computer Eight of the active programming groups handle data and Instructions in the form of fixed-length words The ninth active programming group handles data and instructions in the form of discretevariablelength characters The master control group provides intercommunication among all active programming groups The processor also includes console display and manual control facilities The Honeywell 8200 combines key characteristics of the firm's two top computer lines into a single machine able to process nine separate programs at the same time The new computer designed for mixed business scientific and real-time data processing can operate on both word- and character-oriented programs It also has full data and programming compatibility with Honeywell's Series 200 and Series 800 computers The memory subsystem has one to eight memory modules and a memory multiplexor MM Each module holds 131 072 characters 16 384 words for a total maximum core storage capacity of 1 048 576 characters 131 072 words Memory cycle time is 750 nanoseconds per eight-character word The entire H-8200 central processor ineluding logic arithmetic and control sections will occupy less than 8 cubic feet it was said SHARES MEMORY Memory and input output protection features plus extensive interrupt capabilities make the H-8200 extremely attractive for timesharing applications The H-8200 can share memory among the equivalent of 10 central processor groups multi-processing run nine programs at once parallel processing and have more than one live program controlled by a single processor group multi-programming More than 3000 remote stations can share time simultaneously This speed and capacity in addition to a high computational rate makes possible a basic data transfer rate to peripheral devices of 1 33 million characters a second The MM to provide maximum memory thezMM to acce uptimhe memory utilization can access up to three memory modules during each cycle It handles and routes multiple requests for access to memory assigns priorities resolves conflicting requests and provides memory barricade control so that one active program will not disturb operation of another The H-8200 will provide new users with a highly adaptable system able to perform these alvanced activities as part of a standard data processing installation while at the same time providing uninterrupted growth for current users of nine computer models that comprise Honeywell's Series 200 400 and 800 systems H-120 H-200 H-1200 H-2200 H-4200 H-400 H-1400 H-800 and H-1800 The input output subsystem comprises an input output multiplexor I OM and up to 32 read write channels Up to 48 peripheral control units and their associated devices can be connected to the subsystem enabling the H-8200 to operate up to 32 peripheral devices simultaneously The I OM continuously scans all peripheral control units connected to the system and requests time from memory whenever a data transfer is to take place SYSTEM DESCRIPTION In a time-sharing or data communications application for example each control unit can be linked to a 64-line communications device The H-8200 contains three major subsystems processor memory and input output 6 for a total of 3072 remote connections Access to the H-8200 will in effect be instantaneous TIME SHARING from - 0220 Ulii-i •i u 4vuiiuy its mana possible by assigning a protection identification tag to each word-oriented programming group and threc much tags to the character-o 'lented the standnnint nf tho rAM- -Thc tions devices Tho V OM contains lardwatre which enables the program-assignable read write channels to float among the peripheral devices connected tothe system Any peripheral device is avail- group Tags can be set or changed only by the master control group Each 512-word 4096character block of memory also has a tag able for either word- or character-oriented programs When a memory access is requested by any source the MM compares the source's tag with the tag of the requested portion of memory Access is granted if the tags agree The master control group is aignallid to take action when they do not The OM retains tags assigned by any programming group issuing a peripheral order When the master control group is requested to perform such an order the tag of the requesting group is made available to it The master control group then checks the tag with the I OM to determine if the programming group is allowed to use the peripheral device requested The I OM will accept input from or provide output to any standard peripheral device in the Series 200 line and major peripheral devices of the Series 800 line Devices include Honeywell's magnetic tape drives line printers card readers and punches random access memory storage devices and data communication controls and terminals MASTER CONTROJ GROUP Each channel in the I OM also has a reservation ability which can be set or removed only by the master control group on behalf of a particular program making the channel appear busy to all other programs This feature is designed for use in real-time applications to guarantee channel availability Each channel also contains other status information including the programming group for which its current operations are being performed and tVat program's protection tag The master control group coordinates actions of all other groups and subsystems It automatically allocates and protects memory avd peripheral devices issues peripheral ordere diagnoses program and barricade violations and improper orders sets or alters privileged control functions and diagnoses machine malfunctions H-8200 OPERATION Operation of the H-8200 may be understood as a series of coordinated requests for access to memory Requests may come to the MM from word- or character-oriented programming groups or from the 1 OM The 1 UM has priority and may request memory cycles from the MM as needed Peripheral devices can interrupt the H-8200 via the character-oriented programming group which has three levels of operation normal mode internal interrupt mode and external interrupt mode The link between the three subsystems is the master control group Each type of processing word character or peripheral may signal the master control group that it wants access to another type The master group will monitor the request for validity availability and protection status If all tests are passed the master control group will provide access to the appropriate facility and make itself available for the next request The H-8200 with this ability achieves two types of parallel processing word-orienited programming groups automatically execute a string of orders in each active program group while the character-oriented programming group can instruct one program to use as many cycles as it needs and then allocate its remaining cycles to a lower-priority program The master control group controls interaction between the two types of processing INTERRUPT PROCESSING In input processing the I OM will collect data from the peripheral device and place it in memory For o'ntput processing the I OM will duplicate the data and send it to the appropriate peripheral device DATA HANDLING The eight programming groups using fixedlength words for data and instructions operate 7 I in parallel in a manner similar to the H-800 and nication interrupts both valuable in time-sharing H-1800 all eight can be active simultaneously and real-time applications fers eight characters at one time in the form of In addition to Easycoder the standard Series 200 programming language the user has a word Instruction formats and definitions are completely compatible with the 11-800 and H-1800 avalablue buili COBOL and FORTRAN and genEach group has 32 18-bit control registers eralized data manipulation programs The variable- length character processing group operates serially Instruction formats and definitions are completely compatible with those in the Series 200 systems This group has 84 21-bit control registers LIBERATOR The Liberator technique a unique Honeywell computer feature first introduced with the Series 200 systems enables users of a number of older competitive systems to update their data processing capabilities without the cost of complete reprogramming or personnel retraining Programs originally written for the 1401 1401-G 1440 1460 1410 and 7010 computers can be automatically and quickly translated into Series 200 programs This is accomplished through a one-time conversion of the competitive programming languages and data formats PROGRAMMING The H-8200 offers two powerful programming languages to new users of Honeywell computer systems continuity of programming to current users of Honeywell's Series 200 and Series 800 systems and the ability to automatically translate into Series 200 language using the Liberator technique programs originally written for six competitive computer systems Also able to grow into the H-8200 will be users of Honeywell's 400 and 1400 computer systems for whom a program translator is being designed to enable automatic conversion of H-400 1400 programs into Series 200 language FULLY INTEGRATED The H-8200 uses monolithic tntegrated circultry in its logic elements and hybrid circuitry in its memory elements for maximum density speed and reliability Word-oriented programs of Series 800 systems with 5 years of field-proven experienceuse three-address instructions provide binary decimal or floating-point arithmetic masking operations that enable packing or unpacking of data words or instructions and direct indirect and indexed addressing Arithmetic logic and input output control sections have High-Level Transistor-TransistorLogic HLTTL integrated circuits throughout Honeywell has developed custom HLTTL circuits having high-speed performance at one-quarter the power levels of other integrated circuits of comparable performance Speeds average 5 nanoseconds per logic level Central processor I OM and MM will occupy less than 8 cubic feet H-8200 programming aids include the ARGUS assembly system COBOL a FORTRAN IV scientific compiler PERT and ALPS an automatic linear programming system ARGUS in addition to the programming language and assembly program has monitoring routines for serial and parallel processing up-dating and test programs sort and collate programs an extensive library of other frequently-used business and scientific routines and tape input output and report editor routines Memory circuits use ceramic-based hybrid uircuitry to provide increased speed and compactness This circuitry used with tiny 20 mil ferrite cores provides a size reduction of fourto-one over discrete-component memory units A one-million-character memoiy for example fits into approximately eight modules each approximately 4 cubic feet in size SPECIFICATIONS AND PRICES Main Memory Character-oriented programs of Series 200 in full field use for the past year make available to the H-8200 user all instructiona needed for arithmetic logical control editing and input output functions Scientific options are available in Series 200 programs also Capacity characters Capacity words Access time Cycle time Included in Series 200 programs are instructions for handling peripheral and commu8 131 072 to 1 048 576 characters 16 384 to 131 072 words 375 nanoseconds 750 nanoseconds SPECIFICATIONS AND PRICES cont dAddLlujM1l Main Memory Simultaneous Access to Memory Memory AddressIng Control Memories Internal Operations Read Write Channels One increment of 131 072 characters 18 384 words and three increments of 262 144 characters 32 768 words Simultaneous Peripheral Operations Up to four accesses at one time Other Standard Features Word or character 10 with a total of 352 registers nine with 32 registers each one with 64 Decimal and binary arithmetic including multiply divide logic operations peripheral Options control Instruction Types Internal Checking Input Output Trunks Fixed-length word Variable-length character Parity checkipg illegal operation codes Orthatronic control 16 basic eight plus eight awilizricz 16 basic plus 16 optional for 32 total Parallel processing multiprocessing multiprogramming comprehensive memory protection input output protection program interrupt program assignable input output channels Scientific floating-point instructions with a range of normalized values from 10 616 to 10 616 16 additional read write channels eight plus eight auxlliary Prices Lease per month Purchase 48 I O control units may be connected Delivery $21 700 to $51 000 $1 041 600 to $2 448 000 Second half of 1967 UNIVAC 1830 Military Computer UNIVAC lJivnioinn 'perty Handl Citpnfuliit New Y'ork IV N 'i Yo l The first UNIVAC 1830 a new microelectronic military computer has been delivered to the Naval Air Development Center NADC Johnsville Pennsylvania by the Sperry Rand Corporation's UNIVAC Defense Systems Division plicity of functions a decided improvement in accuracy and efficiency over present manual methods The 1830 is a militarized general purpose digital computer intended for manned tactical data systems operating in extreme environments where small size and high performance are critical requirements Constructed of silicon microelectronic circuits it features a choice of either magnetic thin-film or core memory Also labeled the CP-823 U a Department of Defense designator the computer was developed under a contract with NADC and the U S Navy Bureau of Weapons It will serve as the nucleus of the Navy's A-NEW Program an improved airborne Anti-Submarine WarfarLo Tactical Command and Control System Once integrated with other components of the system in an airborne environment the miniaturized computer will be required to perform a multi- Decause tL 1830 is fully compatible with other UNIVAC military computers existing operationally provea programs can be used without modification input Output compatibility is 9 I also incorporated in the 1830 allowing use of eral equipments from 4096 words through 32 768 words in 4096 Input Output is provided through four input hi addition to Anti-Submarine Warfare use the UNWAC 1830 is expected to find wide application in such areas as airborne command and control fire control battlefield command command control and and control missile launch radar dsta processbi and shipboard launch r3 750 000 systems 2nd four output ch uncL• avalable at the central processor Each channel may be connected to a 4-channel multiplexer allowing a total channel capacity of 16 input and 16 output channels which run asynchronously with the prog rain uwder buffer control Data can be transferred at the rate of bits per second in 30-bit parallel words The 1830 delivered to NADC has both a magnetic thin-film and a ferrite core memory which in combination provide a total storage capacity of 32 768 words of 30-bit length The memory cycle time is four microseconds ModUlar design allows a range of total memory size Modularity and maintainability have been emphasized by packaging the central processor the memory the I O and the power supply as individual units this also allows flexibility in selecting a memory size and the number of I O channels to closely match Job requirements 10 Computing Centers Management Information System Confi n at Airfinwa Las Anoges Calforma 90009 Continental Airlines has signed a $5 000 000 contract with IBM for the airline industry's most advanced management information system Starting in September 1967 Continental will have two IBM System 360 Model 50 computers in operation The computers first to combine reservations communications and data processing in S'ne system will provide a broad range of cuetomer services and will be programmed to supply information to management in all areas of the company's operation The 360 will free present employees from paper shuffling to let them more directly serve the customer Continental has more than 200 000 pieces of paper in its file at all times concerning current or future reservations The 360 will maintain all passenger records including firm reservations reservation requests itiaerary changes and passenger contacts It will help eliminate no shows by keeping track of ticket pickup limits and reporting duplicate bookings by passengers print departure manifests list customers who need to be advised of schedule delays or changes proThe system will do everything from ducing instantaneous reservatlons and flight information to keeping tabs on passenger waiting lists providing weather reports and profit and lose data on each flight and handling all telecommunications The system also will have the inherent capability of being programmed in the future for such advanced passenger services as computing fares and even writing tickets The System 360 also will be used for achedale preparation as well as for flight planning fuel planning aircraft weight and balance flight monitoring operations reporting crew records and scheduling To help maintenance the computer will handle continuous inventory control aircraft maintenance forecasting time control of cornponents engine overhaul and shop scheduling STo produce passenger information for management the computer will scan its large memory in microseconds then flash the correct answer onto a cathode ray tube of an IBM 2260 visual display unit The units will be available at all reservations and ticket counter positions across the company's system A reservation agent for example will use the visual display terminal to determine all Continental flights from Los Angeles to Chicago on a given day indicating flight number time of departure availability of space in each class of service the types of meal service and even the name of the movie If a reservation is made the agent will enter the information in the memory of the central computer by means of a typewriter-like keyboard Continental will gain even better control of costs as the computer is programmed for financial forecasting budget forecasting expanded data processing in the fields of accounting personnel records sales and operations The system also will permit finely detailed profit and loss analysis of each flight Besides handling its own needs Continental plans to offer unused capacity to other airlines and corporationb William C Powell Continental's manager of data processing will head the company's programming and application team Aiding him will be Preston P Hopkins director of telecommunications and Harold L Purdom director of reservations Besides providing the reservations and flight information service the computer will light up with itineraries as fast the they're requested no matter how complicated they are as well as show the proper fare tables ii ALCOR ILLINOIS 7040 7090 Compilers D4epartwn of Coufnr Scence Uniwrzla of Iltuno Urbana Illinois 6180 In the 4-month-period ending April 1 1965 the ALGOL Compiler ALCOR ILLINOIS 7090 was rewritten for the IBM 7040 44 computers by the Rechenzentrum Munich Institute of Technology with the assistance of IBM-Deutschland and the Darmstadt Institute of Technology The compiler is on the other hand extremely fast in translating Small programs of 5 to 15 cards are translated in leas than 10 15 seconds on the IBM 7090 7040 while a large program of 600 cards is compiled in less than 30 90 seconds An ALGOL compiler translating ALGOL as defined by the ALGOL 60 REVISED REPORT including recursive procedures with the exception of own is therefore now available for the IBM 709 7040 7044 7090 and 7094 cornputers The project was originally started in June 1962 by the University of Illinois and the Mainz and Munich Institutes of Technology All compilers are available in a parameterized form making it possible to imbed them in any existing system without unreasonable efforts The ALCOR ILLINOIS 7090 is also directly available in PORTHOS University of Illinois monitor system while the ALCOR ILLINOIS 7040 is directly available as a job on a magnetic tape which when run will automatically imbed the compiler in the IBSYS monitor system The four pass compilers generate machine programs which use wherever possible linear incrementing of addresses for subscripted variables within for statements in order to optimize execution time Execution time is in favorable cases about the same as for a corresponding FORTRAN program Most programs of linear algebra are 1 1 to 1 5 times slower in ALGOL than in FORTRAN while programs using mainly