DATA DOTS IDENTIFY AERIAL PHOTOS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78B04747A001600010091-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 2000
• Sequence Number: 91
• Publication Date: September 20, 1965
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

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Avionics
Data dots identify aerial photos
Electronic marking system speeds interpretation
of reconnaissance and surveillance film
By William A. Miller
Fairchild Hiller Corp., Bay Shore, N. Y.
More rapid communication of wartime intelligence
has ,been made possible by an electronic system
that eliminates the time-consuming job of marking
aerial reconnaissance photographs before they can
be interpreted.
Supersonic RF-4C reconnaissance planes, streak-
ing overhead, photograph Viet Cong convoys on
the road from Hanoi to South Vietnam, military
installations, troop movements and target areas.
With six cameras aboard and each camera taking
up to 12 pictures every second, a single plane
sometimes returns from a mission with more than
4,000 pictures for every minute over the target.
But before intelligence officers can study a picture,
it must be identified; each frame correlated with
the mission profile and marked with pertinent in-
formation. That job now is performed, simultane-
'
ously with the picture taking, by an airborne sys-
tem developed by the Fairchild hiller Corp.
The auxiliary data annotation set, ADAS, as the
electronics system is called, marks the film with
time, latitude, longitude, speed, barometric and
radar altitude, heading, drift, pitch, roll, date, sortie
number, detachment, radar mode, correlation
counter, sensor or station identification, and photo-
graphing unit. The ADAS annotation system is
flexible; it can be used to mark the film records of
side-looking radars, infrared scanners, or any other
systems that produce film records of their findings.
The author
106
William A. Miller, a staff
consultant at the Electronic
Systems division specializes in
radar ranging, wide-band data
link and satellite navigational
systems. In addition to the
design of the auxiliary data
annotation set, he is also engaged
in special design work on
high-resolution facsimile, and
optical systems.
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The ADAS airborne system is mad.e up of one
major assembly, the auxiliary data translator unit;
several smaller subsystems and up to nine record-
ing bead assemblies that annotate the film of
each sensor. A tenth recording head assembly is
part of a test unit in the aircraft cockpit.
The auxiliary data translator unit contains both.
logic and power supply modules; it takes the mis-
sion profile data (latitude and longitude from the
inertial guidance equipment, altitude from the al-
timeter, and so on) and translates it into a form
that will drive the recording head assemblies. Some
of the input to the logic modules is provided by
a programed card assembly, which carries fixed
data, such as date, sortie number, and so on. This
assembly is inserted into the translator unit im-
mediately before takeoff. A special timer is also
used to set the translator's digital clock to the
time of day.
Each recording head assembly contains a cath-
ode-ray tube magnetically- shielded and potted
inside a 41/2 x 11/4 inch - cylindrical mount. The
assembly is mounted on the film recorder of each
camera, radar or infrared scanner where together
with a special lens system, it projects the data dis-
play onto a previously assigned area of the recon-
naissance filth. Because the film sensitivity at each
of the recording stations varies, the brightness of
the spot of the crt must also vary; this is auto-
matically controlled by the programed card in
the translator unit.
Producing the pattern
Data is projected onto the sensor film in what
is called an excess-three binary-coded-decimal data
format (+3 BCD). Because this format has the
advantage of high data density, less film area is
required for data annotation. Two subsystems are
required to produce the ert's data raster: a deflec-
tion-control subsystem, which generates vertical
and horizontal sweep voltages for the crt's in the
recording head assemblies; and the unblanking
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Electronics September 20, 1965
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Supermode laser spectrum. The spectrum is essentially
that of a monochromatic signal. The scale for this
photograph is the same as those for the preceding
sequence of laser spectra on page 103.
mode spacing, then AV would be zero and 1' would
be infinite. At that operating point, the output no
longer resembles an f-in signal; instead, all the
modes would oscillate in phase and have a nearly
Gaussian distribution of amplitude. This output cor-
responds to train of very narrow pulses with a
repetition rate corresponding to the frequency sepa-
ration of the modes.s
One very interesting property of the f-ni signal
is that it produces no beat signal when detected
on a square-law photodetector. This is easily seen
if the photocurrent intensity is considered propor-
tional to the square of the electric field. Then
I ?. E,2 cos' (wet cos wo,t)
1 ? cos2 (wet T cos comt.)
= E02
9
ED' cos2 (wet r cos wmt)
?
