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Fieldata
Encyclopedia
Fieldata was a pioneering computer project run by the US Army
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
's SAGE
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
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
, and the BASICPAC and LOGICPAC from Philco
. 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
computers of the 1100 series
, represented by the sixth of the 36-bit word of that computer. The direct successor to the UNIVAC 1100 is the Unisys
2200 series
computers, which use Fieldata to this day (although ASCII
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.
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 |