RCP Engineer Vol. 26 No. 1 July/Aug. 1980 Reproduced for educational purposes only. Fair Use relied upn Cover Design: Louise Carr alma]Engineer RCA Engineer A technical journal published by RCA Research and Engineering Bldg. 204-2 Cherry Hill, NJ 08358 TACNET: 222-4254 (609-338-4254) RCA Engineer Staff Tom King Editor Mike Sweeny Associate Editor Louise Carr Art Editor Frank Strobl Contributing Editor Betty Gutchigian Composition Dorothy Berry Editorial Secretary Editorial Advisory Board Pete Bingham Division Vice -President, Engineering, Consumer Electronics Division Jay Brandinger Division Vice -President, "SelectaVision" VideoDisc Operations John Christopher Vice -President, Technical Operations, RCA Americom Bill Hartzell Division Vice -President, Engineering, Picture Tube Division Twenty -Five Years of the RCA Engineer Jim Hepburn Vice -President, Advanced Programs, RCA Globcom A twenty-fifth anniversary may be called "silver" because it Hans Jenny prompts reflections-on past, present and future. Old Manager, Engineering Information tickets, photos, letters and other vaguely remembered Arch Luther Division Vice -President, Engineering, Commercial Communications things gathered over the years hold rich networks of Systems Division meaning. On silver anniversaries, people exchange these Howie Rosenthal Staff Vice -President, Engineering things as gifts. And there's faith that the intangible, Ed Troy Director, Operations Planning and accumulated foundations will support mature but con- Support, Solid State Division tinually renewed future growth. Bill Underwood Director, Engineering Our cover is our gift -a photo album to RCA engineers Professional Programs who have literally been the inside story behind twenty-five Joe Volpe Director, Product Operations, years of Engineer covers. You've used the medium for the Missile and Surface Radar exchange of discoveries, problems, solutions and goals. Bill Webster Vice -President, Laboratories This special issue is certainly no exception. In his cover message, Bill Hittinger espouses broad - Consulting Editors based personal renewal, both on the job and off it. We honor the David Sarnoff Award Winners for their excellence on the Ed Burke Administrator, Marketing job and contributions to the growth of the company (page Information and Communications, 4). In this issue, Bill Webster looks back at David Sarnoff's Government Systems Division predictions (circa 1955) for the future, then looks ahead to a Walt Dennen Director, Public Affairs, Solid State Division few of his own (page 8). Ralph Engstrom has gone back in time and traced RCA's engineering evolution. He's read or Charlie Foster Manager, Systems and Procedures scanned over 2500 articles in helping to prepare the twenty- John Phillips Manager, Proposals and Publicity, five year index to articles in the Engineer now at a library Automated Systems near you (pages 7, 38). And authors throughout the company profile multidisciplinary efforts going on in our To disseminate to RCA engineers technical information of professional value To divisions (pages 10-56). Finally, we feature contributions publish in an appropriate manner important technical developments at RCA. and the role from the "non -electronic" businesses (pages 57-68). of the engineer To serve as a medium of interchange of technical information between Your work is important. You talk about it all day long. The various groups at RCA To create a community of engineering interest within the company by stressing the interrelated nature of all technical contributions To help Engineer helps you to present your work to a wide publicize engineering achievements in a manner that will promote the interests and audience. You can promote personal and professional reputation of RCA in the engineering field To provide a convenient means by which the RCA engineer may review his professional work before associates and engineering growth. It's a good feeling - like gift giving. We welcome management To announce outstanding and unusual achievements of RCA engineers your articles and ideas. After all, they make the future shine. in a manner most likely to enhance their prestige and professional status. Our technological tradition and promise Anniversaries tend to be delightful opportunities for pausing in our daily pursu is to look back, take stock and speculate about the future. This 25th Anniversary Issue contains all these elements in full measure. It should be a pleasant reading experience. In taking stock of RCA engineering, we realize the impressive scope of our technical effo-ts. We ercompass a wide range of professional disciplines. Our businesses and markets are inter- national. Because of this variety, an RCA career in engineering holds exciting prospects with opportunities