Fieldata
Encyclopedia
Fieldata was a pioneering computer project run by the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 Signal Corps in the late 1950s that intended to create a single standard for collecting and distributing battlefield information. In this respect it could be thought of as a generalization of the US Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

's SAGE
Semi Automatic Ground Environment
The Semi-Automatic Ground Environment was an automated control system for tracking and intercepting enemy bomber aircraft used by NORAD from the late 1950s into the 1980s...

 system that was being created at about the same time.

Unlike SAGE, Fieldata was intended to be much larger in scope, allowing information to be gathered from any number of sources and forms. Much of the Fieldata system was the specifications for the format the data would take, leading to a character set that would be a huge influence on ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...

 a few years later. Fieldata also specified the message formats and even the electrical standards for connecting Fieldata-standard machines together.

Another part of the Fieldata project was the design and construction of computers at several different scales, from data-input terminals at one end, to theatre-wide data processing centers at the other. Several Fieldata-standard computers were built during the lifetime of the project, including the transportable MOBIDIC from Sylvania
Osram Sylvania
Osram Sylvania Inc. is the North American operation of lighting manufacturer Osram GmbH, which is owned by Siemens AG. It was established in January 1993, with the acquisition of GTE’s Sylvania lighting division by Osram GmbH....

, and the BASICPAC and LOGICPAC from Philco
Philco
Philco, the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company , was a pioneer in early battery, radio, and television production as well as former employer of Philo Farnsworth, inventor of cathode ray tube television...

. Another system, ARTOC, was intended to provide graphical output (in the form of photographic slides), but was never completed.

Because Fieldata did not specify codes for interconnection and data transmission control, different systems used different control functions. Intercommunication between them was difficult (Mackenzie, 64).

Fieldata is the original character set used internally in UNIVAC
UNIVAC
UNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...

 computers of the 1100 series
UNIVAC 1100/2200 series
The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series is a series of compatible 36-bit computer systems, beginning with the UNIVAC 1107 in 1962, initially made by Sperry Rand...

, represented by the sixth of the 36-bit word of that computer. The direct successor to the UNIVAC 1100 is the Unisys
Unisys
Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...

 2200 series
UNIVAC 1100/2200 series
The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series is a series of compatible 36-bit computer systems, beginning with the UNIVAC 1107 in 1962, initially made by Sperry Rand...

 computers, which use Fieldata to this day (although ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...

is now also common with each character encoded in 1/4 of a word, or 9 bits).

The Fieldata project ran from 1956 until it was stopped during a reorganization in 1962.