integer arithmetic may be two times slower Details of the ALCOR ILLINOIS 7090 may be obtained by writing to Digital Computer Laboratory University of Illinois Urbana Illinois 61803 For information about the ALCOR ILLINOIS 7040 write to Research and Instructional Development Data Processing and Computing Center Southern Illinois University Carbondale Illinois Data Reduction for Explorer XXV The Unimrssdy of Iowa Iowa •ty Iow• 52240 Daa reduction with Explorer XXV Is being handled on a real-time basis at the University of Iowa the primary receiving station for data from the satellite Explorer XXV is also known as Injun Explorer the fourth in the series of University-produced satellites used in the high-altitude cosmic ray studios directed by Dr James A Van Allen of the University of Iowa and his associates at Iowa since 1952 is supporting the UJniversity's tracking system and the data reduction In addition to data taken at the tracking station 12 miles south of Iowa City campus data tapes are received from NASA's Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network also A UNIVAC 418 computer is the heart of the Launched Nov 21 1964 as the Air Density Injun Explorer the Iowa satellite is in a polar orbit with a perigee of 524 kilometers and an apogee ol 2494 kilometers The Langley Research Center's air density experiment called Explorer XXIV is in a similar orbit having been expelled from a canister within the Injun Explorer shortly after the satellite was in orbit data reduction program Housed in the Physics Building at The University of Iowa the equipment includes the computer printer car processor and four tape units The Office of Naval Research which has supported cosmic ray studies by Dr Van Allen Five or six passes of the satellite come within range of the Iowa City station every 24 The tracking station has a 28-foot parabolic dish antenna with cross dipole This rig is mounted on a converted shipboard gunmount provided by the Office of Naval Research 12 Fp Eh period oi data reception lasts from 10 to 20 minutes Data are transmitted from the satellite by two transmitters at two ratesi aa7r Swhen 144 bitU per second a telemetry transmitter experiments are sampled directly and self 5760 bite per second when data come out of the on-board recorder This recorder stores 5-1 2 hours of data On command the recorder will play back in just 8 minutes 3 Sused SThe the experiments The problem became evident quite soon however and some eatpriments the high-pawer transmitter and thI tIo rowrtr were switched off until the situationcorrected it- The signal from the dish antenna goes Into two phase-locking crystal-controlled receivers whose output is fed into a diversity combiner eodd-ttetakn obndotptI Il SThe combined output is recorded at the tracking station and simultaneously trannmitted by micro-wave link to the Physics Building The signal is then made ready for introduction into the computer to obtain a printout and for simultaneous storage on tape A Cal-Comp plotter is with the UNIVAC 1004-111I'to put data into usedgwiph the Uplaced graph form real-time capability has been used mainly to control the satellite operation system as was done whenapower problem arose because the satellite was in eclipse by the earth during apogee Without sufficient sunlight solar cells did not meet the battery power required for all InJun Fdxplorer has an exp eted life of about 1 year Like its predecessors Injun Explorer is designed as an integrated research payload custom-tailored to achieve the specific aims of he fliht Inside the atellte and protruding from its surface are 16 separate sensors for sand fnr 1f dere ra measuring measuring radiation of different dadsand intensities The 90-pound satellite is roughly spherical In shape and 24 inches in diameter It has 40 flat surfaces 30 of them studded with sotar cells A UNIVAC 418 and allied equipment was in a custom-built mobile electronics van for use In the build-up pre-launch and launch checkouts and was then used at Iowa City for data reduction until a second 418 computer was intailed in the Physics Building The 40-foot van will be used again for the launch of the next Injun satellite which is tentatively set for next year Analog Simulation on the 7040 Compting Centir Universily of Kentucky Lexingon Kentucky 40506 Because of the shortcomings of the analog computer many programs have been written to simulate the analog computer on a digital cornputer But almost all of these programs fail greatly in man-machine communication In using an analog computer it is normally desirable to run a program several times with different voltages of potentiometer settings R D Brennen and H Sano have written a Digital Analog simulation program for the IBM 1620 digital computer called PACTOLUS which achieved good man-machine communication through the use of program switches and a console typewriter The program permits the user to enter changes through the console typewriter before each rerun In trying to modify the PACTOLUS progran or the 7040 it was found that because of speed and the cost of the 7040 the method of cornmunication used by Brennen and Sano was Impractical Therefore it was necessary to develop a new method of communicFtion It was found that the required flexibility could be obtained through the use of control cards which permit the user to change voltage or potentiometer settings and even make minor changes in his program before each rerun The user can make as many runs with the same basic setup as he wishes The 7040 PACTOLUS system is flexible enough for most analog computer users and its operations simple enough to be learned in half an hour The computing center now has the PACTOLUS simulator for both the IBM 1620 and the 7040 NARDIS r Owive of Naval Research Vashington AJ G 2036 In January 1964 wurk was begun on a now computer-oriented Navy Automated Research and Development Information System NARDIS The work was initiated by the Chief of Naval Re- 13 search CNR at the direction of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Develop- As NARDIB becomes completely operational the staff is becoming concerned with the develop- mcnt ment and maintenanee of four mjnor m•ag•tte The basic objectives of NARDIS are to establish a common data bank which will serve as a prime source of solentific technical and administrative information for all Navy-sponsored research and development to meet DoD requirements for reporting all levels project subproject or task area and work units of Navy-sponsored research to the Defense Documentatlon Center DDC in digital form for cowputer processing and to promote intercommunication among the scientific engineering and technical personnel in the Navy • LOG the R D Administrative Data File will contain all of the data elements on Forms DD 1498 and the NARDIS Supplement to 1498 except the textual items LOG is expected to be a heavy traffic file because It must be searched to answer most if not all management and administrative data type questions posed to NARDIS The NARDIS establishment is under the general technical and policy control of the Research Coordinator Office of Naval Research Code 104 and under the general administrative control of the Bureau of Ships David Taylor Model Basin The core of NARDIS will be the UNIVAC LARC computer which will be utilized in all file development and maintenance in management and subject matter searches in data transmittals to DDC and in checking nonintellectual the consistency of most of the NARDIS manual operations There is one area at present where the computer will not play the dominant role and that is in subject matter indexing which Is a task assigned to physical scientists and tec nical librarians The computer will be backed up by volume keypunching tape printing card-totape•air tape-to-card conversion capabilities and microfilm equipment that can reproduce duplicate aperture cards as well as hard copies in large volumes tape files LOG TEXT SUB and THES and one microfilm file MICRO 9 TEXT the R D Textual File will contain as the title Implies the textual items for DD Form 1498 and its NARDIS Supplement TEXT is expected to be a large about 20 LARC reels but low traffic file It includes the digitalized text required by DoD a SUB the R D Subject Matter File will contain the descriptor codes links and roles which will result from the subject matter indexing of the objective approach and progress statements of each research and exploratory development assigned in the Navy e THUS the R D Thesaurus File will contain the technical terms their codes their synonymns and their hierarchically related terms THES will also contain special definitions and remarks as scoop notes a MICRO the NARDIS Microfilm File will consist of aperture cards as images of DD Form 1498 and its NARDIS Supplement for all Navy-sponsored research and development From an operational viewpoint the NARDIS establishment will be equally responsive to administrative queries from all Navy management levels and to technical questions from individual Navy scientists The clearinghouse for all queries to and responses from NARDIS is the ONR Research Coordinator Code 104 Information transmitted to the system's data bank will be in a form mutually agreed upon by the cognizant bureau and the NARDIS establishment All research and development eports required by DDR E will be digitalized on magnetic tape checked for consistency and transmitted to DDC This Is to be accomplished upon receipt of new or up-dated research and development information A microfilm research and development file will be established to back-up the computer research and development file to serve as complete or partial source for authorized Navy components and to serve as a source for textual research and development replies to technical queries In order to relieve the responsible investigator from many burdensome and clerical tasks the NARDIS staff will assume as much of the responsibility as possible for reporting information to and from the data bank In no way however will the user of NARDIS storage and retrieval services be required to be familiar with the details of the computer system and programs The objective approach and progress of all research and development work units will be indexed by subject to make these categories of information amenable to subject mutter searching 14 I ouant Int of Ma1wyufal Newt Ywh' Unownty Scients New New Y or A Control Data 6600 one of the fastest and most powerful computers in the world today has been installed at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Installa- ate faculty of 35 It has a staff of 125 scientists Ph D'e and an equal number of research assistants and fellows It enrolls 600 graduate students mathematics 200 of them full time tion of Courant's 6600 the first on the east coast was made at the Institute's recently dedicated Warren Weaver Hall located at the University's Washington Square Center The mission of the Courant Institute is education combined with basic research A guiding principle has been to consider mathematics as an organic part of the body of science and to encourage interactions with science and technology The range of research interests among the members of the Institute is broad extending from purely mathematical questions in group theory and functional analysis to applied mathematical problems involved in attempts to diminioh the height of flood-wave creste on the Ohio River and in efforts to control thermonuclear fusion reactions for the peaceful use of atomic energy Especially in the fields of applied mathematics the program of the Courant Institute is unique The Institute will use the 6600 to develop methods for using very high-speed computers for applied mathematics and mathematical physics through numerical and non-numerical techniques It is expected that the speed and computing power of the 6600 will enable scientists and mathematicians at Courant to broaden their work and solve unusually large and complex problems which up to now have defied solution The Institute which combines both applied and pure research consists of a senior gradu- Hybrid Computer System igt •uIt' of S'owihern Calijarmia AOn n gele %Cali rnia At the University of Southern California two computers were linked together to form the Hybrid Computer System The best features of each machine werf blended together in the interest of efficiency and speed This hybrid the result of linking a digital computer an IBM 1710 Control System to an analog computer a Beckman 2132 can simulate the trajectory of missiles duplicate the behavior of the human circulatory system or imitate with great accuracy the flow of products through a chemical processing plant By virtue of its ability to store large quantities of data and follow a predetermined step-by-step program the IBM 1710 Control System is the overseer of the analog machine It sets up the problems feeds the required data into the analog computer and then prints out the answers in readable form Briefly the digital computer counts while the analog computer measures The abacus is a simple digital computer while the slide rule is a simple analog computer The hybrid computer derives its power from a combination of these two types of operation Located in USC's Olin Hall of Engineering the System Simulation Laboratory is operated on an open-shop basis Students and faculty have easy access to its facilities Dr Robert B McGhee assistant professor of electrical engineering and co-director of the Laboratory said that in the last 6 months more than 2000 problems have been solved by more than 250 students Of special advantage to researchers is the fact that the two computers car be used separately or in unison depending on the type of problem The ide a is to optimize the treatment of each problem by using the right computer for the most satisfactory solution from both a scientific and an economic standpoint The analog computer cannot read write or remember But it does excel in rapidly sensing actual physical changes In simulating a problem it reports its findings not in letters and numbers but in wavy lines on graph paper or the movements of a needle on a meter 15 S Computer Labrmatry New Ortkar 1xatdsan 70711 During May the largest non-government compared with 300 hours on the computer it replaced computer system in Louisiana was put into op- eration at the Tulane University Computer Laboratory on the main university campus 3 The new system will enable Tuinne to attract far more research grantso top-flight faculty membersa and graduate students The IBM 7044 is part of an expanding cornL puter complex-known as the Tulane Computer Centei-which also includes computers at the University's Biomedical Computing System in downtown New Orleans and Us Delta Regional Primate Research Center in Covington La The Tulane IBM system features a datao channel unit This device operates independently of the processing unit and provides for problem solving by remote control A smaller computer such as the one at the Primate Center can be connected with the 7044 through this unit Dr James W Sweeney is the director of the Center which will be used for instruction and research the center represents Tulane's dence in the growth of the area be used to feed informaThe unit may also sotfition from such outside sources as telegraph or telephone lines into the 56 -rwilLlon- character The reasons for the purchase of the $1 8million system were disk storage fine while the main computer Is processing other jobs 1 Need of a computer fast enough to keep up with the increased demands by students requiring a computer in their studies 2 Need of a powerful research tool for advanced projects which can do these jobs more rapidly On one series of complex problems The new IBM system will have the capability of working on such divera e projects as menuplanning and simulation of chemical operations The computer greatly strengthens the university's research capacity It enables faculty members to do research never before attempted and also eiiables Tulane to offer courses never before it took only 20 hours to do a Job on the 7044 offered 16 I Computers and Centers Overseas Control Data 6400 Computer Anaheun Technical UnitvrsiJy Aachn Gnemany S The Technical University of the State of Rhine Weatfalla located at Aachen Germany has ordered a large-scale Control Data 6400 computer system to be delivered to Aachen in early spring of 1960 The high-speed 6400 computer is to be Installed on campus in a new data center now under construction by the university's Architectural Department According to university officials this will be the most modern computing center in Europe when completed Aachen is located in the most western part of West Germany and lies immediately adjacent to Belgium and Holland Aachen Technical University one of Germany's oldest and best known seats of technical learning enrolls a large number of students from the Middle East Africa and various Asian countries in addition to its heavy enrollment of West German students During the official contract signing coremonies at which Regents of Technical University of Aachen participated the Dean Professor Volker Aschoff said 'With the assistance of this new advanced large-scale Control Data 6400 computer system our university will be able to utilize the most advanced techniques of scientific computing in fields associated with our principal research endeavors This new computer is a tool that will greatly accelerate the state of research in which our institution is presently engaged Research programs being carried out at Aachen Technical University include solutions of problems relating to nuclear physics reactor development traffic control and planning electrical drive design heat transfer and areas of non-numerical mathematics EL WICOMATIC Efectrologira I Den iaag Netwrlunds Electrologica has announced a revolution in the wiring of panels with contact pins terminals -A punched tape controlled wiring device EL WICOMATIC Wkring and COnnecting device semi-autoMATIC With the EL WICOMATIC wiring is foolproof for it is absolutely impossible that the wrong contact pin will be wired a new connection cannot be made before the preceding one is completed errors caused by reading mistakes cannot occur any more because no written documentation is used so no more time is wasted on checking and repairing The device is about five times as fast as with the conventional method on an average only 30 seconds Is required to make a connection and the time normally spent on checking and repairs is entirely saved p All connections can be made in an orderly fashion in one direction e g from right to left and for the different levels in even layers It is so simple that not only skilled but unskilled personnel may be employed for this purpose as well OPERATION PRINCIPLE A panel of contact pins to be wired by the EL WICOMATIC standard equipment may consist of up to 64 columns of 32 pins each A battery-fed wire-wrap pistol manufactured by Gardner Denver Ell USA and modified to our specifications is used for wiring although a pointed welding-pistol or a soldering-iron will also do Information telling how the wiring is to be made is recorded with the aid of acomputer 17 £ and the lights which are on in consequence indicate the correct pin and wire-length but they on five-channel punched tape written working instructioU are no longer used the operation The punched tape containa the following Therefore they are compl tad by a series of safeguards which do indeed ensure a faultless execution data The column in which the pin to be wired is to be found o WIAich pin in the column is to be wired for this purpose the pins of a column are divided into a numLber of groups CHECKS AND SAFEGUARDS During the transportation of the tape no new start instructions can be given Which wire length is needed for the connection there are 31 different wire lengths to choose from s The information read from the punched tape is checked on parity If an error is found the tape transport stops immediately and a pilot lamp goes on No new start instructions can be given Which column pin and wire-length are next is indicated by means of lights is a light which s Over each column there when lit indicates the column in question s With each connection the transportation of the tape is checked