Wikipedia

Experimental SAGE Subsector

For the subsequent computer system with different peripherals and IBM'sKingstonXD-2 computer; and for the late 1960s system for discerning incoming ICBM warheads, seeAN/FSQ-7andLe xing ton Discrimination System.

TheExperimentalSemi-Automatic Ground Environment(SAGE) Sector(ESS,Experimental SAGE Subsector[1]until planned Sectors/Subsectors were renamed NORAD Regions, Divisions, and Sectors)[2]was a prototypeCold WarAir Defense Sectorfor developing theSemi Automatic Ground Environment.TheLincoln Laboratorycontrol center in a new building[3]was atLe xing ton, Massachusetts.

ESS Computer System

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The network's Direction Center was completed in a new 1954 building[3](Building F,[4]42°27′37″N071°16′04″W/ 42.46028°N 71.26778°W/42.46028; -71.26778[5]) with prototype peripherals and a singleIBMXD-1computer,[6]a successor to Lincoln Lab'sWhirlwind Icomputer (WWI).[7]In 1955, Air Force personnel began IBM training at theKingston, New York,prototype facility,[8]and the "4620th Air Defense Wing(experimental SAGE) was established[when?]at Lincoln Laboratory "—its" primary mission was computer programming ".[9]

ESS had a capacity of 48 tracks and used a pre-SAGE ground environment in a "prototype intercept monitor room [at] MIT's Barta building" with "track situation displays, which geographically showed Air Defense Identification Zone lines and antiaircraft circles [and] each console also had a 5-inch CRT for digital information display. Audible alert signals were used, with a different signal for each symbol on a situation display."[10]

Radar stations

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Initial service test models of theBurroughs AN/FST-2 Coordinate Data Transmitting Setwere placed with radars atSouth TruroandWest Bath, Maine;followed byTexas Tower#2(TT2) in theAtlantic Ocean,which provided a "triangular pattern with overlap" radar coverage[11](TT2 later had a connection from the XD-1 via theGE G/A Data Link Output SubsystemthroughNorth Truro Air Force Station.)[12]By August 1955, 13 radar stations were networked by the subsector,[10]e.g.:

Required by 21 November 1955 were 44 consoles: 38 for the operations floor, 3 on the computer floor for display maintenance, and 3 near the maintenance console (program checkout).[23]WWI was connected to the Experimental SAGE Subsector to verify crosstelling (collateral communication) with the ESS DC, and WWI was also used for a Ground-to-Air (G/A) experiment using a transmitter of theGE G/A Data Link Output SubsystemonProspect Hill, Waltham, MAsending data to simulated airborne equipment at Le xing ton.[12]Transmissions from theWWI SAGE Evaluation(WISE) computer system[3]to XD-1 and back were without error by December 1955[3]when operational software specifications were frozen.[24]Operating procedures for the ESS external sites were complete in March 1956,[25]and

System Operation Testing

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From November 15, 1955, to November 7, 1956, three System Operation Tests were conducted[10]which used voice "Ground-to-Air" communication from the Barta control room to aircraft outfitted with SAGE receivers[26](F-86 interceptors modified to F-86L models in "Project FOLLOW-ON".)[27]Test teams included employees ofBell Telephone Laboratories,Western Electric-ADES,IBM,theRAND Corporation,and Lincoln Labs' Division 6, Division 3, & Division 2[4](Division 6 had been created for ESS support.)[28]

The North Truro P-10 AN/FST-2 was moved toAlmaden Air Force Station(M-96)c. 1957-8[27]and on August 7, 1958, control of an airborneBOMARC missilethat had malfunctioned transferred from the "Experimental SAGE Sector" to aWestinghouse AN/GPA-35 Ground Environmentsystem[where?]and the missile crashed into theAtlantic Ocean.[29]By December 31, 1958, ADC Manual 55-28 described the Model 3 SAGE System.[30]

External images
Military operators at ESS consoles
""Prototype intercept monitor room in the SAGE direction center in MIT's Barta building."[dated February 19, 1955 at archive[dot]today[slash]tPdY2]

1959 Experimental Testing

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"To prove out the revised SAGE computer program" forAutomatic Targeting and Battery EvaluationandADDC-AADCPcrosstelling, a "SAGE/Missile Master"test was conducted beginning in September 1959 with communications between the ESS XD-1 andMartin AN/FSG-1 Antiaircraft Defense Systemequipment atFort Banks[31]planned for theCONAD Joint Control Center at Fort Heath[32]—a "SAGE ATABE Simulation Study" (SASS) was also completed 1959–60 byMITRE Corporation.[33]

