SAGE Sector Control Room. The screen shows the US eastern seaboard from the extreme west end of Nova Scotia in the upper right, to Philadelphia in the lower left. Cape Cod is centered, and two "targets" are being tracked offshore. SAGE, the Semi Automatic Ground Environment, was an automated control system used by NORAD for collecting, tracking and intercepting enemy bomber aircraft from the late 1950s into the 1980s. In later versions, the system could automatically direct aircraft to an interception by sending commands directly to the aircraft's autopilot. Download high resolution version (486x626, 152 KB)SAGE Control Room. ...
Download high resolution version (486x626, 152 KB)SAGE Control Room. ...
NORAD Headquarters Building. ...
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ...
This does not cite any references or sources. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. ...
By the time it was fully operational the Soviet bomber threat had been replaced by the Soviet missile threat, for which SAGE was entirely inadequate. Nevertheless, SAGE was tremendously important; it led to huge advances in online systems and interactive computing, real-time computing, and data communications using modems. It is generally considered to be one of the most advanced and successful large computer systems ever developed. Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ...
In computer science, interactive computing refers to software which accepts input from humans -- for example, data or commands. ...
Realtime redirects here. ...
A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ...
IBM's role in SAGE (the design and manufacture of the AN/FSQ-7 computer, a vacuum tube computer with ferrite core memory based on the never-built Whirlwind II) was an important factor leading to IBM's domination of the computer industry. IBM redirects here. ...
The AN/FSQ-7 (aka Whirlwind II) intercept computer, developed by Cambridge Research Laboratory and IBM in partnership with the US Air Force, was, as its alias suggests, a modified Whirlwind computer. ...
Ferrite may refer to: Ferrite (magnet)s (e. ...
A 16×16 cm area core memory plane of 128×128 bits, i. ...
The Whirlwind computer was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ...
Background Prior to the introduction of SAGE, the task of intercepting bombers was becoming increasingly difficult. This was the latest shift in a balance of power that had been see-sawing since the 1930s.
During the leadup to World War II it was widely believed that the bomber was essentially immune, at least in any practical sense. As speeds approached 200 mph the time between seeing the bomber and it reaching its targets was growing so short that there was no time for interceptor aircraft to climb to altitude. Once the bombs were released the multi-engine bombers often had a performance advantage over the fighters, allowing them to escape with relative ease. The only apparent solution to this problem would be to keep fighters in the air on-station at all times, a practical impossibility due to the short flight times of contemporary fighters. Thousands of fighters would be needed to keep enough of them in the air at any one time to defend against a raid of perhaps a hundred bombers. Most believed "the bomber will always get through". Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
The MiG-25 is a Russian interceptor that was the mainstay of the Soviet air defence. ...
The introduction of radar seriously upset this equation. Radar gave just enough warning time for fighters to "scramble" and be at the bomber's altitude by the time they arrived. In modern terms radar is a "force multiplier", allowing a small number of fighters to handle the task that would otherwise require many more aircraft. Speeds of the aircraft of the era were such that the rest of the task of intercepting the bombers could be carried out by hand. The RAF, for instance, used a large map with markers representing various radar contacts, with controllers relaying positions and directions to the aircraft by radio. This long range radar antenna, known as ALTAIR, is used to detect and track space objects in conjunction with ABM testing at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll. ...
A force multiplier is a military term referring to a factor that dramatically increases (hence multiplies) the combat effectiveness of a military force. ...
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...
In the post-war era, the speed of the new jet-powered aircraft increased by a factor of two to three, similarly decreasing the available effective response time. In a general sense this should not have cause a problem; although the bombers were approaching much faster and gave less warning time, the fighters intercepting them were also much faster and could climb to altitude in minutes. But it was all of the other tasks that caused the problem. This included collecting information about the targets from the radar sites, figuring out where they were going (developing a track), and then guiding the fighters to intercept them. A study in the 1950s by the RCAF concluded that it would take on the order of one minute per interception. With flight times on the order of an hour by several hundred aircraft, some were bound to escape interception due to operator overload. The balance shifted toward the attackers again. With nuclear bombs onboard, this was unacceptable. The RCAF Roundel is based on that of the British Royal Air Force with a maple leaf, a symbol of Canada in the centre. ...
The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...