2
(4)
The second term represents frequencies of approxi-
mately 10'5 cps and therefore will not be detected.
This is due to the fact that the photodetector re-
sponds only to amplitude variations, whereas the
f-m signal has, by definition, a constant amplitude.
The photocurrent will just be an average (I-C current
proportional to the f-m laser intensity. This phe-
nomenon is in sharp contrast to the case of the
free-running laser, from which there are generally
random components of the photocurrent at mul-
tiples of the frequency spacing between modes.
(For a one-meter Ile-tie laser, the photocurrent
will contain frequencies at approximately 150 Mc,
300 Mc, and so on, op to about one gigacycle.)
The supermode laser
The supermode laser, diagrammed on the op-
posite page, is an extension of the f-in laser, which
uses the controlled spectral output to produce a
single frequency.? The output of the laser is
passed through a second KM' phase modulator.
Since the f-in laser output can be written as
E = E, cos (wet + cos_wo,t) (5)
then the output of tlic external phase modulator
(which is driven at the same frequency as the
modulation fretillViley of the Um laser) is
E = Eo cos lw?t-Fr cos (Ant +ricos (t+43)1 (6).
where r' is the modulation index of the external
modulator and (I, is the difference in phase between
the two modulations. When r` is made equal to r
and a, is 180?, then (6) reduces to
E = E,, cos iu,.t (7)
This is a monochromatic signal at a frequency
near the center of the original free-running spec-
trim and is shown in the figure at the left. Briefly,
the supermode laser produces a single-frequency
output by first controlling the free-running modes
in a specific manner through the f-m laser tech-
niques, and then converting this controlled signal
to a single frequency.
Power and control
In principle, neither approach?f-m or super-
mode?reduces the laser's output power. For the
f-m laser, the only significant losses are in the
internal modulator, and these losses can be made
very low. The f-m laser has produced outputs of
about two milliwatts; the supermode extension
has produced one milliwatt.
Both techniques control the relative amplitudes
and phases of the laser modes?not the absolute
frequency of the output. The central frequency of
the f-in spectrum will drift as the dimensions
of the optical cavity undergo thermal changes. A
change in length by half a wavelength will result
in a frequency shift of the whole spectrum by
about 150 Mc for a one-meter laser. This is a very
important problem, and several solutions are pres-
ently being studied.
Because the full power of the laser remains
available, and excellent spectral control is pos-
sible, f-m and supermodc lasers are potentially
applicable to information-carrying, spectroscopy
and holography. The experimental work was done
with a gas laser, but the methods are now being
applied to solid crystal lasers.
Acknowledgement
The work upon which this article was based was partially
supported by contract AF 33(615)-1938 from the Laser
Technology Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
Ohio. and by the independent research program of
Sylvania Electronic Systems, a unit of General Telephone
and Electronics Corporation, at Mountain View, Calif.
References
I. D.A. Kleinman and P.P. Kisliuk, "Discrimination Against
Unwanted Orders in the Fabry-Perot Resonator." Bell System
Technical Journal. vol. 41, Aug_ 1962, pp. 453-462.
2. T.R. Koehler. "Mode Structure of a Three-Reflector Cavity,"
IBM Research Paper RJ-260, Aug. 1963, International
Business Machines Corp., San Jose, Calif.
3. S.A. Collins and G.R. White, "Interferometer Mode Selector."
Applied Optics, vol. 2, April 1963, p. 448.
4. H. Manger and H. Rothe, "Selection of Axial Modes in Optical
Masers." Physics Letters, vol. 7, Dec. 15, 1963, p. 330.
5. H. Kogelnik and C.K.N. Patel. "Mode Suppression and Single
Frequency Operation in Gaseous Masers," Proc. IRE. vol. 50.
Nov. 1962. p. 2365.
6. S.E. Harris and R. Taro, "F-m Oscillation of the He-Ne Laser,"
Applied Physics Letters. vol. 5, Nov. 15, 1964, pp. 202-204.
7. S.E. Harris and 0.P. McDuff, "F-m Laser Oscillation?Theory."
ibid.. pp. 205-207.
8. E.O. Ammann. B.J. McMurtry, and M.K. Oshman, "Detailed
Experiments on Helium-Neon f-m Lasers," to be published.
9. GA. Massey, M.K. Oshman, and R. Targ, "Generation of
Single-Frequency Light Using the f-m Laser," Applied Physics
Letters, vol. 6 Jan. 1, 1965, pp. 10-11.
