364:
409:. DATAR performed well, everyone being sent proper displays of the radar and simulated sonar "blips". The test was a complete success, and the Navy was apparently extremely pleased. The only serious concern was the failure rate of the tubes, which meant that the machine was non-operational for a considerable amount of time. Ferranti was extremely interested in adapting the DATAR system to a
416:
However, equipping the entire Royal
Canadian Navy's fleet would be extremely expensive. In order to lower the overall cost, the Navy wanted to spread the development costs across a larger production line, and invited representatives of the Royal Navy and US Navy to view the system. They proved to be
342:
ball and trigger to send position info over the PCM links to the DATAR. DATAR then processed the locations, translated everything into the various ship's local view, and sent the data back to them over the same PCM links. Here it was displayed on another console originally adapted from a radar unit.
279:
data between ships, processing the data in order to present a unified view of the battlefield relative to any particular ship's current heading and location. Belyea had experience with naval training simulators, and thus knew that conventional electrical analogue computation and display would not be
284:
Belyea's basic idea of sharing precise real time radar and sonar data between all ships in a convoy, compensating for ship movement and distinguishing between friendly and enemy ships was years ahead of its time. Indeed, it was a quantum jump into the future and although I am by no means up to date
437:
The DATAR project thus ended on a somewhat sour note. The system had gone from concept to working prototype in less than four years, and was by any measure a complete success. Yet the cost of deployment was simply too much for the Royal
Canadian Navy to bear alone, and they decided to do without.
239:
of
Ferranti in the UK, Vincent Ziani de Ferranti, who became excited at the prospect of enlarging their Canadian operations largely funded by the government. At a meeting in October 1948 de Ferranti was disappointed to learn that while the DRB was equally excited, the amount of money they had to
289:
However he had no good idea how to accomplish this, so he approached
Ferranti, who had recently met with the DRB. Instead of the cash-strapped DRB, Belyea offered funding directly from the Navy itself. As Belyea was a lieutenant, he only had authority to approve contracts up to CAN$ 5,000. As a
209:
At the
Atlantic Convoy Conference of 1943, Canada was given shared control of all convoys running between the British Isles and North America. At the time, it was a role of unprecedented importance because it gave Canada a key command role over the United States. After the war, Canada sought to
482:
A number of historical reports covering DATAR claim the trackball was invented for DATAR, but the trackball was already in use in the late 1940s as part of a UK project that was essentially an analog computer version of the same concept. This CDS system was known to
Canadian engineers at the
55:
318:
dramatically shifted the government's spending priorities, and 100 new ships were ordered in 1951. Along with this came renewed interest in DATAR, and over the next two years they spent $ 1.9 million ($ 22 million in 2024) developing a prototype. The prototype machine used 3,800
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impressed and looked under the display console, believing the display was being faked. But no matter how impressed they were, it appears they felt they could do better on their own, and declined to get involved. The Royal Navy would start work on their
195:
When one of the two computers was destroyed by fire, the company was unable to raise funds for a replacement, and the project ended. The circuitry design used in the system would be applied to several other
Ferranti machines over the next few years.
226:
electronics firms informing them of their intention to start a number of projects that would partner the military, academia and private companies. A copy of the letter was sent to
Ferranti Canada, then a small distributor of
179:
A demonstration carried out in the fall of 1953 was by most measures an unqualified success, to the point where some observers thought it was being faked. By this time the US Air Force was well into development of their
290:
cunning solution, Belyea put out several contracts under different names all to
Ferranti. This solution pleased everyone and the DATAR project was born in 1949, Ferranti setting up a new shop under the direction of
167:
project along similar lines but believed their solution was so superior that they would eventually be able to develop the system on behalf of all three forces. They also believed sales were possible to the
446:
The DATAR work did not go completely to waste. Ferranti Canada used the basic DATAR design on a number of projects, transistorizing it in the process. The system eventually led to both
252:. Belyea had been developing the idea of an automated battlefield control system for some time, after having studied the problem of dealing with a coordinated attack by submarines on
268:
improved it appeared that a coordinated all-underwater attack was a real possibility, one for which he felt an effective defence would require much faster reaction times.
136:. DATAR combined the data from all of the sensors in a naval task force into a single "overall view" that was then transmitted back to all of the ships and displayed on
184:
system and the RCAF decided that commonality with that force was more important than commonality with their own Navy. The Royal Navy computerized their CDS in the new
185:
210:
protect its role as the
Western Alliance's anti-submarine and escort navy. In order to do so, they would need to invest in an ambitious naval research agenda.
753:
285:
at the time of writing (September, 2002) I am virtually certain that all modern naval task forces basically incorporate the Belyea concepts.
510:"Electronic Expenditures," Department of Defence Production papers, RG 49, Volume 60, File 200-10-8, vol. 1, National Archives of Canada.
473:
Sources have inflated the number of tubes reportedly used by DATAR to ridiculous numbers, from 10,000 to 20,000 and finally to 30,000.
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219:
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427:
327:. The system could supply data for 64 targets with a resolution of 40 by 40 yards over an 80 by 80 nautical mile grid.
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In a production setting, only one ship in a task force would carry the DATAR computer. The rest of the ships had
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314:(PCM) radio system that was able to transmit digitized radar data over long distances. The opening of the
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displays. Commanders could then see information from everywhere, not just their own ship's sensors.
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Word of the meeting reached Jim Belyea, a researcher at the Navy's electrical laboratories outside
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automatically, relying on the operators to continue feeding new data into the system by hand.