The problem became even more acute if the bombers attacked at low level. Radar is line-of-sight, so by approaching close to the ground they would remain hidden behind the curvature of the Earth until approaching to within a few tens of miles. With a jet bomber this meant the defenders had only a few minutes to react, far too little time to launch an interceptor, let alone guide it to an intercept.
History It was this problem that particularly bothered Dr. George Valley, an MIT physics professor. In order to provide any sort of protection for the entire US, a series of radar stations would have to span both coasts and across Canada. In the event of a raid, there would simply be far too many reports to be able to successfully guide interception. His solution was automation, connecting all of the radar sites to a computer which would then control all of the incoming and outgoing flow of information. The interception operator's workload would be greatly reduced; they simply had to tell the computer which targets to attack, and perhaps choose what assets to use. All of the communications would be handled by the computer, and would be effectively instantaneous. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
This would require the system to update the operators in real time, and the only system in the world capable of doing this in 1948 when Valley studied the problem was the Project Whirlwind computer at MIT. The Whirlwind project, originally intended to control a US Navy flight simulator to train bomber crews, had run into problems and the Navy was losing interest. Valley talked to Jay Forrester, leader of the Whirlwind project, and together they wrote a study proposal to use Whirlwind for air defense. It has been suggested that Real-time computing be merged into this article or section. ...
The Whirlwind computer was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...
Jay Wright Forrester (born 14 July 1918 Climax, Nebraska) is an American pioneer of computer engineering. ...
The US Air Force was interested, and in 1949 they provided funding under the name Project Charles to develop a demonstration system. Information from several radars in the Cape Cod area was forwarded to the Whirlwind, which then developed tracks for the targets being reported. The "Cape Cod System" was a qualified success, and the Air Force took over the project under Project Claude, moving development to the new MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1954. Making a military-grade version of the Whirlwind was a massive project that required close connections between Lincoln Labs, industrial partners who would build the machines and communications, and the military. In order to provide oversight and management during the deployment phase, MITRE was formed in 1958 to take over the project. Seal of the Air Force. ...
Cape Cod (or simply the Cape) is an hook-shaped peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County, Massachusetts and forming the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. ...
Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT, MapúaTech or simply Mapúa) is a private, non-sectarian, Filipino tertiary institute located in Intramuros, Manila. ...
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, also known as Lincoln Lab, is a federally funded research and development center managed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and funded by the United States Department of Defense. ...
St. ...
Production of the resulting machines, known technically as the AN/FSQ-7, was initially awarded to RCA but later given to IBM, who started production in 1958. The buildings and internal power supply and communications were provided by Western Electric, phone lines by the Bell System, and the software, 500,000 lines of assembly language, by a spin-off of RAND Corporation called System Development Corporation (SDC). RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. ...
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) (NYSE: IBM) (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ...
The Bell System was a trademark and service mark used by the United States telecommunications company American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) and its affiliated companies to co-brand their extensive circuit-switched telephone network and their affiliations with each other. ...
See the terminology section, below, regarding inconsistent use of the terms assembly and assembler. ...
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces. ...
System Development Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, was spun off from RAND Corporation in 1957. ...
Description
SAGE AN/FSQ-7 computer. Note the phones located on the end of every cabinet to save time calling in problems. The AN/FSQ-7 is the largest computer ever built, and will likely hold that record in the future. Each machine used 55,000 vacuum tubes, about ½ acre (2,000 m²) of floor space, weighed 275 tons and used up to three megawatts of power, although the failure rate of an individual tube was low due to efforts in quality control. Each SAGE site included two computers for redundancy, with one processor on "hot standby" at all times. In spite of the poor reliability of the tubes, this dual-processor design made for remarkably high overall system uptime. 99% availability was not unusual. Image File history File links SAGE computer room, taking up the second floor of the basic SAGE Sector Control Center cube. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links SAGE computer room, taking up the second floor of the basic SAGE Sector Control Center cube. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Structure of a vacuum tube diode Structure of a vacuum tube triode In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube, or (outside North America) thermionic valve or just valve, is a device used to amplify, switch or modify a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space. ...
An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units and United States customary units. ...
The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ...
For the Jurassic 5 album, see Quality Control (album) In engineering and manufacturing, quality control and quality engineering are involved in developing systems to ensure products or services are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements. ...