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105
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Reading +3BCD data
TIME AND LATITUDE DATA MATRIX
(20) (21) (22) (23)
DI D2 03 04
a
? 0
READ
TIME: IS HRS.
16 MIN.
26,8 SEC,
MAJOR
COLUMN 9
C 5 0 0' ? ? Sr
r0635
T,,Et4 ay,
".1-gro
Ingts*
DAY
r YEAR
? a r9c?:?:-::4222:, ? ? ? ? 4
2011,0 I
- , T:11
n,a0 sEcoNos U:IT :
3: TE:";MsDa MISOTES u:4
TEsHo0s25? i,TEN3 ?
.0.0 fuN5
trE1,0
.0?*.?
? ? ;io
? ,p
S. 4
00 ,ItoTEf(O s
? II
TENTHS ? 'OR
TilENNiTss 400 300
plia! ? ,23i
s ? z
HuNoT 401i 2 'OEa4
? IS
? ga
vas ? 20
Ina 0 Za
tN
gons ? 39
aa
21
TeiTHS 0
UNITS 0
? ? ? ? ?
NOTE: PARITY DOES NOT INCLUDE INDEX DIT
uNi,T
1110,!gnr.$
Tii0v009,s.
? ? +40
? ir? "?
.? a ? 0
? ?
? ? ? ? ? :
OAtmitmo,ac ?
,
SPARE
RATA
AUTOMATON,
, '
? 0256220
' TENTps
UNITS
?
TENS :
0' 41 ? ".
WANE
OATA
ONANNtt. ?
1,143,08101'100
Amin
(FIXED 22001
24
,?, 0 ?
DNI4NTATIMI
3020910 0E0913
The auxiliary data annotation set uses an excess-
three binary-coded-decirnal format +3 BCD). This
format can be read by optical character-recognition
systems that enable machines to perform at least
part of the analyst's task. This is how +3 BCD
forrnat is read:
Arrangement of data in the ert raster is shown
above, right. The data format is broken down into
three major columns, with each column divided into
data blocks bordered by index dots. In major column
the index dots appear on lines 1, 9, 16, 24,30 and
CONVERSION FROM DECIMAL
TO
EXCESS THREE BINARY CODED
Expesp Three
Decimal Equiv. No. (Least
1
2
a
4 7 1
5 8 0
6 9 1
7 10 0
1
9 12
1
1
0
3 1
4 0
5 1
6 0
Blank
DECIMAL (?3 BCD)
+38C0
significant bit at left)
1 0
O 1 0
O 1 ?0
1 1 0
1 1 0
O 0 1
O 0 1
1 0 1
1 0 1
O 1 1
0 1 1
O 0 0
O 0 0
RErrfoct Low "e
(ow STRAIONT LINO'
03030
300100
1,
1
4
Data format foi the AIMS: All relevant misSionriata
can be annotated by this high-density marking system.
32. They also occupy the entirefar right hand
column.
With two exceptions, all the variable data?time,
latitude, longitude, drift, etc.?appears in major
columns 1 and 2. The exceptions are radar Mode
and part of the spare data channel information. All
fixed data?date, squad and detachment, sortie?
appears in major column 3.
In each data 'block, the most significant decimal
digit is at the bottom of the block and the reader
should start reading at the bottom' and week up: If
a sign is associated with the data block it is read
on the topmost line. . ,
In the figure above, left, is a portion of the data
raster consisting of the time and latitude data blocks.
These blocks are lines I through 16' of major column
1 above. There are six minor columns in each
data block, reading from right to left as follows:
Index, D4; D3, lpg, Dr, and parity. 1),4 is the 23
bit in the binary code, _Da is th,e 22 bit, and so on.
The sixth column contains the parity bit. Odd
parity is used in the ADAS system; this means that
'when counting the 20 21, 22 and 22 bits in any line,
presence of: a parity 'bit Andictites an even number
of bits. Conversely, if ,the number of bits is odd,
no parity bit will appear. 'The in:
bit is not in-
cluded in the count to determine; parity.
In the table t left the conversion from decimal
to +3 13CD is given. By using this with the sample
data blocks for time and latitude it can be seen
how the ADAS display is converted"to decimal data.
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108 Electronics I September 20, 1965
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control system that supplies a sequence of intensi-
fication pulses to the crt to turn tlu? beam on. These
imblanking pulses must be supplied in xarious
widths to assure optimum exposure On different
types of sensor films. It is the combination of
deflection and unblanking control signals. synchro-
nized, that product's the data raster.