Fieldata characters

Supervisory Bit (1) Indicator Bits (2) Detail Bits (4) Binary Bits (7) Decimal Octal Glyph Name
0 00 0000 0000000 0 0 @ MasterSpace
0 00 0001 0000001 1 1 [
0 00 0010 0000010 2 2 ]
0 00 0011 0000011 3 3 #
0 00 0100 0000100 4 4 Δ Delta
0 00 0101 0000101 5 5 Blank
0 00 0110 0000110 6 6 A
0 00 0111 0000111 7 7 B
0 00 1000 0001000 8 10 C
0 00 1001 0001001 9 11 D
0 00 1010 0001010 10 12 E
0 00 1011 0001011 11 13 F
0 00 1100 0001100 12 14 G
0 00 1101 0001101 13 15 H
0 00 1110 0001110 14 16 I
0 00 1111 0001111 15 17 J
0 01 0000 0010000 16 20 K
0 01 0001 0010001 17 21 L
0 01 0010 0010010 18 22 M
0 01 0011 0010011 19 23 N
0 01 0100 0010100 20 24 O
0 01 0101 0010101 21 25 P
0 01 0110 0010110 22 26 Q
0 01 0111 0010111 23 27 R
0 01 1000 0011000 24 30 S
0 01 1001 0011001 25 31 T
0 01 1010 0011010 26 32 U
0 01 1011 0011011 27 33 V
0 01 1100 0011100 28 34 W
0 01 1101 0011101 29 35 X
0 01 1110 0011110 30 36 Y
0 01 1111 0011111 31 37 Z
0 10 0000 0100000 32 40 )
0 10 0001 0100001 33 41
0 10 0010 0100010 34 42
0 10 0011 0100011 35 43 <
0 10 0100 0100100 36 44 =
0 10 0101 0100101 37 45 >
0 10 0110 0100110 38 46 &
0 10 0111 0100111 39 47 $
0 10 1000 0101000 40 50 *
0 10 1001 0101001 41 51 (
0 10 1010 0101010 42 52 %
0 10 1011 0101011 43 53 :
0 10 1100 0101100 44 54 ?
0 10 1101 0101101 45 55 !
0 10 1110 0101110 46 56 ,
0 10 1111 0101111 47 57 \
0 11 0000 0110000 48 60 0
0 11 0001 0110001 49 61 1
0 11 0010 0110010 50 62 2
0 11 0011 0110011 51 63 3
0 11 0100 0110100 52 64 4
0 11 0101 0110101 53 65 5
0 11 0110 0110110 54 66 6
0 11 0111 0110111 55 67 7
0 11 1000 0111000 56 70 8
0 11 1001 0111001 57 71 9
0 11 1010 0111010 58 72 '
0 11 1011 0111011 59 73 ;
0 11 1100 0111100 60 74 /
0 11 1101 0111101 61 75 .
0 11 1110 0111110 62 76 ¤ Lozenge
0 11 1111 0111111 63 77 Not Equal
1 00 0000 1000000 64 100 Blank/Idle
1 00 0001 1000001 65 101 Control Upper Case
1 00 0010 1000010 66 102 Control Lower Case
1 00 0011 1000011 67 103 Control Tab
1 00 0100 1000100 68 104 Control Carriage Return
1 00 0101 1000101 69 105 Control Space
1 00 0110 1000110 70 106 a
1 00 0111 1000111 71 107 b
1 00 1000 1001000 72 110 c
1 00 1001 1001001 73 111 d
1 00 1010 1001010 74 112 e
1 00 1011 1001011 75 113 f
1 00 1100 1001100 76 114 g
1 00 1101 1001101 77 115 h
1 00 1110 1001110 78 116 i
1 00 1111 1001111 79 117 j
1 01 0000 1010000 80 120 k
1 01 0001 1010001 81 121 l
1 01 0010 1010010 82 122 m
1 01 0011 1010011 83 123 n
1 01 0100 1010100 84 124 o
1 01 0101 1010101 85 125 p
1 01 0110 1010110 86 126 q
1 01 0111 1010111 87 127 r
1 01 1000 1011000 88 130 s
1 01 1001 1011001 89 131 t
1 01 1010 1011010 90 132 u
1 01 1011 1011011 91 133 v
1 01 1100 1011100 92 134 w
1 01 1101 1011101 93 135 x
1 01 1110 1011110 94 136 y
1 01 1111 1011111 95 137 z
1 10 0000 1100000 96 140 Dial 0
1 10 0001 1100001 97 141 Dial 1
1 10 0010 1100010 98 142 Dial 2
1 10 0011 1100011 99 143 Dial 3
1 10 0100 1100100 100 144 Dial 4
1 10 0101 1100101 101 145 Dial 5
1 10 0110 1100110 102 146 Dial 6
1 10 0111 1100111 103 147 Dial 7
1 10 1000 1101000 104 150 Dial 8
1 10 1001 1101001 105 151 Dial 9
1 10 1010 1101010 106 152 Start of Control Block
1 10 1011 1101011 107 153 Start of Block
1 10 1100 1101100 108 154 Spare
1 10 1101 1101101 109 155 Spare
1 10 1110 1101110 110 156 Spare
1 10 1111 1101111 111 157 Spare
1 11 0000 1110000 112 160 Ready to Transmit
1 11 0001 1110001 113 161 Ready to Receive
1 11 0010 1110010 114 162 Not Ready to Receive
1 11 0011 1110011 115 163 End of Blockette
1 11 0100 1110100 116 164 End of Block
1 11 0101 1110101 117 165 End of File
1 11 0110 1110110 118 166 End of Control Block
1 11 0111 1110111 119 167 Acknowledge Receipt
1 11 1000 1111000 120 170 Repeat Block
1 11 1001 1111001 121 171 Spare
1 11 1010 1111010 122 172 Interpret Sign
1 11 1011 1111011 123 173 Non-Interpret Sign
1 11 1100 1111100 124 174 Control Word Follows
1 11 1101 1111101 125 175 S.A.C.
1 11 1110 1111110 126 176 Special Character
1 11 1111 1111111 127 177 Delete
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK