Some Sign I Ficant New Applications of Computers
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SOME SIGN IFICANT NEW APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS Mathematical Models of Air Traffic Control Systems Management and Control By Exception Automated Information Processing Assistance For Military Systems (Part 1 ) NOVEMBER 1961 • VOL. 10 - . NO. 11 ."I•• H( AD "W INFINITUM 8y~ ord t. :l all You can solve your computer problems quickly and economically by using our 32K-word storage IBM 704. the our Whether you need long or short runs, they can be readily scheduled on our machine at the same attractive dat rate for every shift-$275 per hour, including all peripheral equipment and the services of our experienced tod operators - Bring your program to us and work in our Client's Room between runs-or mail us your program "8: 8Yf with instructions for running it and we will mail back the printout within 24 hours - or simply leave your rep entire problem in the hands of our capable mathematical analysts and programmers whose skills can be relied upon _ If you need pipe stress, structural stress, flow analysis, or curve fitting, one of our 2eneral programs might well be just what you are looking for - To take advantage of our prompt, efficient computer NC services, call us collect, New London, Conn., Hilltop 5-4321, Ext. 1449. Wire or write: Electric Boat, Groton, Conn. GENERAL DVNAMIC~,.I ELECTRIC BOAT GI I I D COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for November, 1961 co ncr, Vest lrp., sing staI, . Y. ally, An am [nc., om- lCOll lrp., ling ,Ito, ich. cir- eIcI, 'A alII, 30S ical ate, 30s star Ol esty rep. e / :ter, rp., sys- ng '. / een lng, icaI Philco 2000 Computers lta- ... unmatched for speed, capacity and reliability Matrix inversion provides a good measure of computer Urepeat" instruction, which eliminates Hhousekeeping" speed for scientific applications. The time a computer in the inner loop; variety of instructions (59 floating ing ,; requires to solve problems of this type is significant be point commands); and numerous index registers. What's ) / 'I cause they occur in so many different applications and more, because of the 48-bit word length, the matrix in t. because of the magnitude of the computations involved. version sub-routine provides high precision and occupies rk, For example, to invert a matrix of order 100 involves 1 only 109 words of memory! million multiplications and 1 million additions. So, check the times on the chart~you'll see that you age . Phil co 2000 Electronic Data Processing Systems can can get things done faster • • • you'll accomplish more perform matrix inversion in the times shown in the chart with one of the Philco 2000 series of computers ... com l/ because of their extremely fast arithmetic speeds; puters with the fastest over-all system speeds. ter PH I LCO 2000 ••• the computers that changed the industry. / PHILCO CORPORATION. GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRIAL GROUP COMPUTER DIVISION, 3900 WELSH ROAD, WILLOW GROVE, PA. 49 ;/ 16, Challenging positions exist at Philco for Senior Computer Specialists 961 VISIT PHILCO'S. BOOTH 56 AT THE E.J.C.C. 2,99 p pl CUM u T h R s Y n: 2,99 and AUTOMATION N / 2,99 / COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSORS, AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION, m 2,99 APPLICATIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS, INCLUDING AUTOMATION M / cl Volume 10 Established <ll Number 11 NOVEMBER, 1961 1951 .' 2,99 September, C fc gl 2,99 1\1 EDMUND C. BERKELEY Editor Some Significant New Applications PATRICK J. McGOVERN Assistant Editor <ll 2,99 NEIL D. MACDONALD Assistant Editor of Computers 17 o MOSES M. BERLIN Assistant Editor o Ie CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ANDREW D. BOOTH FRONT COVER 2,9S NED CHAPIN C Computer Control of 34 Generating Units III 9 Plants 1, 6 II JOHN W. CARR, III ci ALSTON S. HOUSEHOLDER 2,9£ ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK a ADVISORY COMMITTEE ]'. News of Computers and Data Processors. 25 / MORTON M. ASTRAHAN 2,9~ HOWARD T. ENGSTROM ARTICLES si GEORGE E. FORSYTHE ]'. RICHARD W. HAMMING Ma them a tical Models of Air Traffic Control Systems, 2,9~ p ALSTON S. HOUSEHOLDER PETER KUGEL . 10 ]'. HERBERT F. MITCHELL, JR. Management and Control by Exception, OWEN SMITH 37 SALES AND SERVICE DIRECTOR Automated Information-Processing Assistance For Mili 2,9~ S PA TRICK J. McGOVERN tary Systems, Part 1, M. O. KAPPLER. 42 1 815 Washington St. il Newtonville 60, Mass. 2,9! READERS' AND EDITOR'S FORUM / DEcatur 2-5453 g Professor Howard Aiken . 6 r, ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Continuing Discussion of Social Responsibilities of Com 2,9! I Los Angeles 5 WENTWORTH F. GREEN puter People: Counterbalancing Efforts, MILTON H. 1\ 439 So. Western Ave. DUnkirk 7-8135 ARONSON and THE EDITOR 6 P San Francisco 5 A. S. BABCOCK l' 605 Market St. YUkon 2-3954 Comments on «The Dehumanizing Effects of the Com 2,9! puter," H. R. J. GROSCH and THE EDITOR. 