Uptime is a measure of the time a computer system has been up and running. ...
 SAGE operator's terminal. The light pen, which was shaped similar to a handheld power drill or gun, is resting on the console. The terminal's desk contains a built-in ash tray just left of the light pen. SAGE sites were connected to multiple radar stations which transmitted tracking data (range and azimuth) in digitized format by modem over ordinary telephone lines. These digitized inputs were automatically prepared from analog radar inputs by the AN/FST-2B (or successor, AN/FYQ-47[1]) at the radar stations. The SAGE computers then collected the tracking data for display on a CRT as icons. Situation Display (SD) console operators at the center could select any of the "targets" on the display with a light gun, and then display additional information about the tracking data reported by the radar stations. Up to 150 operators could be supported from each center. Interestingly, each SD operator console was equipped with an integral cigarette lighter and ashtray. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 583 pixelsFull resolution (3430 × 2498 pixel, file size: 4. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 583 pixelsFull resolution (3430 × 2498 pixel, file size: 4. ...
A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ...
For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ...
Cathode ray tube employing electromagnetic focus and deflection Cutaway rendering of a color CRT: 1. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
SAGE site operators could also request height data when needed from their CRT. These height requests were digitized and sent to a radar station that was tracking the "targets". At the radar station, the height requests were displayed to an operator on an analog Range Height Indicator (RHI) CRT display by moving the height cursor. The operator then centered the height cursor on the "target" and depressed a button to send the updated height information back to the SAGE site in much the same way as the tracking data.
When a target turned out to be interesting, SAGE also helped the operator to select a proper response. Reports similar to those from the radar stations kept the SAGE system up to date with information on the availability and status of various weapons and aircraft, including all airfields, BOMARC and Nike Hercules anti-aircraft missile sites. When the operator chose one of these to intercept the target, orders would automatically be sent via teletype to local controllers who would take over from there. Additional messages would also be sent to higher headquarters, as well as other SAGE centers. For other uses, see Airport (disambiguation). ...
The Bomarc Missile Program was a joint United States of America-Canada effort during 1957 to 1971 to protect against the USSR bomber threat. ...
Nike Hercules is the designation of an American air defense rocket. ...
Akash Missile Firing French Air Force Crotale battery Bendix Rim-8 Talos surface to air missile of the US Navy A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. ...
In normal operation, communications between the SAGE centers and the interceptor aircraft was relayed via radio equipment at the radar sites, which were more widely spread out than the SAGE centers themselves. A properly equipped aircraft, like the F-106 Delta Dart, could feed the SAGE directions into the autopilot and fly "hands off" to the interception. Older aircraft, which were common when SAGE was first being deployed, could be directed by voice. The Convair F-106A Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft for the United States Air Force from the 1960s through the 1980s. ...
An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. ...
A massive building program started along with continued work on the computer systems and communications, with the first groundbreaking at McChord AFB in 1957. The buildings were huge above-ground concrete bricks that were often placed near cities without the residents being aware of what they were. The first SAGE Division became operational in Syracuse, New York in January 1959, and by 1963 the system was already complete with 22 Sector Direction Centers and three similar Combat Centers. When NORAD was set up another site was added in North Bay, Ontario in Canada, although in this case the entire SAGE system was buried approximately 700 feet underground in what became known as "the hole". McChord AFB is a United States Air Force base in Pierce County, Washington. ...
Nickname: The Salt City Location of Syracuse within the state of New York Coordinates: City Government - Mayor Matthew Driscoll Area - City 66. ...
NORAD Headquarters Building. ...
North Bay ( , time zone EST) is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada (2006 population 53,966). ...
The total engineering effort for SAGE was immense. Total project cost remains unknown, but estimates place it between 8 and 12 billion 1964 dollars, more than the Manhattan Project that developed the nuclear bomb SAGE defended against. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...
The Manhattan Project resulted in the creation of the first nuclear weapons, and the first-ever nuclear detonation, known as the Trinity test of July 16, 1945. ...