by the tape reader for this checking the space on the punched tape on which no wire-length indication need be given is used If an error is detected this is also indicated by a pilot lamp and no new start instructions can be given e In the middle of the upperside of the panel to be wired two vertical rows of six lights each are fixed the lights of each row are numbered from 1 to 6 from the top downward so that a total of 36 combinations is possible of which 32 may be used The lights on the left indicate the group and those on the right the pin within this group If for instance lights no 3 on the left and no 5 on the right are lit this means that the fifth pin in the third group must be wired a diagram printed on the panel facilitates locating the desired pin The principal safeguard prevents the wrong pin from being wired The wire-wrap pistol can only be activated by pulling the triggerswitch as soon as the winding bit of the pistol makes contact with the correct pin which is indicated by the several lights for it is only this pin that is live This contact between winding bit and pin causes a relay which is built-in serially with the trigger-switch to come up lights a lamp which is attached to the pistol and lights a lamp on the indication panel In order to prevent the winding bit from making contact with a live pin through its outside so that a faulty connection round a dead pin could be established the outside is insulated A new start instruction cannot be given before the pistol has made contact with the correct pin Finally a small counter indicates the number of connections made so that it Is possible to check whether the wiring had been executed completely s To indicate the wire-length a light is attached to the set of 31 tubes each of which contains a different wire-length To connect two pins the wire indicated must first be connected to one pin and then to the other When indicating the place for atta hIng the second end of the wire no wire-length need be given of course This place on the punched tape is used for check purposes The information for establishing a connection is recorded on the punched tape in two groups of four rows of symbols pentades each The punched tape reader can be started by pressing a button The four pentades of the first group contain the infornmation for selecting the wire-length and the first pin and those of the second group the information for the second pin After reading the first group the transportation of the tape stops It can only be re started by pressing a button after the wirewrap pistol had made contact with the pin indicated It is true that the signals given on the basis of the information on the punched tape MACHINE DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION The EL WICOMATIC consists of the following pArts 9 A table 142 x 86 x 75 cm with an el ation of 57 cm to which the panel to be wired can be easily attached On the elevation are the lights for indicating the pin to be wired the 18 1 • ing A rack of 31 tubes containing wire lengths for identification a light is attached Ing bit makes contact with the right pin a button to each tube The rack can be changed in a sim- for II the various for checking the completion of the wircounter the light which goes on as soon as the wind- givine start inate a ttna at a changeable tape read stationwitha mechanically punched tape reader which always reads two pentadas at a time the ep ed of' the tape tl rn port can be set within determined limits e The relay box to the right of the table which is connected to the elevation by means of pluggable connection practically all relays arc closed dead which ensures a long working life I internal R p 4 eA wre-wrap' pistol with a pilot lamp contact betweoin the pistol and the elevation 1 made by means of a plugable connection a The EL WICOMATIC is fed direct from the light supply 220 volt 50 cycles The maximum current consumption is about 2 amp For the relay connecting 24 volt dc is available Sa The stepping-up mechanism Is fed with 60 volt de During the stepping-up the brushes are dead -Organization 10llio-lAul'onation Campulrshimifrd London WI1 England I- Elliott-Automation has recently completed the internal re-organisation of its computing activities so that they now more clearly reflect the Group's policy towards the introduction of true auLomat•on Elliott has always believed that the use of computers in the physical control of events on-line working is of equal significance for the future as the more customary off-line use of computers as calculating machines in scientific and business environments It is the company's policy to create separate computing capabilities in all those customerorientated sectors of its activity where there is a potential market for computer controlled systems This policy has now been implemented throughout a large part of the company while the off-line activities have been concentrated in the Group's Management Company concerned with data processing the name of which has been changed to Elliott-Automation Computers Limited puters such as building and civil engineering fields In which Elliott computers are widely used both in this country and in over 20 countries overseas The Company manufactures the Elliott 803 502 503 and the new 4100 range of computers both at Borehamwood and at Cowdenheath in Scotland It manufactures as well the NCR 315 for the National Cash Register Cornpany while that company also sells Elliott Com puters for commercial and business data processing applications More than half of the computers manufactured by the Company are sold overseas so far to 27 different countries Among recent export sales have been orders for the Elliott 503 from Czechoslovakia and Holland for the 803 from Finland and Yugoslavia and for the newly announced 4100 from Australia and Germany The new company Elliott-Automation Cornputers has two principal activities the manu- The Computing Research Laboratory of Elliott-Automation Computers at Borehamwood is the Group's principal research centre for computing technology It works in close collaboration with the Company's Microelectronics Group which has been established in Scotland facture of computers and their sale for offline applications These include educational scientific and other technological uses of com- The world's first experimental tunnel diode computer which has been developed in the Laboratory is at present on development tests there NCR Elliot 4100 Computer Sriientifir C'omputing Division hllioa Brothe rs Lid Hurehannuyxid IlerytordLhire England being demonstrated at NCR headquarters in Marylebone Road It represents the fruits of years of experience in data processing by the two companies presenting the machine-NCR and Elliotte The highly successful 803 has NEW DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR BUSINESS AND SCIENCE The new 4100 data processing system was announced during February It is currently 19 L F shown that R await LOW C01OW UjUM WIV U94DiAW of offunctions number of performing differenthad number large appeal toaawide great w a 5A speedily remedied cornia defence In addition experiencu users 920 comwith the Elliott puting particularly puter has shown that a highly reliable central and the mrchine and program provided and The services factliof peripheral Its multitude ties are available at a low capital cost the processor using all silicon logical elements was a viable possibility strain of which can be assisted by the generous leasing arrangements which are available The whole 4100 system makes common sense of computing SYSTEM LOW COST MODERN The 4100 uses the full know how of both Companies to offer at a remarkably low cost a machine useful In a huge range of applications including those of commerce control research industry education and government The systern is completely modular and allows a flexibility which is due not only to standard electrical interface units used to link together the many different pieces of equipment available but also to a modern operating system EASE which allows the control and operation of programs to be modified as easily and simply as the connecticn of a piece of equipment The system has a highly versatile basic order code which as well as its obvious benefits to writers of general programs has enabled the writing of extremely efficient automatic programming systems These include SAP and NEAT which are symbolic programming systems orientated respectively to the scientific and the commercial programmer ALGOL the international scientific language Language H for the simple preparation of cornmerctal programs and Fortran There are a variety of languages to suit every requirement THE 4100 HARDWARE The processor currently available is the 4120 which is a compact highly reliable unit of modern design intended to be extremely adaptable to a wide range of environmental conditions A basic system requires only a 13 amp plug and can be installed without any other site preparation The processor operates in parallel on binary words of 24 bits in length A single instruction is generally contained in a word but there are a range of useful instructions of only 12 bits in length which facilitate easy and compact cornpiler writing The instruction code includes variants to orders allowing both literal indirect B-modified and direct addressing tobe employed The instruction code covers some 400 orders Extracode instructions to cover such important requirements as floating point arithmetic are provided and may be used as normal instructions A number of important registers are accessible by program to better control the operation of the system CONTROL READY TO DELIVER The 4100 has been offered on the market as a ready to deliver machine backed by a large range of supportin services The 4100 uses the most modern of control systems to ease the problems of programmers and operators and for this purpose most Installations will require an on-line typewriter through which messages may be passed to the processor and correspondiag reports may be output for program control There is a control box linked directly to the central processor which carries message buttons and sense keys and this is supplied with all processors The lamps and loudspeaker which this control box also carries enables the state of the computer to be monitored at any given time As well as the program systems outlined the 4100 has a large library of ready to use programs and the full weight of the existing Elliott NCR Applications Group behind it The education departments of the two Coinpanies offer nearly a dozen different courses of instruction on the 4100 ranging from short Appreciation courses to full length programming sessions covering several languages Training for operators in the machine procedures are also available maintenance servAt all times an efficient ice is available STORAGE The processor may be linked by a standard electrical interface to a number of standard stores which provide up to 32 768 words of inmediately addressable storage The storage There are a number of service centres across the British Isles to ensure that in the 20 currently available is of 6 microsecond cycle time Typical oDerational snoeds allnw RA Ma operations per second both scientific and commercial applications t 'LAr -' S to be added Again dependent on the application it is necessary to aceess the information so stored either -eially or at random and thore are units which provide separately for these requirements They can of course be cornbined in any'particular system to offer the advantages of both For the fast access of information stored serially there are magnetic tape storage units offering transfer rates of respectively 12 000 and 33 000 characters per second These industry-comnatible units are of proven reliability and low priced They can be attached as a cluster of up to eight in number operating through a single controller and interface channel This same method of control can be eraployed with the random access units These use disc stores which can be changed in 20 seconds and on each side of which can be stored over 600 000 characters of information The transfer rate is 105 000 characters per second PERIPHERALS The modern technique of standard electrical interface has been implemented to allow not only attachment of a full range of equipment but also to expediti additions of new units as they become available The ability to extend the range and power of a basic processor easily and cheaply is one of the fundamental benefits which standard interface offers It also nreans that a future requirement for a faster processor can be imiplemented without rendering obsolete an existing set of peripherals and software There are a large number of peripheral items already available for use on the 4120 processor and these can be summarised under the categories of Basic input output auxiliary storage alphanumeric output and visual output The 4120 provides 12 interface sockets to which these units may be connected Each socket as well as providing data input and output channels and control data allows an interrupt to occur at two levels--attention and normal interrupt-and these two levels on each of 12 sockets allows a powerful system of peripheral control ALPHA-NUMERIC OUTPUT Fast output of information is essential in applications where large quantities of data need to be output and there are a number of line printers available for attachment to the 4120 These employ a character set of 56 with the exception of one which has been extended to 62 characters They normally permit a 120character line although an option exists on all models for a 160-character line Printers operate at speeds of 300 600 and 1 000 lines per minute the 300 and 600 l p m models are supplied either buffered or unbuffered Models to supply every need are available and the price range is low enough to ensure that a satisfactory economic answer can be foundto all requirements BASIC INPUT OUTPUT FACILITIES There are two conventional forms of cornputer input and output punched paper tape and punched cards and the 4100 system provides both of these Where paper tape input or output is required there are paper tape punches operating at 100 characters per second and paper tape readers capable of reading 1 000 5- 6- 7- or 8-channel characters per second The requirements of different installations for different functional units has been met by housing these paper tape units in two alternative forms of paper tape station the 4210 and the 4211 These differ in style and flexibility but otherwise are functionally identical Card reading is provided for by an economically priced card reader which can handle 400 80-column cards per minute This elegantly styled unit is robust and resists a very high range of environmental conditions Similarly card punching may be added with a 100-card per minute unit VISUAL OUTPUT One of the most recent trends in modern computing has been the development of peripherals to provide the answers to computing problems in a visual and easily assimilated form The 4100 offers two basic forms of visual output the plotter where the visuals are inscribed permanently on paper and the cathode ray tube C R T display for much faster but more transient display of information with a facility for visual data to be passed to the computer through the same agency These methods are valuable in applications ranging from the commercialsuch as the rapid display of sales curves-to the scientific and on line with fast display of cal culation and feed back data Digital plotters are AUXILIARY STORAGE Although the 4120 can be extended to over 32 thousand words of direct storage there are 21 1 rI available with a variety of plotting widths and step sizes to suit most requirements and with speeds of up to 300 steps per second The C R T display consists of a console carrying a 14-inch tube Curves and lines can be drawn by defining a spot on a grid of 1024 x 1024 squares A character generator may be added to ease the annortation of displays A further addition is the UItht pen which enables material to be drawn on to the face of the C R T and for the information to be passed to the computer as input or amendment data 41M0 SYSTEMS SOFTWARE To completuea Ulke imodular hardware of the 4100 system a range of modular software has been designed to simplity the writing of efficient programs that will make the best possible use of any configuration of cquipment The overall software system known as EASE consists of a set of three progaxams NICE SPAN and TES that together provide the tocans of communicating with the computer setting up and operating programs allocating storage to programs and data and organising the use of peripherals SUPPORTING SERVICES The 4100 already offers a range of equipment which will cover most scientific and corninertial applications The Elliott policy is one of continual improvement and the 4100 is par- ticularly designed to enable the range to be modified and increased as technologn allows NICE-NORMAL INPUT AND CONTROL EXECUTIVE Together with the message button situated on the control box of the 4100 NICE provides the rmeans for man machine communication When the message button is pressed control is transferred to the EXECUTIVE routine in NICE The operator will normally type the name of one of the programs already in the computer store NICE will locate the program and transfer control tc it Alternatively the operator may type a message asklng for input of a program The NICE input routine will then read in the program and place it In some available free storage The 4100 has been the product of years of experience and research and the hardware described here and the software detailed overleaf are results of this activity This alone however has not been the sole fruit of the years of activity In computing for there has been developed a wide range of services designed to assist the uaer of computer equipment at every stage of his work The potential purchaser of a 4100 will receive the specialist information on site preparation insta lation and maintenance which has been aggregated in the Computer Maintenance Division of Elliott-Automation This division deals solely in this work and hzs a number of centres throughout the country from which it operates Where a computer purchaser wishes to make his own maintenance arrangementsusually overseas-there is a well equipped engineering school where his engineers can train There are educational courses of various levels covering all aspects of programming and operating the 4100 and these are run by a highly skilled staff of lecturers With each system a complete manual is delivered describing the system and including a wide variety of library programs ' this is updated regularly at no further cost At the time of installation and at regular periods thereafter the after-sales service section will visit U K installations to advise and assist in all problems which might arise The Users Group organisation also exists to disseminate both application programs and inatallation experience and there -re regular meetings to exchange information All these services with the exception of maintenance are provided free of charge to assist the potential and actual user at all times and in every way to use his equipment to the full Optional routines are provided with NICE for listing on the typewriter the names of all programs in the computer removing programs from the store and continuing with a program which has been interrupted SPAN-STORAGE PLANNING AND ALLOCATION The main store of the 4120 is extendable to 32 768 words which Is ample for many applications Where very large programs and data arrays are involved however backing store such as magnetic discs may be added to the system SPAN arranges the layout and administers all the storage main or auxiliary of the 4100 All transfers between different levels of storage are handled automatically by SPAN with the minimum of assistance from the programmer SPAN divides the main and auxiliary store into a set of blocks each of which may hold program workspace or data Programs written in automatic languages such as Algol or Language H are divided into chapters according to tho structure of the source program for example each Algol block will be considered as a 22 separate chapter When a oroarammar writes