AN EXAMINATION OF SEAGOING COMPUTERS 

 (Opening Remarks to Panel Discussion on Seagoing Computers) 



T. E. Ewart 



Applied Physics Laboratory 



University of Washington 



INTRODUCTION 



The digital computer has had almost as profound an effect on 

 science and scientists as the transistor has had on electronics 

 and electronic designers. The computer has had a very major 

 impact on scientific budgets and on the allocation of scientific 

 manpower. The computer is not just a gadget but is an important 

 adjunct to scientific research and practical development. 



We scientists who participate in ocean research have been 

 slow in acquiring computing skills, especially in the "at sea" 

 phase of our research. Other fields such as physics have incor- 

 porated computers into the research as fast as computer technology 

 developed, and many state-of-the-art developments in computers 

 have been produced by research programs. 



Throughout the remainder of this talk I shall attempt to 

 present economic and scientific arguments for selecting the 

 proper computers for "at sea" usage. Much of the information 

 I have used in preparing this talk has been gained through 

 operation of our seagoing computer and data acquisition system 

 since February 1966. This computer system is described in detail 

 in the "Proceedings of the Marine Technology Society's Symposium 

 on Seagoing Computers" held in January 1969. 



PHILOSOPHY 



Seagoing computers can be divided into three operational 

 categories. The first is small computers, costing $8000 to 

 $20,000, directly connected to specific scientific apparatus. 

 Examples of this type of system are found in satellite navigation; 

 salinity, temperature and depth data acquisition; gravity and 

 magnetic data acquisition and many others. These applications 

 are characterized by the fact that shoreside programs are 

 written to take data in a particular fashion and perform a 

 particular analysis or data handling operation. Such computers 

 have been called "dedicated" computers. 



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