Burroughs AN/GSA-51 Radar Course Directing Group

The Burroughs AN/GSA-51 Radar Course Directing Group was a Cold War command, control, and coordination system of the SAGE System to replace vacuum tube IBM AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Centrals for air defense. Developed under the 416M Program[1]:241 of Electronic Systems Division, in 1962 Burroughs "won the contract to provide a military version of its D825" modular data processing system[2] for the AN/GSA-51 to be used at "BUIC II radar sites"[3] (follow-on to the initial Back-Up Interceptor Control System, BUIC)[4]:10 BUIC II was 1st used at North Truro Z-10 in 1966,[3] and the Hamilton AFB BUIC II was installed in the former MCC building.[5]

The first D825 computer was originally built for the Navy Research Laboratory with a designation of AN/GYK-3(V).[6] The D825 contained between one and four 48 bit central processor/arithmetic units, up to 16 memory modules and up to 20 IO modules.[7][8] The BUIC systems used "two computer modules, six memory modules and three input/output modules".[7] The computer was designed for high availability and could still operate if any one of its modules failed.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Schaffel, Kenneth (1991). Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air Defense 1945-1960 (45MB pdf). General Histories (Report) (Office of Air Force History). ISBN 0-912799-60-9. Retrieved 2011-09-26. A SAGE component, a 64 x 64 [4K] magnetic core memory ... SAGE direction center. This installation is located at Stewart Air Force Base in New York state. ...[Hancock Field] combined direction-combat center was located at Syracuse, New York. [captions of p. 198, 208, & 265 photos] NOTE: Schaffel's history uses the same name as "The Emerging Shield: The Air Defense Ground Environment," Air University Quarterly Review 8, no. 2 (spring 1956).
  2. ↑ DeWerth, John P. ...Sage Memories (personal notes) (Report). SMECC.org. Retrieved 2012-04-03. Senior Director's keyed console...fire button "[AN/GSA-51]". SMECC.org. BUIC ... Burroughs...D825 ... McChord AFB...August 1983 "Phoenix Air Defense Sector". SMECC.org. Luke AFB...February 1984
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Winkler, David F; Webster, Julie L (June 1997). Searching the Skies: The Legacy of the United States Cold War Defense Radar Program (Report). U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories. Retrieved 2012-03-26. "BUIC II radar sites would be capable of incorporating data feeds from other radar sectors directly onto their radar screens.
  4. ↑ Hellige, Hans Dieter (February 1993). Actors, Visions and Developments in the History of Computer Communications (Report). "Work and Technology" Research Centre. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  5. ↑ Page, Thomas E. (June 16, 2009). "IBM SAGE" (anecdotal message post). Ed-Thelen.org. Retrieved 2013-02-21. A number of Super-SAGE Combat Centers (AN/FSQ-32) were planned, but none was built. Most were to have built underground...White Horse Mountain near West Point, NY...at least one SSCC was to have been above-ground (Scott AFB, IL). One prototype Q-32 was installed at the IBM programming center in Santa Monica, CA. (T. E. Page cites: "Shield of Faith" by Bruce Briggs (Simon and Schuster, 1988.)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Anderson, James P.; Hoffman, Samuel A.; Shifman, Joseph; Williams, Robert J. (1962). "D825 - a multiple-computer system for command & control". Proceedings of the December 4-6, 1962, fall joint computer conference on - AFIPS '62 (Fall). pp. 86–96. doi:10.1145/1461518.1461527.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 < "BUIC Fact Sheet". Burroughs Corporation. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  8. ↑ Thompson, Rankin N. and Wilkinson, John A. (1963). "The D825 automatic operating and scheduling program". Proceedings of the May 21–23, 1963, spring joint computer conference. AFIPS '63 (Spring) (New York, NY, USA: ACM): 41––49. doi:10.1145/1461551.1461558. Retrieved 27 February 2013.