References

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  1. ^"Data Reliability of Three Bell A1 Magnetic Tape Recording Systems".Defense Technical Information Center. Archived fromthe originalon January 3, 2015.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  2. ^North American Air Defense Command Historical Summary(Report).[specify]
  3. ^abcdWildes, Karl L.; Lindgren, Nilo A. (1986) [1985].A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882-1982.MIT Press. p.299.ISBN9780262231190.Retrieved2014-08-07.The first experimental subsector was a square approximately 400 nautical miles on a side and centered at Sourh Truro, Massachusetts. A new building was constructed at Lincoln Laboratory to house the XD-1 computer [which] was received from IBM in January
  4. ^abRedmond, Kent C; Smith, Thomas Malcom (2000).From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of The SAGE Air Defense Computer(Google Books).MIT Press.ISBN9780262264266.Retrieved2013-05-02.in Poughkeepsie…IBM engineers ran through a final series of tests before dismantling the XD-1 for shipment… Division 6 engineers began to ready the XD-1 for…the Experimental SAGE Subsector… eight subsystems [were] input or output channels to the XD-1.14…preliminary testing of ESS subsystems into which the pieces of equipment were integrated… gap-filler inputs, long-range radar inputs, height-finder inputs, ground-to-air outputs, automatic teletype outputs, crosstelling, ground-to air voice radio, and wire communications.…test teams were composed of individuals from Division 6, Division 3, Division 2, Bell Labs, Western Electric-ADES, IBM, and the RAND Corporation…17…a small-scale air defense system, Whirlwind I SAGE Evaluation (WISE)…much simpler than the 1954 Cape Cod System… WISE will be modified for crosstelling to XD-1.21
  5. ^"Display site".radomes.org.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  6. ^"Introduction".Ed-Thelen.org.(p. 7)
  7. ^"Vigilance and Vacuum Tubes: The SAGE System 1956-63"(SAGE Talk Transcript).Ed-Thelen.org. 1998.Retrieved2013-02-16.the Whirlwind computer, which was a digital version of theASCA,was about five million dollars, in 1950's [sic] dollars… For the 1949 fiscal year, MIT requested 1.5 million dollars for the Whirlwind project.… one [SAGE computer] was at Lincoln Lab,…the XD-1, and the other one was at Kingston, the XD-2. So we used both those sites for development.… The XD-1 was a simplex system…not duplex… the original vacuum-tube computers—the last one was finally taken down in 1983, still operating.… IBM got…about 500 million dollars…to build the 56 computers.
  8. ^Edwards, Benj (January 24, 2013)."…World's First Computer Art…".The Atlantic.Retrieved2013-02-16.
  9. ^Schaffel, Kenneth (1991).Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960(45MBpdf).General Histories(Report).Office of Air Force History.p.283 (pdf).ISBN0-912799-60-9.Retrieved2011-09-26.
  10. ^abc"MIT Lincoln Laboratory: History: Cape Cod SAGE Prototype (Continued)".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-11.Retrieved2014-08-09.
  11. ^https://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/40551/MC665_r15_M-3832.pdf?sequence=1|quote=ADES JPO initial Burroughs service test models of FST-2…would be placed at South Truro and Bath, respectively, in order to have an operational experimental subsector containing two heavy radars by 1 April 1956 [and] the third FST-2 on Texas Tower #2 [for] a triangular pattern providing overlap. XD-1 display system External Environment of XD-1…XD-1 Direction Center
  12. ^abBiweekly Report For Period Ending 23 March 1956(synopsis (MC665_r14_6M-3797.pdf))(Report).Lincoln LaboratoryDivision 6.Retrieved2014-08-02.
  13. ^"Display site".radomes.org.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  14. ^"Pinetree Line Miscellaneous - Radar Equipment".67.69.104.76:84. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-08-15.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  15. ^"Download Mozilla Firefox Optimized for Yahoo".northamericanforts.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  16. ^"Download Mozilla Firefox Optimized for Yahoo".northamericanforts.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  17. ^[1](see alsoRadomes.org listing for West Bath
  18. ^"Recent photos of Scituate (MA) Experimental SAGE Subsector (ESS) Radar Site".radomes.org.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  19. ^"MITRE Radar Test Sites South Truro, Cape Cod, MA; Jug Handle Hill, West Bath, ME; Montauk LI, NY".radomes.org.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  20. ^"West Bath MITRE AN/FPS-31 Radar Test Site".wikimapia.org.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  21. ^"MIT Lincoln Laboratory: History: SAGE Radars (part 3)".ll.mit.edu. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-03-12.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  22. ^"Bath Independent, May 10, 1956".newspaperarchive. 10 May 1956.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  23. ^.dome.mit.eduhttp://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/40520/MC665_r15_M-3857.pdf?sequence=1.Retrieved2015-05-18.{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)
  24. ^Johnson, Stephen B.The United States Air Force and the culture of innovation 1945-1965(Google Books).Air Force History Support Office. p. 159.ISBN9781428990272.
  25. ^Memorandum 6M-4071 "Requirements for Operating Procedures for External Sites in the Experimental SAGE Subsector (ESS)" by M. DiCarlo-Cottone. (cited by Lincoln memo 6M-3797)
  26. ^From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of the SAGE Air Defense Computer.MIT Press. 2000-10-10. p. 374.ISBN9780262264266.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  27. ^abCite NORAD Historical Summary |year=1956-7 |quote=Project FOLLOW-ON provided the third improved model -the F-86L --which was an F-86D with modernized electronic gear and wings with slatted leading edges.… Project FOLLOW-ON was to make the F-86D compatible with the new [pre-SAGE]AN/GPA-37.…Eleven squadrons were meeting Project FOLLOW-ON schedules by 30 June 1957.
  28. ^Stephen B. Johnson.The United States Air Force and the culture of innovation 1945-1965.DIANE Publishing. p. 151.ISBN9781428990272.Retrieved2015-05-18.
  29. ^McMullen, R. F. (15 Feb 1980). History of Air Defense Weapons 1946–1962 (Report). Vol. ADC Historical Study No. 14. Historical Division, Office of information, HQ ADC. p. 312.
  30. ^http:// airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/461/733.xml|quote=SAGE SYSTEM DESCRIPTION, MODEL 3, ADCM 55-28 COMPLETED AND PUBLISHED
  31. ^Cite NORAD Historical Summary |year=1958 |period=July–December
  32. ^lst Ind, (ADC to CONAD, "Site Adaptation Plans for CONAD Joint Direction Centers," 22 Oct 1957), CINCNORAD to C/S USAF, 1 Nov 1957 [cited by the NORAD Historical Summary for 1957 July–December)
  33. ^.deepblue.lib.umich.eduhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/4298/bab9742.0001.001.pdf?sequence=5.Retrieved2015-05-18.{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)
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