hiIffr ia awiv a n ' rfd%r When it has been filled it It returned to the main program for wue inSymbolic Aesembly code he has complete control over the division of his own program into chapters J •r During a program run-time SPAN ensures that all chapters currently in use are in the main store If more space is needed SPAN will move unused chapters out to backing store until enough space has been made available The programmer may help make this process more efficient by specifying which chapters he to not using and asking for the recall of a chapter from backing store before It is needed thus allowing the transfer to be timeshared with computation • Such a storage planning scheme has the advantage of treating the main store of the cornputer and the auxiliary store as one very large single level store Program size and the quantity of data are no longer limited by the main core store size Using the queuing and Interrupt routines provided in TSS the input and output is smoothed throughout a program such that the central processor is not held up waiting for a peripheral to become free A high efficiency in the use of peripherals can be achieved without the necessity for special programming techniques 4100 ASSEMBLERS AND COMPILERS A variety of assemblers and compilers for both scientific and commercial use are being implemented on the 4100 Data Processing system SAP the Symibolic Aosembly Program is designed so that the programmer can use easily remembered mnemonics for function codes and symbolic addresses when writing a program SAP translates the program into the basic machine code either directly into the computer store for load and go operation or out on to paper tape to provide a copy for repeated use TSS-TIME SHARING SUPERVISOR For normal input and output requirements comprehensive input and output routines are provided which use TSS to time share all peripheral transfers An advanced assembler NEAT is also provided which offers several additional facilities such as a printed listing of the source program together with comments and references to facilitate debugging and details of all syntactical errors found in the source programn Programs produced by both these assemblers are intended for use with the EASE systems software Where more direct control of input and output is required TSS may be used directly by the programmer Time sharing of peripheral transfers in the optimum fashion ts done for the programmer by the TSS There are 12 standard interface channels with the basic 4120 processor each of which may be connected to a single device or to a controller attached to a cluster of devices Each interface channel has an interrupt line and an attention line to the central processor the interrupt line having the higher priority An interrupt is normally received when the device is ready to haaidle a transfer and an attention when the state of the device requires the operator's services Source programs for the advanced assembler may be held on paper tape cards or magnetic tape and the translated program can be put on any of these media Amendments can be made to a previously translated program held on magnetic tape A useful feature of the advanced assembler is the ability to extract subroutines from the magnetic tape subroutine library and to insert them in the object program at points specified by the programmer The library of subroutines covers such activities as peripheral control file handling and internal data handling When a program wishes to input or output data it first obtains a block from SPAN to be used as a buffer area For output this buffer will be filled with characters then handed to TSS with a request for output on a certain device If the device is free output starts immediately and continues on an interrupt basis simultaneously with the main program If however the device was already busy on some previous job the buffer is attached to a queue of jobs waiting for the device Control is returned to the main program and the buffer is output in due course Input is similar but here an empty Ample debugging sorting and reportwriting facilities are provided with both assemblers COMPILERS The Scientific user Is provided with both Algol and Fortran compilers thus giving him 23 h - • I ane to the large library of routines of general use published in various journals in addition to the many programs provided by the manufacturers Fortran throughout the world especially in the United States Languag H is a new commercial programminglnguage mainly composed of English word which simplifies and speeds up program writing for the 4100 The vocabulary and set of rules have been kept as small as possible such that it can be learned and used more easily than rother machine Independent languages The Algol compiler Implements both the ECMA and 803 503 subsets of the language allowing a wide range of existing programs to be run without modification Programs written in Algol can make full use of all peripherals such as line printers and magnetic disc stores The range of compilers and languages supplies the need of every kind of user and the expert may additionally avail himself of the highly developed machine code to device further spoMidlist largnmage3 The Fortran IV compiler makes available to the 4100 user the many proBgram written In DOCEO Adaptive Tecwhng System Centre De kul Et De Traiie ms DI I Vnforn nn Vnive3e'uf De Lslge 1ige France DOCEO 2 By combined use of orders and program t'-e following functions are performed An adaptive automatic teaching system has been designed and constructed at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Data Processing University of Li'ge Its aim is to establish with a pupil a dialog which simulates as closely as possible the dialog ý tween teacher and pupil 6 Permanent control of the learning process Recording of the pupil's work and adding up by a set of counters the different scores of tWe student's behavior SAt the present stage it comprises a dataprocessing machine connected to an experimental teaching console by means of which the dialog between a student and the computer is established o Learning path conditioning according to varicus criteria last answer delivered but pr vious answers too scores recorded psychopew gogcal constants which arise from the pupil's reactions absent-mindedness memory abi ity for abstraction reaction time of the pupil The computer communicates with the student by controlling the display of two kinds of data which are stored in the console itself the lessons material on 16-mm frames and a set of light windows on which can appear predetermined comments about the behavior of the student e Print-o • -•nC•ý•q-- pching of an account showing learn•i r • •v•tg and scores point of view it to From the pi necessary to poiet t- fact that the teacher makes use of a 4 a Uý programming language freeing him from i' of the programming burden For this purpose the system is provided with a monitor program performing two functions system monitoring and interpretation of didactic statements The student answers the computer by dialing numbers on a telephone dial From a didactic point of view the main characteristics of the system are as follows The computer used until now is a BULL Gamma ET with magnetic drum storage 1 There are two types of didactic statemsets orders and the didactic program Orders are instructions expressing didactic procedures that are common to ll lessons or to a set of lessons that require the same achievement criteria The didactic program contains the Instructions that are peculiar to one lesson Future plans include the introduction of several teaching stations working simultaneously for use in an experimental class The philosophy of the system will be left unchanged In addition the use of sound equipment at the console is under Investigation 24 Computer Laboratory Dafartbsur of Apoid Mna4uu -e Liopd3 0j£• n Lbn7Jomi V4t E riVITSI merical Analysis and a new director is to be selected The University of Liverpool is at present expanding its English Electric KDF9 computer by doubling the size of the core store to 32 000 words adding two magnetic tape decks and a card reader The Medical Research Council has madu a grant to the Laboratory to employ a research assistant to pursue research on the function of the liver and to investigate computer models of extraction processes in the liver A Young foimerly director of the Laboratory has been appointed to the Chair of Nu- Computing Laboratory Ox ord Univrify Oxford England EQUIPMENT POST-GRADUATE DIPLOMA Z100 000 of new equipment has been ordered for the English Electric-Leo KDF9 machine installed in the Laboratory The new Installation will have 32K core store 6 magnetic tape units The Mathematics Faculty has instituted a 1-year Diploma in Advanced Mathematics The course consists In the study of three mathematical topics two at the level of the advanced op- time-sharing hardware two paper-tape readers two paper-tape punches and a 600-line-perminute on-line printer tional papers in the Final undergraduate examination and one at a still higher level at the frontiers of research Candidates will be examined orally and will submit a critical dissertation of recent published work in their main field Successful Diplomatists can then proceed to research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Present Diploma topics include Algebra Analysis Topology Logic Geometry Quantum Theory Fluid Dynamics Relativity Statistical Mechanics Probability and Numerical Analysis Others including possibly bome non-numerical computer field will be added from time to time with the approval of the Mathematics Faculty Board RESEARCH A new unit headed by Dr C Strachey will start research early in 1966 on non-numerical computer topics including the mathematical theory of programming languages heuristic programming and other software developments The unit will advise and assist the growing number of machine users for research in the non-scientific departments of the University 25 Miscellaneous Automation Plans Alwmeianl St ExS•ange New York New York 1•0•6 The American Stock Exchange announced in April a five-point automation program centered around unique electronic keyboards at each trading post for transaction reporting direct to stock tickers The program also envisions input of data for computer operation of stock clearing and market surveillance The Exchange and The Bunker-Ramo Corporation announced an agreement whereby the Exchange will rent two special-purpose data processors and 40 electronic keyboards from Bunker-Ramo to set up the on-floor input system The portable keyboards to be mounted at The plan includes trading posts feature cathode ray tubes for onthe-spot checking of information by input opera On-floor input by early 1966 of market ators The devices will feed data to the procdata through electronic keyboards supplied by essors for nationwide transmission throughout The Bunker-Ramo Corporation Data will be the ticker network within seconds transmitted on stock tickers within seconds Electronic displays of market data on easycompared with the present Interval of about 3Eltrncdsayofakedtanesto-read screens permit fast visual verification minutes and error detection before transmission of sales and quotations The development of inex Subsequent switch-over to computer oppensive cathode ray tube displays was a key eration of stock and quotation tickers to provide factor in making the new system feasible and fuller capability for error detection economical for the American Stock Exchange Introduction of advanced computerprocessing of Clearing Corporation data to provide added capacity cut costs and reduce time-gaps where possible through direct input from the trading floor The first keyboard units will be delivered within 6 months After extensive testing final installation is expected early next year The Exchange's program follows a yearlong study by an eight-man Committee on Automation drawn from the Exchange's Board of Governors and the general membership backed by electronics engineers in the Exchange's Data Systems Division a Automated surveillance programs to help assess the depth continuity and orderliness of markets against guideposts developed by the Exchange during the past 2 years The first American telephone Exchange computer operation an automated quotation service called Am-Quote went into full service in May 1964 Am-Quote a computer with a voice which supplies a wide range of market information also was designed and built for the Exchange by The Bunker-Ramo Corporation and is operated at the latter's TeleCenter in downtown New York Automated stock-watch techniques to spot unusual market patterns for prompt study The goal is a balanced up-to-date blend of automation techniques to help serve and protect the public On-floor input of trading data is the essential first step in harnessing technology to meet this goal An equally important step is consultation with member organizations and other exchanges to help assure compatibility of Exchange automation programs where possible with others in the securities industry The Exchange set two prime objectives first to develop a complete plan and second to obtain an economical flexible data input device to operate as and where trading occurs ON-FLOOR INPUT Direct floor-to-ticker input of market data will have no disruptive effect on market operations or procedures Exchange clerks will operate the relatively uncomplicated keyboards 26 L _______ from the center of each of the 23 trading posts The electronic keyboards and processors will he Pntod by the Exchange from Bunker-Ramo at a cost of approximately $8 800 a month The system will work as follows CMF a fictional ticker symbol trades 100 shares at 25-3 4 The trading post entry clerk simply depresses six keys on the electronic keyboard to activate the data processor-three keys for the ticker symbol two for the whole number and one for the fraction The processor flashes a display of the data CMF 25-3 4 on the keyboard's cathode ray tube and the clerk visually checks the entry for accuracy He then depresses an enter key The processor routes the signal to Western Union ticker circuits for automatic transmission throughout the Exchange's nationwide stock ticker network In a matter of seconds the trade has been effected entered in the processor checked for error and transmitted on the ticker tape The present system takes approximately 3 minutes Similar procedures will be followed in flashing bid-asked changes to the stock quotation network The speed and accuracy of on-floor input will enable investors to learn of sale and quotation changes almost simultaneously with the market activity which brought them about Eventually transmissions on the sales and quotation tickers will be monitored by computers thus building error detection and validity checking Into the system prior to ticker transmission The system for validity checking is to be similar to one presently used in the Am-Quote talking computer For example an issue is quoted 25-1 2 bid offered at 25-3 4 and an entry clerk who means to transmit a 20-1 2 sale figure inadvertently keys it inth the system as 52-1 2 The computer would be programmed to reject the incorrect report prevent its transmission over the ticker tape and print out Information for corrective action L numbers identifying the trade and the originatIng broker will be read by the scannar as the trade information is keyed into the system This data will bypass the transmitter into temporary memory storage It will be held there for use by the Exchange in the newly automated ancillary services-clearing market surveillance and stock watch Trade details read by the optical scanner and stored in memory will enable the Exchange to help reduce the heavy back-office workload member organizations now experience in preparing clearing reports So-called Deliver Exchange tickets also would be eliminated This is a time-consuming documentation of member organization's buying and selling activity listing trades securities volume price and opposite broker SURVEILLANCE AND STOCK WATCH The massive amount of detail flowing from on-floor input will be utilized by a computer to give depth scope speed and greater accuracy to the Exchange's surveillance and stock watch programs Since 1963 the American Exchange has made major advances in its surveillance and stock watch operations The program is divided into two phases early review of specialist and registered trader activity and prompt scrutiny of unusual price and volume movements Whenever a security reflects price or volume variations from established patterns the issue comes under close study by the Exchange With automated equipment the mass of data generated in an active market session can be stored compiled and recaptured by computer to provide statistical detail to gauge quality performance in terms of established standards This data including certain details not actually transmitted on stock tickers will widen the scope of Exchange surveillance and could make possible for example the quick recapitulation of key trades that occurred at any time in a trading session Also planned is an optical scanner that would operate in conjunction with the electronic keyboards CLEARING CORPORATION With the scanner the trading post entry clerk will place a transaction report into a scan-slot while he keys the trade through the computer to the sales ticker Details preprinted on the back of the report such as code Automation of the Clearing Corporation is a priority matter in the overall program Information available through a computer will make possible an advanced clearance operation based on direct trade comparisons by data processor 27 I Data made available through the on-floor input system and stored on memory drums will be the prime source of information for automated stock clearing Initial capacity of the automated clearance operation is to be at least 5 million shares per day plus 5000 trades daily in over-the-counter issues for the National OTC Clearing Corporation This capability can be expanded readily to handle 10 million shares daily plus 10 000 trades for the NOTC The input device is a light-weight unit with a specially designed keyboard aimed at providing a simple and rapid means for entering sale and quotation data The device includes a 5-inch cathode ray tube that-will display each entry in a format identical to the source document used by the input operator and will permit pro-entry message validation The operator can adjust the size and intensity of displayed characters The device includes a facility for selective data correction and voiding of a complete entry A security symbol repeat key is included for use during periods of heavy activity in a given stock issue Each input device is cable-connected to one of two remotely located control units which contain magnetostrictive delay line buffering for 192 characters from each input device In addition the control units format and drive the video display for each input device and generate bids to the transmission logic for access to the appropriate line as defined by the input entry At present the Exchange's Clearing Corporation is geared to handle sustained volume averaging 2 5 million shares a day plus 2000 trades cleared daily in over-the-counter issues but can handle heavier loads over limited periods of time An automated clearing operation will have the flexibility and the additional capacity to cope with unusually heavy volume over a sustained period as well as providing other statistical runs and services The transmitter section has the capacity to service bids in sequence from three contrdl units for simultaneous transmission on both output lines and from up to four 6-level ticker code keyboard perforators operating in conjunction with 500 operations per minute paper tape readers The latter will be used for entry of Exchange announcements and correction mes- TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION The system consists of a number of devices with integral keyboard-type keybouned-athe input inputue devicespa wit alcont mounted cathode ray tube display dual control units which include logic for multiple message buffering display and transmission formatting character generation and line bidding and a dual transmission capability for merging