Iconorama

Iconorama was a Cold War electronic projection system for graphic presentation ("stylized display using an etched plate to produce symbols")[1] ordered by the USAF in 1959.

Not to be confused with the earlier Cinerama movie projection system.
Iconorama display unit at Strategic Air Command HQ, Offut Air Force Base, in 1964.

The mechanism used a rear projection display, showing both a map overlay from a fixed lantern slide and dynamically updated data from a mechanical plotter.[2][3][4] The mechanism for etching the slide is somewhat similar to an Etch A Sketch. The display can draw lines and characters, but cannot erase them individually.

The unit was used in the IBM 473L Command and Control System's[5] Large Panel Display Subsystem (e.g., at the National Military Command Center and the Alternate Military Command Center).[6] Advertised in 1961 by Temco Aircraft Corp. (already a subsidiary of Ling-Temco Electronics, Inc.),[7][8][9] the system used "a coated slide...one inch square" that was scribed "by a moving stylus" to make traces (e.g., for paths of attacking bombers).[10] The unit was used by the Strategic Air Command,[7] in the Marine Technical Data System[5] and at the Air Force Command Post,[11] Mount Weather,[12] Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu Calif.; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory.[10] NORAD's Combined Operations Center[11] at the Chidlaw Building[13] and BMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility at Ent AFB used Iconorama,[14] and in 1971 an Iconorama was still being used by NORAD[5] for BMEWS.[5]

Displayed map on Iconorama

References
  1. "Advanced Naval Tactical Command and Control Study, Final Report Phase One Volume V Technology Part 1" (PDF). Informatics, Inc. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  2. US 2859659, Jack R Fedrick & Donald M Fenske, Robert N Miller, "Data Plotting and Indicating Device", published Nov 11, 1958, assigned to Fenske Fedrick & Miller Inc
  3. ""TV Screen" Plots Aircraft Thousands of Miles Away". Popular Mechanics. March 1960.
  4. "AF orders 'instant' plotting displays ("Iconorama")". AF Times. July 11, 1959. Iconorama shows almost instantly the positions of aircraft thousands of miles away [with] Traces made by the planes being tracked are scribed on a coated slide by a moving stylus. … The slide plot measures only one inch square, yet overall error of the projected display is said to be about one part in 1,000. ... Leasing contracts for the Iconorama system, made by Fenske, Fedrick and Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, call for installation to 'be completed at NORAD by July, 1960, and at SAC by October, 1959. Iconorama units already have been installed and operated at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu Calif.; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C. (also available at newspapers.com)
  5. Kent, A.; Lancour, H. (1971). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 5 - Circulation to Coordinate Indexing. Taylor & Francis. p. 398. ISBN 9780824720056. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  6. Brown, C.B. (4 December 1962). 473L DPSS/ICSS Interface Description (Technical Memorandum) (Report). MITRE Corporation. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  7. Missiles and Rockets, April 10, 1961, p.39.
  8. "1961 NORAD Colorado Ling-Temco Iconorama Display Sys (03/20/2011)..." worthpoint.com. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  9. "The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, · Page 18". newspapers.com. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  10. "New Device Will Plot All Planes". Alton Evening Telegraph. 20 August 1959. p. 29. Iconorama shows almost instantly the positions of aircraft thousands of miles away… Traces made by the planes being tracked are scribed on a coated slide by a moving stylus. … The slide plot measures only one inch square, yet overall error of the projected display is said to be about one part in 1,000. … Iconorama units already have been installed and operated at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu Calif.; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory
  11. Antaccs Project (Midway Report) (Report). July 1964. Retrieved 2014-04-02. COC - a) Large screen of the North American continent capable of showing tracks. This system uses the Iconorama projection system which automatically updates film chips from teletype messages. ... Iconorama system which is perhaps the first on-line, multi-color, group display system to be installed. ... The display activity to data at the Air Force Command Post has been limited to several rear projection screens capable of showing slides and films. Perhaps the most dynamic display is the Iconorama System which is fed by NORAD.
  12. Krugler, D.F. (2006). This Is Only a Test: How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 166. ISBN 9781403983060. Retrieved 2014-10-24.
  13. In 1964, the "two-story concrete bunker [had] giant Iconorama screens projecting…a map of Europe and Asia [and a map] of North America" and "an electronic clock, marked “Minutes to First Impact”". https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19640617&id=2qYUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jpYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5546,2720521
  14. Cite NORAD Historical Summary |year=1964 (Jul–Dec) |quote=NORAD SPADAT center ... for an interim BMEWS central computer and display facility at NORAD Headquarters in October 1959. ... It included Fenske, Federick Miller Company Iconorama display equipment


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