to participate in William C. Milliner interesting work. Today, our profession is critically important to an effort that greatly concerns our nation - maintaining healthy technology through innovation. More people than ever unders-.and that raising our standard of living to match our expectations largely depends on our ability to successfully advance our technologies. A growing ccncern is that we as a nation are losing our technologica leadership and our traditional productivity advan- tage to othe-s. RCA is not a loser in these important areas. We have renewed our dedication to technical excellence-our results reflect it. Our investment in research, development and product engineering is higher than ever. We are stating a theme of technological dedication as a "tradition on the move" by displaying examples of our work in many widely rear journals. Most importantly, the quality of our products and their acceptance in the marketplace speak eloquently of this dedication. Members of the RCA engineering community must be worthy stewards of our corporate investment. Our greatest single devotion must be to professionalism that in large measure requires technological currentness. On a wider scale, we need to renew ourselves in pursuing excel ence in a wor d of change. What better way can we achieve this excellence than to actively read and contribute to the Engineer, a publication "by and for the RCA engineer." This Anniversary issue reminds us all of off technological tradition and our opportunit es for a promising future. William C. Hittinger Executive Vice President Research and Engineering Chairman of the Boasd and Chief Executive Officer The Diversity of RCA's Businesses Corporate Staff 10, 74 RCA's Electronics Businesses Laborstofies 9, 19 Executive Executive Executive Vice President Vice President Vice President Group Group Vice President Vice President 42 57 Commercial Communications C.I.T. Financial 1E11 -Ell. Systems Division C.I.T. s Distributor IL FInan0181 Special Products Broadcast Executive The Executive Vice Systems Vice President President will assume (Mtg. IMv.) Division overall responsibility for the C.I.T. Financial Cor- poration manufacturing businesses. Picture Tube Banquet Division Foods 19 Mobile Communications Oriel Foods Systeme Group Avionics Coronet Systems Industries Government Gibson Records Greeting Cards Systems Division Division 27 in this issue... 42 page numbers to the right of Automated the blocks in the organization Systems chart indicate the wide range of businesses that contributed Missile & Surface articles... Racier authors, ed reps, TPAs and Governmen engineers throughout the Com m u nications RCA organization called on Systems their resources to make this a C3nsumer Electronics highly diverse and truly Division special anniversary issue... 17 "Selectalfitdon- VideoDisc in future issues... Operations large scale integration, Solid State Division communications trends, human aspects of engineering mcBaiEngineer Vo 26INo. 1 JulylAug. 80 present, past 4 The 1980 David Sarnoff Awards for Outstanding and future Technical Achievement 7 RCA Engineering evolution R.W. Engstrom 8 Twenty-five years from now W.M. Webster 10 Technical excellence programs support engineers' viability H.K. Jenny multidisciplinary 17 Focal point for the eighties engineering efforts E. Lemke 19 The Technology Transfer Laboratory-the vital link for picture tubes B.F. WilliamsIM.A. LeedomlF. Van HekkenIJ.J. Moscony R.W. ShislerlL.E. Potter 27 Advancement and management of technology for Government systems D.C. Latham 35 Engineering challenges in communications systems A.C. Lather RCA electronic 37 RCA Solid State in Europe businesses W.A. Glaser 42 The RCA Americom satelite communications system J. ChristopherIJ.E. Keigler 50 RCA Service Company: a review R.W. Alnutt RCA non -electronic 57 Hertz car rental management systems and services businesses B.G. CurryIM. EdelsteinIM. MelnykIP.L. WilliamsIJ.M. Parks T.G. HammettIW.E. Sumner 65 Engineering the carpet business H.L. Clement general interest 69 Bringing radio to the rural home G.F. Rogers 74 Editorial: Voice your ideas T.E. King departments 76 Patents 77 Pen and Podium 80 News and Highlights Copyright © 1980 RCA Corporation All rights reserved t,' 11.1 lid k COOVIW10 IN iZICOGNI1"0 The 1980 David Sarnoff Awards for .lit[AND! .I Outstanding Technical Achievement RCA's highest technical honors have been announced for 1980. Each award consists of a gold medal and bronze replica, a framed citation and a cash prize. R. NotoA.M. Smith Advanced Technology Laboratories, Government Systems Division, Camden, N.J. For outstanding technical contribution in the development and application of automateddesigntechniquesforthegenerationof COS/MOS and CMOS/SOS LSI devices.