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allowed the defenders to deal with them one-by-one, but as the capabilities of the newer
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155:(CDS), which Canadian engineers were familiar with. The project was started by the
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540:"DATAR - First Digital Computer/Communications System for Anti-Submarine Warfare"
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163:(later known as Ferranti-Packard) in 1949. They were aware of CDS and a
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The Admirals: Canada's Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century
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381:. A simulated convoy was set up, consisting of a shore station on the
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54:
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by Clive Akass repeats the story that DATAR invented the trackball.
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system, and the US Navy decided on a somewhat simpler system, the
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644:
Ferranti-Packard: Pioneers in Canadian Electrical Manufacturing
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By 1950 the small team at Ferranti Canada had built a working
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413:-based design, which they believed would solve this issue.
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electrical equipment. The letter was forwarded to the then-
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the slow speeds and short submerged range of the typical
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Richard Howard Gimblett, Michael Whitby, Peter Haydon,
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million (almost CAN$ 15 million in year-2000 dollars)
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147:Development of the DATAR system was spurred by the
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377:The system was first tested in late 1953 on
323:and stored data for up to 500 objects on a
16:Computerized battlefield information system
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192:. No orders for DATAR were forthcoming.
130:Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving
709:IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
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373:was used to test DATAR on Lake Ontario.
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683:
578:
417:equally impressed; one US officer was
305:
640:Ball, Norman; Vardalas, John (1993).
501:
351:(SAGE) system, DATAR did not develop
705:"From DATAR To The FP-6000 Computer"
334:that allowed the operators to use a
754:The men who really invented the GUI
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13:
14:
812:
747:
441:
426:that year under the direction of
349:Semi Automatic Ground Environment
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132:, was a pioneering computerized
53:
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688:. Beckham Publications Group.
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476:
467:
134:battlefield information system
1:
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359:"Battleships" on Lake Ontario
176:for continental air control.
495:
424:Comprehensive Display System
205:Canadian Navy during the War
153:Comprehensive Display System
7:
271:Belyea's idea was to share
10:
817:
666:When Computers Went to Sea
432:Naval Tactical Data System
240:offer was basically zero.
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190:Naval Tactical Data System
18:
222:sent a letter to various
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104:
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83:
75:
61:
52:
663:Boslaugh, David (2003).
648:. McGill-Queen's Press.
613:Ball & Vardalas 1993
460:
170:Royal Canadian Air Force
138:plan-position indicators
79:Prototype tested in 1953
801:One-of-a-kind computers
765:, Dundurn Press, 2006,
703:Vardalas, John (1994).
684:Porter, Arthur (2004).
345:United States Air Force
686:So Many Hills to Climb
374:
287:
280:sufficient for DATAR.
220:Defence Research Board
218:In 1948, the Canadian
186:Action Data Automation
21:DATAR (disambiguation)
452:Ferranti-Packard 6000
366:
343:In contrast with the
312:pulse-code modulation
282:
430:, and the US Navy's
338:based on a Canadian
159:in partnership with
68:in partnership with
19:For other uses, see
566:Ball/Vardalas, 1993
306:The DATAR prototype
157:Royal Canadian Navy
66:Royal Canadian Navy
49:
796:Military computers
786:Ferranti computers
383:Scarborough Bluffs
375:
332:computer terminals
108:Adapted radar unit
84:Introductory price
26:
721:10.1109/85.279228
123:
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743:
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731:. Archived from
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340:five-pin bowling
244:Belyea's concept
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791:Early computers
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542:. 12 April 2017
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151:'s work on the
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748:External links
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442:DATAR's legacy
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735:on 2006-01-16
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655:0-7735-0983-6
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627:, p. 66.
626:
625:Boslaugh 2003
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598:, p. 62.
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596:Boslaugh 2003
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737:. Retrieved
733:the original
715:(2): 20–30.
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634:Bibliography
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544:. Retrieved
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393:minesweepers
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379:Lake Ontario
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321:vacuum tubes
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258:World War II
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174:US Air Force
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128:, short for
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76:Release date
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39:
35:
31:
27:
579:Porter 2004
300:Avro Canada
140:similar to
119:and trigger
99:Drum memory
780:Categories
739:2005-10-16
546:2017-04-24
491:References
411:transistor
404:HMCS
397:HMCS
316:Korean War
149:Royal Navy
669:. Wiley.
496:Citations
455:mainframe
434:in 1956.
336:trackball
298:near the
256:. During
117:Trackball
62:Developer
46:esolving
34:utomated
729:15277748
450:and the
448:ReserVec
385:and two
302:plants.
229:Ferranti
224:Canadian
88:CAN$ 1.9
38:racking
254:convoys
200:History
165:US Navy
105:Display
48:(DATAR)
30:igital
769:
727:
692:
673:
652:
406:Granby
390:-class
388:Bangor
353:tracks
296:Malton
262:U-boat
250:Ottawa
95:Memory
725:S2CID
483:time.
461:Notes
399:Digby
370:Digby
368:HMCS
277:sonar
273:radar
142:radar
126:DATAR
113:Input
767:ISBN
690:ISBN
671:ISBN
650:ISBN
402:and
275:and
182:SAGE
172:and
717:doi
419:too
347:'s
294:in
237:CEO
231:'s
42:nd
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723:.
713:16
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603:^
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658:.
581:.
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529:.
44:R
40:a
36:T
32:A
28:D
23:.
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