8 g Elsewhere PATRICK J. MCGOVERN C 815 Washington St. DEcatur 2-5453 Calendar of Coming Events. 15 cl Newtonville 60, Mass. 2,9! REFERENCE INFORMATION a C Who's Who in the Computer Field (Supplement) C COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION is published monthly at 45 2,9! 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass., by Berkeley Enter New Patents, RAYMOND R. SKOLNICK 48 prises, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. l' SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, $15.00 for 1 year, , , $29.00 for 2 years, including the June Directory issue; Canada, INDEX OF NOTICES 2,9! add 50c a year for postage; foreign, add $1. 5° a year for post age. Address all Editorial and Subscription Mail to Berkeley g Advertising Index 50 I Enterprises, Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER at the Post Office Computer Directory and Buyers' Guide · see Oct." page 31 at Boston, Mass. Glossary of Computer Terms. 50 2,9! POSTMASTER: Please send all Forms 3579 to Berkeley Enter prises, Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. Manuscripts · see Oct., page 30 Copyright, 1961, by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc. Reference and Survey Information · see Oct., page 31 2,9' CHANGE of ADDRESS: If your address changes, please send us I both your new address and your old address (as it appears on. the Statement of Ownership and Management. 16 ] magazine address imprint), and allow three weeks for the change to be made. Who's Who Entry Form . 39 4 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for November, 1961 CC ige, :on, line tag- :lel- Jew ers. del- Jew ead leo :les, ills, :les, oga Los " sys- .,' Ku, hin I lku, cir- and yra- I Jew ., loy- ,en, lag- ~ad- / ory Y. A [ill, Jew ar- len, lag- TO THE ENGINEER ing, alos Irp., lata who wants to make ~en·· the most of his etchings c)[k. lion em- If your printed circuit board designs involve best features. Contact reliability exceeding 200 lne, switching, you can count on getting the best million op.erations can be expected. md- I A r, results by using AE Class E relays with Automatic Electric also supplies Class E re . direct-connect terminals. lon, lays with Taper-Tab terminals, and prewired for plug-in, with 8- to 20-prong octal plugs, JUp Series EQPC relays, with end-mounted An with or without hermetically sealed contain printed circuit lugs, occupy a minimum of ers or dust-tight housings. eep- board space, and furnish dramatic savings ork, in assembly and wiring time. Want details? Just write the Director, Con ,wn, trol Equipment Sales, Automatic Electric, l. / The AE Series EQPC printed circuit relay is a Northlake, Illinois. Also ask for Circular [)rd, AE miniaturized version of the premium - quality 1702-E on Relays for Industry, and the new ige, Class B telephone-type relay, with many of its Conver.c;ion Factors booklet. An CAN and DO AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC Subsidiary of ut :ash GENERAL TELEPHONE & ELECTRONICS ded 961 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for November, 1961 Vi pt Rog '3' Sylv: Readers' and Editor's Forum Sy M Bre(] FRONT COVER: COMPUTER CONTROL OF 34 I am sure I do not have to tell this audience of the M GENERATING UNITS IN 9 PLANTS ever-increasing importance of computers in almost pI every facet of our complex civilization. But I detect, Cha' The fron t cover shows a console in the Philadelphia '3~ Electric Company's dispatching office, where the firm's or think I detect, one development which is interesting Hall power director supervises operation of a computer and, to me, entertaining. I happen to be a Trustee of / control system. The "heart" of the system is a digital The MITRE Corporation, which was formed as a Pcm / computer that tells 34 generating units in nine plants spin-off of MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, to back-stop the pr how much of the company's total electric requirements Air Force in developing the SAGE system. Sidle each is to produce for most economical operation. The Both in its original SAGE work and its present Sc principal assignment of designing command and con ad compu ter-directed system is a joint development of Ul Minneapolis-Honeywell and Philadelphia Electric. For trol systems, computers playa very important part in SpaI more information, see the story on page 17. MITRE's operations. (I still do not understand how '3( the modern computers work-incidentally, I have found that they don't always work-but I have noticed PROFESSOR HOWARD AIKEN that those who work with computers a lot seem to Coho In the summer of 1961, Professor Howard Aiken, regard them as having a personality-like a ship, only tel Head of the Computation Laboratory, Harvard Univ., more so.) Al T( Cambridge, Mass., became professor emeritus.