Code 5401-BEO/bah 

 23 July 1958 



MEMORANDUM 



Subj: Second progress report of the Committee on Instrumentation 



at the Hydrographic Office and contracting for standard engineering 

 and production of developed and tested devices. Mr. Brock has shown 

 considerable skill at improving upon the existing design of an instrument. 

 It is recommended that his efforts be supplemented by the assistance of 

 another electronics engineer and two electronic technicians, and that 

 this group constitute a permanent unit within the Instrumentation 

 Division with the responsibility for developing new or improved 

 instruments according to the general guidelines provided by a steering 

 committee. It is expected that by the time of submission of the final 

 report, sufficient investigating and testing will have been completed 

 to recommend specific systems to be developed by the Instrumentation 

 Division. Enclosure (2) lists some of the items that the Committee 

 believes should receive early consideration. 



4. In furtherance of the second interim objective of the Committee, 

 that of summarizing performance characteristics of existing instru- 

 ments, etc., a card index of available publications concerning oceano- 

 graphic and other geophysical instruments of interest has been estab- 

 lished. The work of screening and abstracting these publications is well 

 along. In addition, more detailed evaluation sheets of instruments of 

 particular interest have been prepared. 



5. As stated in the foregoing, recommendations for specific systems 

 will be made in the next report. At present, two basic systems for 

 shipboard measurements are contemplated: one for water measurements 

 (temperatures, salinities, currents, etc.) and another for other geophys- 

 ical measurements (depths, gravity, magnetism, and stratification and 

 structure of the ocean floor). In addition, longer range plans should 

 be made for systematic instrumentation of aircraft for measurements 

 other than magnetic. Additional consideration must also be given to 

 miscellaneous measurements, such as plankton count and other biological 

 sampling, bottom cores, and measurement of ice drift and thickness. 



6. The fourth objective, the continued collection and evaluation of 

 information on new instruments and systems concepts, is provided 

 for by the card index and evaluation forms. More specific information 

 will be obtained on some items through personal contacts. 



B-2 