and transmitting the output from the control units into the sale and quotation transmission lines All circuitry is of modular transistor logic board construction sages When the system is interfaced to a general purpose computer a group of 10 Input device function keys will be activated that will permit the identification of special types of transactions odd lot transactions as well as specialist participation in trading A further addition will be the addition of optical scanners that will read pre-printed bar coded data on the back of transaction reports and permit the capture of broker identification data at the time of entry of oiAle data This iniormation will be transmitted at high speed to he central processor that will store the sale and identification data for turther clearing and surveillance processing and transmit the sale and quotation data to the ticker networks The capability for expansion to include these functiona is provided for in the design of the initial floor input system Initially the system will have a capacity for simultaneously accepting input data from 66 input devices with capability for expansion up to 99 devices In its initial function the OnFloor Input System will be used to transmit market data directly to the Exchange's sale and quotation tickers at the current speed of 500 characters per minute Soon afterwards the Input System will be interfaced with a general purpose data processor from which the ticker output will be derived The initial system design includes provision for dual high speed output for implementing this step Long Iistance Error Control nBell T p hlm Ia b nhutih 46 7 1V 1Nh fl ltt N 'w otA i - Nerw Yoirk A new error detection-retransmission systern has made it possible to send a stream of nearly a billion bius of data without errors over the long distance dial telephone network This high accuracy on switched telephone connections which vary in transmission quality was 28 encoder which adds 12 check bits per block -Wi a iis borc blocks for possible retransmission and has additional capacity for absorbing new input data The experimental system which controls periods of retransmission Ani ideniicail during go will networ k telephone dial thc on errors output buffer at the other end of the system into trial service this summer Designed by supplies the receiving business machine with Herbert 0 Burton Lorin P McRae Robert N data at 1200 bits per second even during Watts and William J Wolf the system stores retransmission are errors when it retransmits information When the system detects errors at its redetected and at the same time maintains an ceiving end it signals the transmitting error uninterrupted flow of data betiveen the trans° control unit over a narrow-band reverse chanmsitting and receiving business machines neloperating on the same two-wire circuit used to transmit the data The receiving buffer Data sent by the transmitting business maerases the 48 data bits of the word in error and chine at 1200 bits per second arrive at the input the transmitting unit repeats several blocks for buffer of the error control system There they a second time and again if necessary are ptssembled into 48-bit blocks and sent to the achieved with a system designed and built at Bell Telephone LrAlortnrlaon Memory PhD-170Br• odCoapitt Random-Acceks Podurit 1 •pd'r IDiviliol 1# EX EI LO C o11oIFatifon Walled 1L i Mtirhigan 4NUNN • Development of the first magnetic mass memory using positionable write read heads to provide simultaneous multiple access to a 172 800 000-bit information store was announced in May by Bryant Computer Products Designated the PhD-170 the new memory-a rotating magnetic drum-was demonstrated to attendees of the INTERDATA 65-IFIP Congress Exhibit problem could be circumvented by providing two or more heads to service each track In conventional rotating memories of equal capacity however the cost is prohibitive both irom the standpoint of the large number of heads required and the elaborate multiplexing selection and write read circuits involved These limitations do not exist with the Bryant PhD-170 because it uses from one to four access mechanisms to se'rve the entire information store of 2752 tracks These mechanisms can be positioned and multiplexed to provide multiple simultaneous access to the entire memory-a unique design concept that is both economically feasible and practical Although it is the most advanced and sophisticated rotating mass memory ever built the PhD-170 is the epitome of design simplicity It consists of a 20-inch-diameter drum superfinished with magnetic alloy plating one to four access mechanisms mounting 43 Uni-Just flying heads and a Saf-Set head interlock Drum speed can be either 1200 or 1800 rpm With its large storage capacity unparalleled operational flexibility and high transaction rate the PhD-170 is inherently well suited to a wide variety of memory applications including on-line reservations systems buffer storage for scientific and edp computers process controllers and data communication terminals information storage and ietrieval systems for inventory control banking and stockmarket transactions insurance actuary calculations and directory references advanced telephone switching systems and the like In conventional rotating muss memories recording heads must be grouped into sets to economi•e on the number of selection and write read circuits required Because only one head from each group can be writing or reading actively at one time the data contained in the storage tracks serviced by the other heads in the group are inaccessible Theoretically this Sgether Each access mechanism located at 90degree intervals around the periphery of the drum operates independently of the others and has access to all 2752 tracks on the drum AK heads on one access mechanism are moved toeach head being positioned to any one of 64 tracks by means of a precision digital a tuator-a linear positioning device with 64 discrete stops Also the drum contains additional fast-access data clock and register tracks ca- The prefix PhD is an acronym for Positioninghead Drum and the number 170 indicates the order-of-magnitude of the drum storage capa- pable of storing 6 000 000 bits of data bilities in millions of bits 29 I L By using multiple positioners two three or four heads can gain access to the information in the same track at the same time This means that track-to-track access time to the data store is limited only by electronic switching and latency times this time is equivalent to having four heads per track or over 10 000 heads to serve the 2752 track capacity of the PhD-170 Also because each access mechanism has 43 heads up to 172 tracks can be written on or read from without positioning If desired the PhD-170 can be programmed to serve as up to four independently accessible drumseach capable of storing 43 million bits In this operating mode each drum can be separnta1y addrnIotadofa all 'aran fre-'e- Transaction ratea achievable with the PI10 170 are unprecedented Using a 2000-byte measage length for example a PhD-170 operating at 1200 rpm and with two access mechanisms can be muitiplern4 to obtain an average of 198 720 transactl-tl s per hour four access mechanisms ould allow the drum to service two processors at this rate At 1800 ry in and with three positioners the drum will p' rform at the rate of 241 920 transactions pe hour Philco Visual Display System I'itt i g h Pe 'n MI 'rtJIa 1V1 3 t A computer-driven visual display system will be installed at the Carnegie Institute of Technology Computation Center in Pittsburgh during the summer of 1965 by Philco Corporation The complex cathode ray tube system being built to Carnegie Tech's specifications is one of the most sophisticated known today The system was adapted from Philco's Real-Time Electronic Access and Display READ System by Jesse T Quatse Manager of Engineering Development at the Computation Center Dr Alan Perlis director of the Computation Center believes this advanced system will provide a method for the more effective realtime use of time-shared computers The Carnegie Tech system consisting of a controller and three consoles will permit the operator to manipulate high-resolution alphaoperator to idsize numeric and graphic digital data in a volatile manner on the face of the cathode ray tubes The university plans to use it for computer programming and program debugging problem solving in engineering mathematics and science and classroom instruction drive the signals to the Philco display equipment in the classroom building Each of the three consoles will be equipped with a cursor a light pen and two typewriter keyboardr 'he cursor is an electromechanical locator waiich enables the operator to place a locator spot on the face of the tube With it data can be inserted altered or erased The light pen can be used for the same purpose The keyboards include all characters in the English Greek and Russian alphabets plus mathematical and special symbols The cathode ray tubes in each console have 80 square inches of viewable area approximately 9 x 9 inches square Information in one console may be simultaneously displayed on any of the other consoles or each of the consoles may have a different display Operators can Insert correct or delete data as well as reposition intensify blink on-off or vary the of the symbols displayed on the tube without computer intervention A typical problem-solving application will be the design and simulation of complex systerns such as computers A student could see the system he designed in operation on the face of the tube The system kill be installed in a classroom building 1000 feet across the campus from Carnegie Tech's present multi-processor computer system see DCN April 1965 Tech's data processing system has a common memory of 65 000 words 8000 of which will directly coinmunicate with the display system A booster module and memory interface in the Center will Philco's READ system on which this Carnegie Tech system is based is a product of the Communications and Electronics Division's Information Systems Department at Willow Grove Pa READ was introduced at the Spring Joint Computer Conference in Washington D C in April 1964 30 Constructs Computer-Directed Drawing System Control Dala Gorporaiion _Mintapolis Minnesofa 55440 A computer-directed drawing system called CONSTRUCTS seeks out possible obstructions and connection problems and automatically provides special solutions as required COUNSTRUCTS which can produce detailed construction drawings 25 times faster than a draftsman was demonstrated in May by Control Data Corporation The demonstration involved Control Data computers in the Company's Chicago and Minneapolis data centers and the use of long-distance telephone lines over which the problem and solution were transmitted Once calculations have been completed full-sized drawings are produced on a plotter following currently acceptable practices for shop detailing Drawings show accurate dimensions of each piece of steel to be cut and every connection with proper allowance for all fittings A complete printed bill of materials can also be produced CONSTRUCTS Control Data Structural System has already been successfully used to produce steel fabrication detail drawings for a multi-million dollar institutional facility to be erected on the east coast The 150 000 sq ft structure will have between four and eight floors The composite design calls for approximately 800 tons of high-strength and carbon steel to be shop-welded and field-bolted All this is done much faster and with far less chance of human error than was previously possible The great majority of this work is processed by the computer system in a continuous flow with human intervention occurring only on sheets which require manual drawing of pieces such as hand rails curb plates and the like Supervisory time can be limited to the point at which data I- fed into the computer system with assurance that the drawings prod ved will totally conform to input The Belmont Iron Works Eddystone Pa will fabricate the steel George V Robertson Jr vice president of the 95-year old firm said The drawings produced by CONSTRUCTS were excellent and provided a drawing for the shop equal in quality and content to any produced by the conventional manual methods Belmont one of the top 10 independent steel fabricators in the country foresees significant economies as a result of using CONSTRUCTS CONSTRUCTS programming system is TMinneapolis presently capable of handling more than 40 percent of the steel fabrication detail drawings reor normala commercial year this percent• industrial quired to construct building aWithin In the demonstration held earlier design criteria were prepared and fed into a Control Data computer at the Company's Chicago data center and registered on magnetic tape The data was then transmitted via Dataphone to a Control Data 3600 computer at the Company's data center The 600 a largewords o maget scale cm te with 1 0 ex etic core memor wdth capability of S500 000 e second eod osrce 5000isrcinInstructions per constructed a age will be more than doubled A variety of be undertype structures non-building e under the potential has also also can as CONSTRUCTS S taken also mhasthepotentialn takben asedCoNrUCtSr to be used for other kinds of mechanical and Selectrical drawing work mathematical model of the structure to be built calculations and produced all plotter allnd Teepotromaswrehn made com ommands These plotter commands were then transmitted back to the Chicago data center and recorded on magnetic tape The magnetic tape unit in turn activated an Electronic Associates Inc 3440 mechanical plotter which produced the detailed drawings Between 13 and 25 hours of drawing and checking--exclusive of supervisory time-are normally required to manually produce one drawing of one average steel tabrication With the CONSTRUCTS pro gramming system the same drawing can be produced at an average rate of less than one per hour without human error CDC has been conducting exploratory work in computer-directed automatic design detailIng and drafting for other industries They are also perfecting new programs to design complex structures automatically Future specialized extensions of CONSTRUCTS concepts will depend upon the interests of individual clients Utilizing the CONSTRUCTS programming system in the steel fabrication detailing application the computer accepts basic design criteria and determines the exact dimensions of steel members how they should be cut and the size of the connecting members The number of bolts and lengths of welds to be used to interconnect members are also determined The CONSTRUCTS programming system also promises to be a valuable aid to fabricaters in estimating The speed inherent in the use of CONSTRUCTS will enable a company to submit alternative and more complete estimates on a given job 31 CDC believes that the computer-directed system wui riave widespread influence on the steel fabrication industry By using this computer programming tool detailing ornew gwaisutions can substantially increase their work capacity Significant reductions in time should be realized between the initial design stage and the time mill orders are generated To the draftsman or designer CONSTRUCTS represents a means to eliminate repetitious routine drawing work Ultimately developments like this will result in a more efficient use of manpower skills and will at the same time upgrade the status of the engineer and technician Experienced human Judgement will remain essential uwing The CONSTRUCTS programming system will be made available to customers in two ways either Control Data will m- _m l_ I- - bility on behalf of a client for producing fabrication drawings or will work with a client's staff to phase-in CONSTRUCTS where feasible using Control Data' scomputers and programs A man familiar with detailing can prepare input data for the computer after only 4 hours of training and he can work independently of the system after a 2-day training period The CONSTRUCTS programming system was developed by Meiscon Corporation a subsidiary of Control Data Corporation Meiscon is an industrial civil and computer applications engineering consulting firm established by Control Data to work with industrial clients and governmental agencies in the development of automated systems Surveillance System Traffic C' •rol Di da Cu rpuionl AiunrnwfohI A hnps ota S5440 Control Data Corporation in April demonstrated a computer-controlled traffic surveillance system which is to be installed in May at the National Proving Ground for Freeway Surveillance Control and Traffic Aids Detroit Michigan This is a continuing research project aimed at devising and testing freeway traffic controls surveillance equipment and freeway design improvements traffic and percent of pavement occupied The system also controlled the ramp closure signs as well as the speed signs for one of four speedcontrol settings In addition all information fed into the system was printed in the form of an operating log The display portion of the system presented to the operator in chart form 1 actual vehicle speed 2 posted speed 3 percent of pavement occupied and 4 volume of vehicles per minute Testing and surveillance are conducted on a 3 2-mile portion of the John C Lodge Freeway in Detroit The computer system will provide control of traffic conditions through ramp closures and speed sign changes along the teat portion of the Lodge Freeway The system will also gather traffic data to be used in continuing traffic engineering studies This research project at the National Proving Grounds is sponsored by the U S Bureau of Roads the states of Michigan Alabama Georgia Indiana Louisiana Minnesota Missouri Nebraska New Jersey Ohio Pennsylvania Washington Wayne Michigan County and the City of Detroit The demonstration of Control Data's computer-controlled traffic surveillance systern simulated traffic information being received from 27 ultrasonic detectors located along the 3 2-mile test portion of the Lodge Freeway From this Information the system computed the number of care and trucks occupying various lanes of the freeway speed of A program will eventually be developed for the computer to process traffic data and issue Instructions that permit automatic operation of the signal system The activities of the National Proving Ground are expected to develop a highly refined system that will include integration of surface street traffic control with that of freeways and the optimum efficient use of roadways with maximum safety provisions BACKGROUND During the summer of 1955 The Detroit Department of Streets and Traffic and the Michigan Bell Telephone Company cooperated in a short test to determine the feasibility of freeway traffic surveillance by closed circuit television Although the scope of the test was limited the results encouraged efforts to obtain support for a more complete investigation Since traffic surveillance is not an end in itself but merely a means towards traffic control and 32 traffic research the proposed project included provisions for a traffic control system of lane and ramp signals and variable speed signs and for research into freeway traffic characteristics Finally an agreement was reached to conduct an investigation into freeway traffic surveillance and control research on the John C Lodge Freeway in Detroit The cooperating agencies were the Michigan State Highway Department the Wayne County Road Commisaion the City of Detroit Department of Streets and Traffic and the Bureau of Public Roads The project was to last 2 years control of the project was under the Michigan State Highway Department The project was known as The Freeway Traffic Surveillance and Control Research Project In July 1959 work began on several phases of equipment requirements It was necessary to determine the specifications for the television cameras monitors transmission system and associated equipmet At the same time on the requirements for the autowork watoe began traffic detection system and associated accessories as well as the design of the traffic control system the necessary signs and signals which would to a concepts and the operational larg fixthesysemsigns exent In November 1960 the General Railway Signal Company in the Process of designing and developing ultra sonic traffic surveillance equipment offered to lend field and office equipment consisting of classification and speed doppler sensors with the necessary relay racks analog computers and display panels This generous offer was accepted and since late in 1960 the GRS equipment has been used on the project at no cost The television system installation was completed and the system was accepted late in December 1960 Observation of freeway traffic began on a half-time basis as soon as the television system became operational In May 1961 college students were hired as part-time observers and the system was used from 6 a m to 8 p m 5 days per week In January 1961 General RailwAy Signal Company wa t 1 essful bidder ontf Company was the successful bidder on the freeway variable traffic control system equipment This award involved equipment to transmit control messages to the sign and signal locations In the field log the transmission of such control messages and confairm the status of the signals It did rot include the and field signs and signals themselves large extent fix the system In August 1960 the contract for the instal lation and 2-year maintenance of the television equipment was awarded to the General Electric Company Also in August 1960 it wau decided to locate the control room in the Herman Kiefer Hospital complex approximately at the mid point of the study section The Michigan Bell Telephone Company began laying a specially constructed cable on the freeway median This cable was laid in two sections each containing 75 pairs of conductors and 8 balanced pairs of video circuits to provide for transmission of video signal camera control detector information and sign and signal operation One section ofthe cable was laid from the control room north to the end of the project area the other from the control room south to the Edsel Ford Freeway Meanwhile development continued on L e requirements and specifications of the automatic detection system the freeway traffic control and its associated signs and signals The lane and off-ramp signals were awarded to three signal companies one each for incandescent Eagle Signal Co neon Winkomatic Signal Co and fluorescent light sources and later for a multi-lamp incandeicent combination X and arrow signal Roadway Control Corp Later an award was given for matrix variable speed signs to Eagle Signal Company In March 1961 the research program was begun with the collection of data for a series of travel time studies Work has continued since on research into freeway traffic characteristics By April 1962 lane and off-ramp signals and the variable speed signs had been manufactured and installed Although it required from July 1959 to April 1962 almost 3 years to establish an operating system of lane and ramp controls and variable speed limits on the freeway it must be remembered that the entire system was designed with little or no previous experience to draw upon for guidance The surprising thing is that it was accomplished so quickly Installation of the camera equipment and the cable progressed rapidly in October 1960 it was possible to transmit a live picture of freeway traffic to the Automobile Show at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit A picture also was transmitted to the AASHO convention in a down- On May 7 1962 operation of the freeway traffic control system of lane and off-ramp signals and variable speed signs was initiated Much has been accomplished since then in improving operating methods to increase the free- town hotel in November 1960 way efficiency 33 In January 1963 the final set of control signals the on-ramp closure signals manufactured by Roadway Control Corporation became operational Thus in the relatively short span of 3-1 2 years an entirely new concept in freeway traffic control was developed from a basic general concept of a closed circuit television surveillance system a traffic detection and measuring system and a remotely controlled freeway traffic control system This has proved to be a well-conceived complex system of visual and electronic surveillance and traffic control system with fail-safe and confirming features work Sensing equipment used in the past while satisfactory was insufficient in quantity and was not located In accordance with the demands of the control system Operation of the control system has given needed direction for the proper placement of sensing equipment Plans call for the Installation of 26 detectors on the center lane of the freeway divided evenly between the northbound and southbound directions This will permit a sampling of the traffic sl ream so that speed volume and lane occupancy information can be obtained from a single classification type ultrasonic detector To assist the operator in making the rroper Since installation of the traffic control systern work has continued on developing improved instrumentation on fr-eeway traffic research and on improvements in operation methods of control responses this information will be presented on a display panel or oscilloscope which will provide thi operator with a histogram or bar chart type of display of speed volume and the control system lane occupancy measurements taken from the center lane While the center lane may not always accurately reflect traffic conditions of adjacent lanes we can refer to the television monitors to determine whether the center lane measurement represents an abnormal condition In December 1963 the project became a national cooperative research project when the Highway Departments of Alabama Georgia Indiana Louisiana Minnesota Missouri Nebraska New Jersey Ohio Pennsylvania and Washington joined the original four sponsoring agencies The name of rhe project was changed to The National Proving Ground for Freeway Surveillance Control and Electronic Traffic Aidi A full time project staff was assembled from the Michigan State Highway Department and the Detroit Department of Streets and Traffic Work has been progressing in two main areas Traffic Research and Equipment Development To reduce instrumentation cost and minimize the use of circuitry from field stations either the northbound or southbound direction only will be displayed on the planel at one time However one station located midway in the rroject area will be displayed on the same panel to represent the traffic condition in the opposite direction Although the visual display information will b be confined to 14 detectors pdditional detertors will be available for measuring traffic conditions in the other lanes of the freeway The Cornell Acronautical Laboratory has beei assigned Highway Research Board Project 3-2 which covers prediction of congestion on a freeway In carrying out its work C A L will acquire 10 detectors in addition to those installed by the project which will gather the same traffic information from the curb and median lanes to provide five continuous sensing stations along the freeway The ultrasonic detectors both of the classification and doppler variety already installed at the Chicago Avenue bridge will be left in place They will provide complete traffic information for all lanes at this station This A summary of the traffic research completed by both the John C Lodge Freeway Traffic Surveillance and Control Research Project and the National Proving Ground for Freeway Surveillance Control and Electronic Traffic Aids which follows this short history will provide an idea of the scope of the research work undertaken up to this point In addition to the completed studies work is scneduled on other subjects such as complete evaluation of all components of the control system both as to the effect of their operation upon freeway traffic and of the equipment itself Further work is required to gain as much information as possible about characteristics of freeway drivers as well as about traffic itself station incidentally will be used as a permanent counting station representing conditions on an urban freeway This will become a part of the statewide counting stations established for gathering traffic information PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS Planning work now has been completed and additional new sensing equipment is being acquired to provide more complete freeway traffic information for optimizing the freeway control sy ýtem and performing iuture research The portable detector mounts designed specifically for this project will permit future 34 changes in location of detectors perform comprehensiwe traffic studies intccertain areas street system way streets will be employed wheneverOne possible to conform to the ft - zntcipatd he n th t tha -antar lani detectors will remain In place for the purpose of control name tvoe of oneraton found on the freeway The field information gathered from the traffic sensors will be brought to the control center where it will be classified analyzed and logged by a digital computer with Its associated hardware This computer will serve a threefold purpose It will provide a means of logging information analyzing data and providing outputs for both the control system and the visual display The first assignment for the computer system will be to provide continuously up-todate information to the display equipment for the operator He will in turn interpret this information and perform the proper control functions It is hoped that this operation i e the response of the operutor to the data provided on the display will result in a pattern of events and occurrences so that a program can be developed to process the original data and provide instructions to the computer to permit automatic operation of the signal system To predict the course of the project activity beyond this point is of course to anticipate some of the results THE FUTURE OF TRAFFIC SURVEILLANCE CONTROL The project does have a definite goal and purpose With this in mind it is well to visualize the type of system which probably will evolve in the relatively near future While most of the research up to this point had been confined to the freeway itself experience already shows the wisdom of integrating surface street control with that of the freeway The ramp closure experiments showed the great value of improving the traffic operation of the surface streets when it is necessary to divert freeway traffic by ramp closures It also is strongly felt that ramp closure by itself would never be successful unless the driving public is given a very definite alternate route to travel either on a longer path back to the freeway or by surface street to their destination Many lessons already have been learned on how to optimize surface street control Certainly every effort will be made to take advantage of these results in the experiment in Detroit Fundamental principles of good traffic engineering will be followed such as the proper spacing of arterial streets to obtain the advantages of progressive signal timing in a good We are now planning to provide traffic re- sponsive signal equipent or the urface otreet grid network which wilt have some unique teatures of operation First traffic sensors will not be placed at each approach leg to a signalized intersection but rather at points in the grid network where there are marked traffic changes based either on demand or on capacity of the particular section of roadway to carry the traf fie The traffic sensor which will measure the Inpot to one area also will be the measurement of output for the area from which the traff ic came With this type of system once an adequate measurement of the traffic stream is made and the traffic carrying capacity for varying conditions is stoxved in the computer it becomes possible to derive an optimum timing sequence for the grid network This means that a certain width band of progressive signal green npan be given to the motorists traveling along a particular street and they would be instructed to travel at the appropriate speed consistent with the progressive speed of the signal timing The motorists would proceed through a series of minor signalized intersections where there is little interchange of traffic with the cross streets However LYthere is a major interchange of traffic at a pirticnlar sigpalized intersection this would be a logical location to place additional traffic sensors to determine the traffic characteristics of the traffic stream Such a system would require fewer traffic sensors which in turn would result In financial savings s Although several signalized systems already use computers to derive optimum timing sequences it is our feeling that the motorist could perform much more efficiently irp the street pattern if he were included in the loop between the traffic sensors the computer and the traffic control system For this reason we intend to provide two types of information signs for the benefit of the motorist The first type would be variable speed message signs which will instruct the motorist on the proper speed to stay within the progressive green band of signal timing along the surface streets We can extract the major advantages of the General Motors Pacer Signal System experiment by lighting the speed sign when the motorist is within the green band however if he approaches the signalized intersection when he is out of step with the green band the speed I ri sign will be• unlighted This very simple signal could then be numbered consecutively from aI display will permit the motorist to take corrective actidn to place him In stop wiLh the traffic beginning point system The city likewise could be separated into various zones These also could be identified for the driver visually when he passes from one zone to another In the early stages drivers could be given route information by use of changeable signs to take them from one section of the city to another Later since the central control point would have all the traffic logic and identifications of routes at its command there could be a simple system devised whereby a driver would have a device in his car from which he could request information on how to proceed from one part of the city to another A recording device then would receivc Instructions from the central control system by some type of electronic pickup which would program a signaling device within the car to give the driver instructions on how to proceed along his route when to make the proper turns etc to reach his destination The second type of sign which we intend to use with the proposed system Is one which will designate routes of travel from one part of the city to another and will show adequacy of traffic carrying capacity For instance let us suppose a certain section of roadway is being subjected to too much traffic pressure for its capacity Since the traffic sensor already will have reRayed this information to the control center where the computer can alert the control system to this condition motorists then will be advised to use alternate routes with more adequate traffic carrying capacity This leads us to the third phase of the program which probably will take us right to the last point where the man will retain control of his motor car or be locked into an electronic system which will take over his travel capsule and take him from one place to another without any decision on his part other than the determrunation of his original destination In areas where parking is a problem and there are large oil-street parking facilities the driver even could be instructed on how to reach the available parking stall nearest to his destination Parking garages already are equipped with information devices which tell them the availability of empty stalls This systern could be coupled easily to an external systern giving direction to a motorist While maximum efficiency of operation of a road system is highly desirable the same effort must be made toward obtaining the utmost safety in such a system Control systems which require undue diversions of the driver's attention from his driving task are designed improperly Also a driver cannot operate properly in a control system if his mind is in a state of confusion caused by uncertainty as to his whereabouts For this reason we believe that the control system of the future must give the driver instructions as to his proper driving path alrng with instructions on how to drive this patti to obtain real safety and efficiency from our system Obviously a driver uncertain of his directurns performs very poorly Although the problem on how to receive information in the vehicle may seem difficult at the present time it is easy to envision locations where a driver could drive in and park over La induction coil which could give this information to the recording device in his vehicle He would then pull out of this area and proceed on his path We now have completed the loop whereby traffic information is obtained from the street system and sent to the control center and instructions are sent to the driver from the control center on now to proceed best from one point to another Therefore he is totally informed oni how to proceed through each portion of the city In the control system of tomorrow we must have an accurate record of the location of all traffic sensors roadways and traffic control devices We also must know the whereabouts of the traffic demand This would dictate the need of a simple route identification system which can be referred to not only by the computer but also by the drivers on the route We even should be able to give the driver the anticipated travel time of the trip assigned to him This should reduce speeding caused by the uncertainty of motorists as to their time of arrival since they now would know the best route and the best speed they can obtain through the programmed signal system Suppose route segments in an entire grid network of a city which includes both the arterial streets and freeways were identified by a systematic code which can be recognized by the computer and the driver alike As an example north south east and west routes could be identified by easily identified color patterns Each of these directionally oriented routes The development of the described system leaves us with only one further step whereby 36 em 'gC% 4 -- Wetml coCo his vehicle and automatic control is substituted IUdevelopment shows the desirability 01 this a iogicel psittern already has been established on how to arrive at such a point 1M ver VVZ wiquait th MIM i 1A V for giving the motoriht speed information along his traffic routes This p'oJect is now working on a alp which 'Xill give information Lo the sotorist on the condition of traffic on the freeway towards which he is headed By receiving information from this device in an area of traffic freedom he can plan an alternate route to avoid congestion The evolution of traffic control systems such as the one described will require technical developments in many areas Control systems and computers are already at'the point where the system described is totally feasible Two of the biggest problems however are in the field of traffic sensors and in the information giving devices Development work has been performed already in these two fields on the Lodge and in numerous other experiments Detroit han now established a Traffic Central system whereby traffic information is received about freeway traffic conditions both from the television center and from police freeway patrol vehicles This information is relayed to a central point by radio and telephone cornmunlcation This is then placed on a closed circuit teletype system to commercial radio and television stations in the Detroit area The motorist therefore receives the advantage of receiving traffic advisory information from all of the major radio and television stations which of thim indLand telehision This whiad can aid him in planning his route This already has proved its merit on numerous cases of accidents which have occurred Advisory information has been given motorists on the restricted conditions of the freeway so that they can plan alternate routes through areas where there is less traffic congestion One noteworthy advance in traffic sensors is totally feasible it also would which whichwe we f feel erthel ius ttotallytfeasile t alo wolod be further justification of the use of a closed circuit television system is a detector based on the extraction of traffic information from the television signal This project has pioneered the efforts to obtain such a detector and we hope that funds for its development will be allocated in the very near future Various types of signs both variable and animated are being contemplated for use on the surface streets which will give not only the conditions of the freeway traffic but also of the routes along which the motorists must travel on the surface Variable speed signs already have This project constantly has maintained a close liaison with industry to take advantage of 8000 Series 1 0 Interface Ipei-SSedin Reader Pundh Ramp Det Contact Closure Inputs Cautputsr801 pComputer L oChange • L '• cCDisnlayr Oscilloscoper A outputs Ramp SpeedData • Conitining Poi Speed-Sign • Control Video ttnrich •T oitoringste Operations Control Center National Proving Ground for Freeway Surveillance €• Control and Electronic Aids Detroit Michigan 37 r gram of this project include all of these Much equieni now used or being planned for the most recent developments in other areas whih anbe 4 A I I a --- New These efforts are paying off handsomely Orig- use has been developed or proven here w1mld be proI ibltive for hlghuy budgets but It has been produced as a result of work and needs in other fields par icularly in national defense Among the results of research are new equipment new methods new techniques and new knowledge The results of the research pro- use of closed circuit television for visual surveillance Techniques of traffic control have been developed by the control operators and the success of these techniques is being proven daily inal development cost of some of this equipment data gathering methods have evolved from the PLATO II and III Coordiinud Sitna I Abouatory Uitdhrifty of lliunois Urbana Ilfisaa The purpose of the PLATO project DCN Oct 1961 July 1962 and Apr July and Oct 1964 has been to develop an automatic computer-controlled teaching system of sufficient flexibility to permit experimental evaluation of a large variety of ideas in automatic instruction including simultaneous tutoring of a large number of students in a variety of subjects The PLATO system differs from most teaching systems in that the power of a large digital computer is available to teach each student since one such computer controls all student stations The project work has fallen into three categories no two of which are wholly separate from each other 1 development of the tools for research 2 learning and teaching research 3 provision of a prototype for multistudent teaching machines In all these categories of research the PLATO group has interacted frequently with various other groups at the University of Illinois that are concerned with curriculum studies college teaching and behavioral science research ious conditions of operation with other stations The matter of video interference is not especially noticeable or formidable and is consequently left for the future Development continues on special units which will up date present circuitry or provide special system facilities Included are transistor deflection power control master keyset and master video switch THE CATO SYSTEMS PROGRAM Several minor errors in the CATO systems program were uncovered and corrected accordingly A compact routine called DUMPS which dumps the specified portion of the memory onto the line printer in octal was written and added to the FORTRAN RESIDENT This is useful in code-checking CATO teaching programs since the routine does not destroy any part of the program as other existing dump routines do PLATO IIl-SYSTEM EQUIPMENT Changes in CATORES were made so that one may continue a lesson smoothly with the minimum manual operations after interruption of a run During the first quarter 1965 work continued in the development and construction of circuitry required for the realization of a 20 student station teaching system PLASMA DISCHARGE DISPLAY TUBE RESEARCH Circuitry constructed to date increased the operable stations from 3 to 10 The construction remainingto complete the 20-student-station system is being continued and is expected to be completed by November 1965 The purpose of the plasma-display tube project is to develop an inexpensive substitute for the present PLATO memory-tube complex As mentioned in the July 1965 Newsletter one of the main problems remaining is the lowering of the firing voltage after a cell has fired Previously if the fired cell is extinguished and refired a few seconds later any voltage between Performance of the present 10-station systern is satisfactory Each station with the exception of a very small amount of video interference executes all modes of operation properly and evidences no marginal operation under var38 the initial firing voltage V and the minimum sustaining voltage Vm will fire the cell th4A18 iuSazt ri-v rozil war ori structed which did not have these abnormal characteristics Its firing voltage was 368 volts rms and the minimum sustaining voltage waa 254 volts rms Holding the cell's voltage between Vf and V the cell remained out when it was momentarily turned out and it would remain on when it was pulsed on by the addition of another R F voltage to the sustaining voltage Other features of the program not included in previous tutorial logics are AUhr laiiy U841J NPJUaui5iUAUUIU j diUa At present there are eight judgers and more are being written for future use 2 Recognition of specific wro answers for which special help may be given 3 Plotting of network functions with student parameter control As many as seven functions may be included in each lesson 4 The choice of one of eight logic branches for each control key on each page of the program Thus in lieu of the normal function of a key one of seven special functions may be chosen for each main page PLATO LEARNING AND TEACHING RESEARCH Text-Tester The TEXT-TESTER program was completed in January and tried out with a remedial arithmetic text developed at UICSM Nine students from Hays School worked for 4 weeks on this material at the PLATO student stations From this experience we have discovered a number of changes that need to be made in the TEXT-TESTER logic Also we have accumulated a considerable amount of r'ata stored on magnetic tape which will be useful in trying out the interpretation routines now being written A New PLATO Tutorial Logic A new PLATO tutorial logic has been written this quarter to allow greater flexibility and ease in the preparation of lesson material In addition to magnetic tape input of parameters the program allows the lesson writer to enter p i raineters from any PLATO student station wi- students are using the other stations Thus d an author has his lesson material desigzid sufficiev niadvance he need not waste computer time inpulti g and testing parameters Parameter input from Llic keybeL may also be stored directly on magnetic tape 5 The ability to give any particular student extra material under computer control If for example a student is progressing very rapidly the computer can choose to give the student extra work of greater difficulty 6 Provision for every student to be able to make comments at any point during the lesson EE 322 Circuit Analysis Eight Electrical Engineering students are taking the first University of Illinois course given for credit which uses the PLATO teaching system EE 323 Circuit Analysis The students have two lecwures in the classroom and two lessons using PLATO each week A new PLATO tutorial logic see previous section was written for the course An interesting feature of each PLATO lesson is the Comment option which allows a student to type comments on the lesson or course at any time The comments are recorded with the rest of the student's record and are retrieved after each lesson They are useful for improving subsequent lessons as well as being of value for the course revision to be carried out next summer Patient Account System jelirlso hdiral Colhlge JHospital Philadelphia lPentl nsylvha 1107 In April Jefferson Medical College Hospital announced that they were using an IBM 1401 computer system for automatically haidling patient accounts This system has been operating successfully since mid-February S39 The first benefit to patients is faster information They can now provide patients at the time of their departure with a more understandable and detailed bill reflecting all service performed while they were in the hospital This I wan largely impossible in the past because of computer room Here the patient's name and the volume of paperwork involved and the time required to handle it identuication data are led into thte computer which stores it on a magnetic disk A space is left behind the patient's name for additional information about his activities in the hospital A major problem facing hospitals today is the growing volume and complexity of paperwork in direct relationship to the advances in medical care This results in the complication of maintaining precise and up-to-date records on all patient accounts On an average day Jefferson must handle 3500 requests from a total list of 5000 services Last year for example they had 700 000 requests for laboratory examinations alone Maintaining accurate records for billing and for statistical purposes thus becomes a monumental but still routine job The patient also receives an identification badge Following the request for a service of some kind such as a laboratory or X-ray examination the nurse on his floor takes the badge and a card identifying the service and feeds this information into one of the transmitting devices This device relays the information to the computer room where the information is automatically punched into cards The cards are read into the computer which automatically prices the service enters the information behind the patient's name on the magnetic disk and updates statistics The unique part of the Jefferson installation is a network of 30 transmitting devices IBM 357 Data Collection Units positioned in nursing stations and other key areas throughout the hospital These allow for the instantaneous transmission of information from remote areas directly to the computer room Prior to dtscharge patients' bills are automatically prepared by the computer at a rate comparable to typing 24 double-spaced pages in 1 minute The complete detailed bill is presented to the patient at discharge When a Jefferson patient is admitted an admission form is prepared and sent to the Computing Center Unhieri•iy of Kentucky L•'xington Kentucky -10506 A Program of undergraduate courses designed for candidates for the bachelor's degree in computer science is offered at the University of Kentucky The courses were developed to provide the student with an understanding both of the structure of the computer and of the representation of the problem Basic courses are concerned with algorithmic descriptions of problem solutions the logical organization of computers and computer hardware machine language and symbolic instructions input and output subroutines interpretive routines assembly programs and macros the hierarchies of languages analog techniques and analog simulation on a digital computer list structure and processing techniques and the study of the total computer system including time-sharing and executive routines Computer science students will be able to do independent work on computer research problems approved by the department chairman and participate in a seminar which will discuss current research papers and advances in computer science More advanced courses will allow the student to study structure of information sets files arrays trees and lists types of records and their functions transferring of data from one file to another and sorting and merging files The facilities at the Computing Center include a 1620 with card input-output and a 1401 1410 and 7040 each equipped with card read punch magnetic tape and high speed printer Some experimenting is being done in teleproc- Other courses for the advanced student will cover definition and writing of compilers and essing time-sharing list processing and artificial intelligence 40 Computer-Aided-Instruetion LUtimrsity of Loui Wle Lo n o v Keotucky The University of Louisville engineering school is approaching final resolution of a new concept in engineering education utilizing an IBM computer and a closed-circuit television network will be changed Results of experiments will be flashed directly from the computer back to the classrooms via television One projected use of the new educational system is to program the computer to direct experiments by automatically changing temperatures mixtures pressure rates or liquid flows The Dean of the Speed Scientific School Engineering has announced thit preliminary testing of the teaching system is now under way It isS1965 It expected to be fully operational by fall 1 eof the uses for which the system is One othe designed is to allow engineering students to observe live the mechanics of testing their laboratory experiments on a computer and to permit immediate modification of input information The television network will also permit classroom and auditorium audiences to ohserve experiments being conducted in other courses at remote locations is claimed that the new system will be unique in engineering education Neither television nor the computer is particularly new in scientific education field The value in Louisville's system is the use of television to reults avaiable uik o manyvpeople in many peopoe in many locations Another possibility is instant testing of students Faculty members may want to know if students understand a specific topic they have just covered Questions could be answered by students punching cards Cards would then be processed by the computer scored and results returned by television If scores are generally poor teachers will know that students have not grasped the subject matter The computer being used in the Speed School's engineering education program is an IBM 1710 process control system The system automatically accepts analog signals representIng measurements of variables such as temperatures pressures flow rates product qualities loads and other information needed to determine optimum condition of operation or design sysSpecial feature of the Speed School's tem will be a cabling system whereby instruments and controls located in the laboratories will make it possible to signal measurements directly to the computer for immediate calculation and correlation Furthermore they will have the capability for modifying input information in order to observe how the final results It's even possible that daily quizzes of this type may replace some regular exams This means students would know how they are doing on a day-by-day basis The system will also be used to bring to students a wide variety of subject matter not now included In the Speed Scientific School curriculum The range of application depends only on the imagination of faculty and students Some of the future uses of the system cannot even be anticipated Time Sharing System Univerrily o Mirhigan Anni Arbor Atirhigan Computer productivity at The University of Michigan will be increased by a factor of six to eight times for thousands of campus users through the computer concept called timesharing taneously working many kinds of problems requiring many different computer functions The speed of operation is of such a magnitude that each user feels he has the full power of a large scale system at his disposal Furthermore machine reaction times are so fast that individual users don't even realize many other users may be on the system simultaneously Time-sharing is an operation in which a single computer system allocates slices of time measured in millionths of seconds on a rotating basis to many users who are simul-' 41 V The University announced In April that artrngements have boen made with International Business Machines Corp for the acquisition of a System 360 Model 66 First units of the system will be installed in November 1956 for the Initial time-sharing operation Additional equipment will be Installed In 1967 to create a dual system-in effect two computers which may operate together or independently engineering education led to wilespread domands for more computer usage by undergraduates This million dollar research and development effort was headed by Prof Donald L -ttz of the U-M Chemicwl and Metallurgical Engineering faculty During this project methods of teaching the use of computers to undergraduates were tested and developed and faculty members from both the U-M and many other campuses throughout the country were instructed in teaching methods Today students In 72 engineering courses at the University use computers for their ' omework This decision by the University was taken only after a campus-wide committee of key faculty members headed by Prof Donald Katz had reviewed the computer needs and requirements for Instruction in the years ahead Specifications for equipment to meet these requirements were then written by U-M Cornputing Center staff members and various eyetems were evaluated against these specificstions More than 2000 students in 133 different courses now require the use of a computer to complete their class assignments While this Is believed to be the highest number of students on any college campus requiring the use of a computer for routine studies the number is expected to increase dramatically with installation of the time-sharing hardware The IBM time-sharing system has the capacity to handle our present requirements and can be expanded to satisfy our foreseeable future needs First there is a small but fixed amount of time required to start the computation of any problem For small problems this overhead may exceed the time for the solution of the problem Itself In current systems this limitation may restrict the number and size of the problems that can be handled economically Two key developments in widespread cornputer usage at U-M were a result of research by Computing Center mathematicians notably Bruce W Arden Dr Bernard A Galler Franklin H Westervelt and Robert M Graham now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computation Center Secondly the diverse range as well as the large number of users puts demands on a systern which cannot be met by computers at a single geographic location On the other hand a proliferation of smaller machines throughout the campus would spread resources too thinly The first of these was the MAD Michigan Algorithm Decoder language This is a simple system for describing in language the computer can accept the problem to be solved and the steps the computer must take in solving it The language has few constraints on the user and can be quickly translated by the machine into its own particular set of instructions The simplicity of MAD was instrumental in facilitating computer usage by large numbers of students both undergraduate and graduate The time-sharing concept using remote terminals is ideally suited to solving both of these problems The geographical problems become non-existent because users at terminals can operate just as though they were at the control console of the computer Furthermore because of the flexibility of the system complex problems requiring large time segments for calculation can be worked on by the computer without interfering with smaller problems being worked simultaneously in other areas of the system The second major contribution was the Michigan Executive System a set of instructions stored within the computer to guide It in the selection and solution of problems Such a program is necessary to enable the computer to regulate itself in the storing and handling of large numbers of programs such as originate with students faculty and researchers MAD and supporting systems programs are being converted for use in time-sharing The IBM System 360 which operates in a conversational way with each terminal will instantly acknowledge data entry and check for clerical or logical errors For the student user this means he can immediately overcome the time consuming function of pinpointing Initial In addition a 3-year Ford Foundationsponsored project on the use of computers In errors in programming Hence overall problem solving times can be reduced from