 Typical SAGE site. On the far left are cooling towers for the generators located in the (low) middle building. The "cube" has four floors, with air conditioning and wiring on the ground, the computers on the second floor, offices on the third and the combat center on top. The "big screen" shown at the top of this article extends from the third to fourth floor. The SAGE system was operational until 1983, when it was replaced by newer systems and airborne control. However, the North Bay system ran until 1983 when it was dismantled and sent to The Computer Museum in Boston. In 1996 the remainder was moved to Moffett Federal Airfield for storage and is now in the collection of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Typical SAGE center buildings. ...
Typical SAGE center buildings. ...
Moffett Federal Airfield (IATA: NUQ, ICAO: KNUQ), also known as Moffett Field, is a private airport located 3 miles (5 km) north of Mountain View, in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The airport is near the south end of San Francisco Bay, north of San Jose. ...
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View. ...
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. ...
Questions about the ability of the SAGE system to actually handle a "hot war" situation were continuous. On one occasion SAC was able to penetrate the defenses, and on other occasions huge flocks of seabirds were tracked as a potential bomber attack. A more serious problem was that by the time the system was fully operational, the USSR had already started deploying ICBMs, making SAGE largely useless. SAC can mean: S-Allyl cysteine, a chemical constituent of garlic SAC Capital Partners, a hedge fund managed by Steven A. Cohen SAC programming language St. ...
A Minuteman III missile soars after a test launch. ...
In order to protect against the possibility of SAGE sites being knocked offline and potentially rendering the defense impotent, the Air Force also developed the Back Up Interceptor Control System (BUIC), a sort of mini-SAGE located at some of the radar sites that normally fed the SAGE system.
In peacetime SAGE was, for all intents, an air traffic control system and it influenced the design of the FAA's automated control systems. The system also gave IBM valuable insight, and it was not long after that the CEO of American Airlines met one of the IBM people involved in SAGE by accident on a flight, and soon the two companies were developing the SABRE airline reservation system. Air Traffic Control Towers (ATCTs) at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. ...
“FAA†redirects here. ...
American Airlines (AA) is the largest airline in the world in terms of total passengers-miles transported[1] and fleet size [2], and the second-largest airline in the world (behind Air France-KLM) in terms of total operating revenues[3]. A wholly owned subsidiary of the AMR Corporation, the...
Sabre Logo Sabre is a computer reservations system/global distribution system (GDS) used by airlines, railways, hotels, travel agents and other travel companies. ...
Other major SAGE developments included:
- CRT-based real-time user interface
- use of wide-area communications via modems
- The installation, operation, and logistic support of over 100 long range radar stations located throughout the US as part of the Air Defense Command
When some of the older SAGE memory units were replaced, they found new life as the computer in Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel. The user interface is the part of a system exposed to users. ...
A modem (from modulate and demodulate) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. ...
Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was a television and film producer nicknamed The Master of Disaster for his work in the disaster film genre. ...
Time Tunnel co-stars, Dr. Tony Newman and Dr. Doug Philips. ...
Further reading - John F. Jacobs, The SAGE Air Defense System: A Personal History (MITRE Corporation, 1986)
- R. G. Enticknap and E. F. Schuster, SAGE Data System Considerations, AIEE Transactions vol 77, pt I, 1958 (January 1959 section), pp 824-832.
- Robert R. Everett (editor), Special Issue: SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment), Annals of the History of Computing 5:4 (1983).
- Paul N. Edwards, The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996)[1], esp. Chapter 3.
- Kent C. Redmond and Thomas M. Smith, From Whirlwind to MITRE: The R&D Story of The SAGE Air Defense Computer (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000) [2]
- Thomas P. Hughes, Rescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects That Changed the Modern World (Pantheon, 1998) [3], esp. Chapter 2.
See also Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is a technique whereby one or more radar stations are linked to a command center with communications equipment in order to launch and/or guide aircraft to intercept incoming airborne threats. ...
R0t0r is from efnet ...
Linesman/Mediator was a dual-purpose civil and military radar network in the United Kingdom. ...
A rough map of the three warning lines The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the North Coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in...
A rough map of the three warning lines The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across southern Canada at about the 50th parallel, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. ...
A rough map of the three warning lines The Mid-Canada Line, also known as the McGill Fence, was a line of radar stations across the middle of Canada intended to provide early warning of a Soviet bomber attack on North America. ...
References - ^ AN/FYQ-47 Radar Data Processing System. Radomes, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
is the 199th day of the year (200th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
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