Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Surprisingly, the accuracy of these electromechanical analog computers for
naval and air combat was good enough so that they stayed in operation throughout
World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, and indeed into the 1960s and even
the '70s. Some even saw service during the Vietnam War. It would be many years
after World War II before digital computers and software were good enough to re-
place analog computers onboard ships and aircraft.
Within the context of aiming cannons or torpedoes at moving targets, the elec-
tromechanical analog computers had one of the longest useful lives of any form
of computation. They were accurate enough to provide effective targeting through
three wars and numerous police actions.
These were not programmable computers in the modern sense. They only
covered a specific set of calculations, and the “programming” was built into the
devices by the designers in terms of the mechanical wheels, cogs, and electrical
relays.
Bletchley Park was not the only British research establishment with an impact
on computers and software. Another location that would have an impact on soft-
ware in particular was the Bawdsey Research Station, where mathematicians and
statisticians would pioneer a discipline known as operational research in Great
Britain and operations research in the United States. This new discipline would
expand in scope and would soon involve Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel.
Operations research is concerned with optimizing the effectiveness of group
activities, and it involves logic and network analysis as well as ordinary math and
statistics. A few examples of the problems studied by operations research will
show the combination of logic and math needed to handle complex situations.
One question of great importance involved whether a few large convoys of
ships or many small convoys would be most effective in escaping German U-boat
attacks. Operations research found that avoiding attacks correlated most strongly
to the number of available destroyers and armed escorts that could defend the con-
voy. Large convoys with many armed destroyers and escort vessels proved to be
the best solution.
Another question involved what color of paint on the bottom of antisubmarine
aircraft would be least visible to German U-boats. It turned out that aircraft with
white bottoms were not spotted until they were 20% closer to the target than air-
craft with black bottoms.
A related question was the optimal depth for detonating depth charges dropped
from aircraft. The initial standard depth was 100 feet. However, it turned out that
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