a matter of days or hours to only minutes or seconds 42 Al U' 'atiuuly resuits oi We immediate checking and multi-processhag capability will be a major reduction In overhead operations on the book at any time but with the advantage of automatically updating the Index as enh page is added the central cuniputer when it is performing unproductive housekeeping functions There is also an addidtonal advantage With many people sharing the machine there is a high probability that many are using the same program compiler--FORTRAN for example In the time-shared system It Is only necessary to have one copy of the program compiler stored in memory and shared by all Computing Center staff members have pointed out that there are two major requirements of a successful time-sharing system L Scipal 1 Modularity In order to permit growth in response to demand the system must be capable of accepting additional processors and uniformly addressable storage It is necessary for princomponents-processors storage and channels-to have multiple uniform Interfaces and that channel-processor connections be well defined in a multiprocessor system The special programming techniques and hardware are particularly important in timesharing operations because of the necessity of having any or all parts of a user's programs and data available for processing as his ' me sltice comes around 2 Address translation By use of an exclusive address translation feature in the System 360 Model 66 the user can write his program with a maximum of ease and flexibility A combination of hardware the use of a new assoclative memory technique and software transfers the burden of assigning and keeping track of physical addresses from the user to the cornputer With this feature physical addresses are not assigned until the moment of execution Furthermore they may change dynamically as the user's program progresses The user also has the ability now to visualize a virtual memory larger than the physical memory of the machine The address translation feature will even assign actual locations in this case Another advantage of the limitless memory technique is that it permits user programs to expand and contract in a flexible fashion without having to allocate a maximum amount of memory for each program By the end of 1967 The University of Michigan's System 360 Model 680 will include two central processing units and more than one million characters of core storage It will also have mass disk and drum storage as well as tape drives Terminals will include typewritertype machines visual display and graphic data display devices and real-time data acquisition systems A descriptive analogy for the advantages of virtual memory programming used in conjunction with the hardware-assisted translator Is that of a loose leaf notebook In the IBM time-sharing computer a page can be inserted anywhere in From the system the University expects more direct personal interaction between student and or faculty users and the computer Increased productivity for users and improved quality of output Two channel controllers will be used by the system to monitor priorities of data moving between the two central processing units and the storage devices The major considerations In selecting the IBM time-sharing system were reliability growth potential and flexibility-to partition to have two processing units work on the same problem or to work different kinds of problems at the same time Automated Laboratory Data Handling AMediral Center 1niverrily of 31kfiouri ulumba MkAliuri Automated laboratory data handling a computer application still in the dream or planning stage at most hospitals is a reality at the University of Missouri Medical Center In May officials of the School of Medicine demonstrated a computer based system that evaluates laboratory tests for accuracy and content auto- matically reports the results of these tests to the proper patient floor stores in an electronic memory all information contained on each of these tests and has the capability of making any part of this accumulated data instantly available for teaching statistical diagnostic and research purposes Key features of this advanced system 43 are IBM 1092 data transmission terminais io- viiuaible niew Wuis Ll cated in each of the hospital's five laboratories end a 1410 computer with vast direct access memory capabilities ing on the current students to generate ideas which will help set up the most effective pro cedures for future sAudents The 'case study' teaching technique presents students with a need to inquire into past experience with similar cases If the computer can reply to the student's question in 20 lines or less the answer comes back in seconds at the inquirer's terminal If the answer is longer it is printed out on the IBM 1403 printer in the data processing department This work is supported by a grant from the Bureau of State Services of the U S Public Health Service and is under the direction of Dr Donald A B Lindberg assistant professor of pathology and director of the Medical Center computer program 4ikhLiul UeY Axe duyvaj- The University Medical Center now has remote terminals functional in three of its five laboratories-chemistry hematology and bacteriology The remaining two labs clinical microscopy and serology are expected to be operational in the very near future Results of laboratory tests are recorded in the computer simply by pushing a few buttons on the 1092 terminals This causes a punched card containing all the pertinent information to be created in the data processing department At regular periods during the day these cards are entered into the computer which then subjects the tests to highly developed screening procedures The Center has built into the system a series of parameters to which each test is applied If the computer finds a test to be normal results are transmitted by printer to the proper patient floor to be included in the bed chart If however results are found to be The laboratory data handling system subJects information from newly-completed tests to highly critical screening procedures These involve factors such as age race and sex of patient previous patient diagnosis and relation of new test results to earlier ones accepted normal range of values relation to the frequency distribution of rebults at the Medical Center and 'abnormal or preposterous' they are subjected biological properties of bacteria and antibiotics to reviewing procedures which might even call for a rerun of the test or a visit to the patient Based on application of these limits to each test the 1410 computer then by the resident pathologist Dr Vernon E Wilson dean of the school of medicine said the system one of the first of its type and one of the most advanced in the world is significant because of its successful application in two broad areas First the Medical Center performs more than 500 000 laboratory tests each year an unusual number for a hospital this size The cornputer relieves the lab pathology directors of a tremendous amount of detail and pinpoints the patients whose problems require immediate action The system also frees valuable time of other medical technical and nursing personnel by speeding compilation transmission and receipt of data e Transmits each normal test resellt to one of nine printers located at nursing stations on patient floors This data is for inclusion on the patient's bed chart s Transmits tests that exceed limits to the patient fioors in the same manner but also lists them each evening on a computer print-out for review by a pathologist Transmits tests with highly abnormal dangerous or preposterous results directly to a reviewing station in the laboratory that made the test but NOT to the patient floor A resident pathologist checks each reviewing etation periodically and based on the data reported he can visit the patient and or order a test rerun He may erase the previous test information from the computer simply by pushing a few buttons Or tLe resident can approve release of the test result to the patient floor in which case it will be transmitted in the normal manner Secondly but equally important is the system's effectiveness in the area of education Doctors Donald Lindberg William D Mayer associate dean of the school of medicine and Fred V Lucas professor and chairman of pathology have received a $45 000 grant from the National Fund for Medical Education to study the use of computers in a medical student pathology teaching program An example of the type of test that would go back to hematology for immediate review would be one reporting a white blood cell count of 200 000 per cm indicating leukemia Normally the resident will order the test repeated on the same or a different sample unless he knows it is a valid result By training medical students in computer use now they hope to produce doctors who will be philosophically oriented toward applying these 44 If the computer had previously processed -t M %Cez-tIW AV which includes the names of diseases etiology fl SVUW4 AU3Vujl'u 1LIM Ou V11 for that patient the report would not be rejected but would automatically be transmitted as a routine tcct rcault Also stored in the computer are a radiology file cokntahtda Uhe phyeiclan's interpretation of each roentgengram since 1955 and an EKG file containing some 60 000 electrocardiograms coded by cardiologists according to 105 categories All cases at University Hospttal a 441-bed general hospital are referrals-often patients with difficult medical problems Consequently the patients may be seen by a large number of doctors who often must order an unusually large number of lab tests-about 5U0 000 each year The ability to keep the file of patient information constantly and automatically updated and readilyaspect accessible probably-communithe most Important of thisIscomputer Consequently the 'exception reporting' fea- tures of the IBM system relieve the institution's pathology laboratory directors of a tremendous burden of detail pinpoint the patients whose problems require immediate review and give the pathologists time to see them SIn addition a series of built-in accuracy checks plus the accuracy inherent in computer equipment provide more precise screening than in the past The system also speeds compilations transmission and receipt of data freeing the valuable time of other medical technical and nursing personnel cations system While computers have most frequently been applied to the support of medical research this program concerns itself with their use in medical practice and teaching APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM TO MEDICAL EDUCATION While computer systems have been successfully applied to a number of problems in medicine the proper use of these devices for teaching medicine is still under experiment A new and unusual attempt in computer teaching is tinder way at the Medical Center Here the computer is used mainly as a means of selective retrieval of information amonst the mass of facts about the symptoms and treatment of all patients seen at the institution Examples of the project's time-saving features are three daily summaries of the laboratory operation that are automatically prepared by the system They are The previously described listing of abnormal results a total recap of the daily work of the three labs now connected and a listing for each out-patient clinic of the results of laboratory tests for patients treated in that clinic In addition all lab data transmitted over the system are automatically added to a clinical laboratory file which is stored on magnetic tapes This includes e Patient discha rge diagnoses and surgical operations for all in-patients since the hospital was opened in 1955 and previous records for a former hospital This also includes county of residence hospital care days on each service and so on With the computer programs is is hoped that medical students can examine the history of medical care in their own Institution in order to deduce new and old medical principles In addition the system must help develop doctore who recugnize the potentialities of computers concept and can use this important new medical About 40 students half the class in second year pathology are participating in the project The courses in anatomic and clinical pathology are totally blended and taught by the case study technique Students are assigned to and study hospital patients whose diseases match those under study during a given week A surgical pathology diagnosis file contalning data on 50 000 tissue specimens e A tumor registry file containing patient numbers origin and diagnosis of tumors therapy and in some cases follow-up data for every patient with a neoplasm In the work-up of each case students perform the appropriate laboratory examinations This presents them with a real need and desire to inquire into past experience with similar patients and other laboratory procedures Formerly students could go to instructors or published literature for answers to questions Now under the new system he also has access to the patient care data and other medical information stored in the computer s Master reference file containing coded data on birth date race sex and blood type for every patient ever treated in the hospital a Data from the American Medical Association manual on Current Medical Terminology 45 Communication with the computer is pro- differential might be requested listing diseases vided for the student via an IBM 1014 remote ilnacated by the iesis wiih 6se zuuuL LI LAy inquiry terminal similar in appearance to an electric typewriter By keying in the name of the particular clinical program and specific test results the student gets back a wide variety of first handled In a more traditional manner by asking the student to write out the question in English on special forms batching the questions and then entering them in the computer via punched cards have learned to ask key questions in the right terminology information u• w• Among the problems now being xioolved lb that of teaching students how to r ommunicate In addition most questions can be with the computer To date all of the students Looking into the future the Medical Center envisioned several additional important applications For instance ultimately they hope to add the MEDLARS index of scientific and medical periodical literature as compiled by the National Library of Medicine If this information were in storage as the computer printed facts for a student it also could list all pertinent articles relating to the case For instance a student might call for a list of diagnoses of patients with similar test results number of cases studied and how his patient's results compare with norms Or he might ask for a list of patient numbers so he can obtain the records for study Or in another area a MAGIC Natijnad lui •au of tandadnrd It'rLshingt 11 D C' The Computer Technology Section of the National Bureau of Standards is currently engaged in an extensive program to develop advanced techniques for improving user communication with large ADP systems Applications of ADP systems such aa command and control design and mapping utilization of active files editing and information retrieval requires that data processing capabilities be made accessible to users who are essentially task-oriented rather than machine-oriented This in turn requires the development of simple effective techniques for achieving communication between the data processing system and the users proper balance between hardware and software functions The final design specifications of MAGIC evolved from a number of basic considerations such as memory type and organization display type and control word formats for the machine instruction and display data operator controls and system economics DISPLAY DATA ORGANIZATION Digital data required to drive a display generally exists in a serial list form with respect to time Therefore it would seem logical to generate manipulate and store display data with a processor having list processing abilities Display data within MAGIC consists of three lists the X coordinate field the Y coordinate field the the Z display characteristic field The X and Y coordinate data consists of 10 bits centered in the 12 bit display data word This allows an increase in display size by a factor of two without loss of coordinate data bits by utilizing list shift Instructions Display characteristics include intensity level alphanumeric character and character size and plot mode line dashed line and point A magnetic drum incorporated In the system provides general memory storag for use by the control processor and display memory storage for display data manipulation by the subordinate list proc essors ¶Ihe drum revolves at 1800 rpm providing a display refresh rate of 30 frames per sec This summary briefly describes a machine which has been developed within the Computer Technology Section as a research tool for the investigation of man-machine communication techniques This machine has Leen designated MAGIC Machine for Automatic Graphics Interface to a Cqmputer MAGIC combines largediameter cathode-ray displays with a specially designed programmable digital computer It is designed as a remote display station and is intended to be connected to a large ADP system via voice quality communication lines Extensive design effort has been devoted to removing from the ADP system the time-consuming and repetitive tasks of display regeneration and manipulation and to minimize the limitations introduced by the communication lines Particulax emphasis has been placed on establishing the 46 SYSTEM HARDWARE ORGANIZATION language instruction Is required for each list manioulatin The unlaus hardwara dmimi nf the subordinate list processors allows true list manipulations to be performed on the data in display memory There are two major hardware sections of the MAGIC system the display unit and the processor unit Ihe display unit consists of a primary and a secondary CRT display The operator uses the primary display and its associated controls to perform the majority of his communications with MAGIC The secondary display is used as a passive eiisplay device only For example The execution of an insert instruction will replaue the contents of a spedifled sector of a display memory channel with new data and automatically move the previous contentr of that sector and all following sectors down one sector to accommodate the Inserted data word This is a true list insertion The processor unit is subdivided into one control processor and four Identical suborinate list processors designated W X Y and Z The control processor contains all registers and control logic necessary for executing programs within the control processor and for controlling the subordinate list processors The subordinate list processors X Y$ and Z operate directly on the portion of memory from which the primary display operates Subordinate list processor W is considered part of the control processor and allows the control processor to perform list manipulations without disturbing the primary display OPERATION Two fundamental functions of MAGIC are the generation of display data and the manipulation of display data For these purposes the user has at his command a light pen a displayed cross-hair locator which may be positioned with the light pen manual switch controls for specifying display characteristics knd 83 internally programmed interrupt pushbuttons for executing desired display manipulations INSTRUCTIONS STATUS The instruction repertoire of MAGIC may be divided into two categories non-list instructions and list instructions Non-list instructions pertain primarily to the control processor The list instructions in MAGIC pertain to the subordinate processors These instructions may be subdivided into six categories of list manipulations insert delete shift addition scan and memoryto-memory block transfers Only one machine MAGIC was originated in August 1964 and became fully operational in Feburary 1965 It is currently being used to conduct experiments and perform demonstrations in order to better define the optimum characteristics for equipment of this type The development and programming of MAGIC has been supported by the National Bureau of Standards and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 47