The deflection-control circuits simultaneously
generate column, line and section gating pulses,
which are combined in it digital-to-analog con-
verter to produce two sets of staircase waveforms.
One set is used for the crt horizontal deflection
voltage, and the other for vertical deflection. Sup-
plying these two deflection voltages produces the
sequential stepping of the electronic beam to every
dot location in the data matrix.
Counters move the dot
Data is scanned first by line, by section, and
finally by major column. A minor column is a
row of vertical dots. Six minor colunins make up
a 11lail)r column. and 16 lines. six mirun. columns
wide make up a section. This arrangement is shown
on page 108. Column. line and section counters are
the framework of the deflection-control circuitry.
Frequency-divider networks and a toaster oscil-
lator position the dot in the data matrix. The minor
column is produced when the outpitt from the
master oscillator passes through a divide-by-six
network. This network's last flip-flop triggers a line
counter and moves the dot one minor column over.
The crystal-controlled clock (toaster oscillator),
which operates at a frequency of 741.1 kilocycles,
also drives a divide-by-32 counter that triggers the
minor column through a retrace control circuit.
This circuit simply counts the number of steps in
the deflection voltages so that at the end of a
column the time for one step is reserved for circuit
counter) settling. This gives tlw crt beam
one whole dot period to retrace front the bottom
line of the display back to the top. The retrace
control circuit also suppresses the trigger to the
column counter for one count and simultaneously
produces a blanking pulse. \vhich inhibits the dis-
play during this time. A trigger front the section
counter initiates the retrace action,
For proper ASA settings. clot exposure at the
five different reconnaissance camera stations is
varied by changing the width of the gating pulse
xvhich controls the dot display period. This con-
trol of the gating (unblanking) pulse is accom-
plished in the auxiliary data translation unit bv
combining, in a diode matrix, outputs from the same
chain of flip-flops that make up the initial divide-
by-32 cotmter in the deflection control circuitry.
Seven levels of exposure arc available; the high-
est is achieved by allowing a dot to be displayed
Aerial reconnaissance photograph shows the ADAS display
at upper left. The high data-density format permits
recording the maximum amount of reconnaissance
information in a minimum area of sensor film.
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Medical electronics
Electronic detours
of broken nerve paths
Paralysis is often caused by a 'washout' in a neural road
from the brain to a muscle. Researchers are testing an
alternate route via another muscle and an electronic stimulator
By Luiji Vodovnik and William D. McLeod
Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland
A recent lunch was one of the most dramatic
events of Edward Roszak's life. Trailing wires and
wearing thick-rimmed glasses attached to elec-
trodes and more wires, he was wheeled over to a
table and he began to feed himself. To casual on-
lookers at Highland View Hospital in Cleveland, it
seemed a slow, cumbersome way to eat. But they
were unaware that three years before it had
seemed unlikely that Roszak would ever use his
arms or legs again.
The patient looked down, and his once-useless
right arm reached out over the table. He moved his
head again, and the arm descended slowly upon a
spoon. Ile shrugged one shoulder, and his fingers
grasped the spoon; then his arm moved it, first to
the food, then to his mouth.
This meal, repeated several times a week, was
a test of an arm-aid developed by Highland View
and the Case Institute of Technology. After they
analyze Roszak's use of the arm, the researchers
expect to develop a device for commercial use.
As with many paralytics, this patient's muscles
are undamaged. His trouble is that his nerve cir-
cuits are not conducting commands from his brain
to certain muscles. Now, aided by an electronic sys-
tem that bypasses the damaged nerve, this man can
use a shoulder muscle to generate electrical signals
that cause a hand muscle to contract.
The authors
William McLeod is assistant director of the Cybernetic
Systems Group at Case's Engineering Design Center.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from
the University of Toronto.
After spending a year as a research associate
with the Cybernetics System group at Case,
Luiji Vodovnik returned to his native Yugoslavia
as an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana.
110
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The system, still being developed at the Case
Institute of Technology, is believed to be the first
to use one muscle to activate another whose neural
link with the brain is broken. Although Case's
experiments have been limited to restoring motion
in an arm, the researchers are confident that their
approach will also work on other extremities.'
The six arm movements
The patient's glasses are not ordinary spectacles.
Their frame holds a small arc lamp that activates
photocells in the table top. Over each eyebrow is
taped a single-pole double-throw switch.
By moving his head to aim the arc light at the
proper photocell, the patient can select a program
from the few that have been stored on magnetic
tape. These programs control the rotation of the
shoulder and of ?the upper arm, the movement of
both toward and away from the body, the bending
of the elbow, and the twisting of the wrist. By
winking or blinking, he triggers a switch over an
eyebrow, thereby overriding the tape to stop a
movement before it is completed?for example,
when the hand comes down upon an egg, it is
advisable to stop its downward movement as soon
as contact is made.
For the sixth movement, grasping, the research-
ers have developed a way to bypass a break in the
neural circuit, allowing the hand-clenching muscle
to be operated by electrical signals from the pati-
ent's shoulder on command from the brain.
In a healthy body, the five gross motions are con-
trolled semiconsciously from a "program" in the
brain; conscious control is required only for clench-
ing, which requires feedback to the brain.
For the gross motions the Case system, like
other electronic methods of reactivating useless
limbs, uses external power?in this case, fluid
power from carbon dioxide. But to drive the hand-
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for almost die bill time of a linear column co110t--
39 microseconds. For the loxvest exposure level.
the dot is displaved for about t \xi) microseconds.
plugs inserted in the fixed-data card select
the exposure le\-els. The pulse that regulates the
exiristire is passed by ;in ANI) gate in the imblank-
ing amplifier to control the data time.
hi the rec?orcling head itsseniblii??ht seosut
st-
liouis other than photographic recimitaissimce
cameras circuitry integrally 1)Ottltl Vith tin crt
provides proper spot locus and intensity control.
\dditional diode circ?iiitrY Is used for d-e restora-
tion and amplitude clipping of the unblimkillg
pill t. This enables the ert to 1105-e it light output
pirke IA hose peat; intensity is independent of tin-
blanking pulse lengths.
More needed
The .\1).1S is only part of the solution to the
probleni of last interpretation of reconnaissance
And surveillance plioto1.4raplis. liottleneeks still tie-
( becallsC 1)1(1 ii ;old their annotatioo
:mist be subjected to htinia71 tiialysis. The Air
For(e, at its Bonn. Air 1)e?i lopinent (:cnter iiii(1
\Viight-Patterson .1ir Force lase, is studvitill,
svs-
Ititis that ?vill inechaiiiic and speed up interpreta-
tion of military intellitzence. t)ii,? approach com-
bines a central data recor(lei and :l1)AS s() that
once the mission profile data stoicd on iniel,nytic
tape. it Call be computer-processed to g( iterate in-
ti?lligence information ill near real time.
ADAS and data recorders
The armed services atre making extensive use of the
antomatic data annotation system, ADAS. to iden-
tify reconnaissance film but they still have to use
optical techniques for information readout. Recently,
LI e Rome Air Development Center awarded the first
of several contracts for central data recorders and
other automatic film-processing equipment. Bids are
now being submitted on a contract lor similar equip-
ment for the Aerimantical Systems division at
Wright-Patterson Air Foree Base.
The central data recorders will be used with real-
time computers. An airborne ADAS would feed mis-
sion-profile data to the recorder; the inhirmation
\mold be buffered. processed, and stored on record-
ing tape. Alter the plane lauded, the recorder's
II emory bank would feed the profile information to
it computer. The computer could then drive a chart
or map to plot the course the plane had followed.
Since all the target's coordinates would he stored
in the computer's memory, intelligence officers who
interpret photos could almost instantly spot a target
of interest. By proper interrogation of the computer,
they could constaittly update or compare target data.
The Army is also investigating methods of auto-
matically interpreting surveillance photos. According
to one Army spokesman, the most urgent require-
ment in the surveillance program is an auto-
mated imagery interpretation system that can pick
ont targets such as tanks, guus, launchers, supply
dumps, and so forth without human intervention.
Additionally, they want the automatic system to be
;kW to review specific areas to pick out frames in
which changes have occurred. W.J.E.
Three-man photo-intelligence team at work
inside a reconnaissance data-reduction
shelter. The ADAS lightens their work load.
ar
Recording head assemblies and a panoramic-camera
reconnaissance system are being mounted in the nose
of a supersonic RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft.
Compact assemblies make up the auxiliary data
annotation set (ADAS). The special recording head
assemblies are in the foreground; behind them (left to
right), is the cockpit test display unit, time insertion
unit and the auxiliary data translator unit.
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