Advanced Technology Airborne Computer
{{Short description|Type of computer}}
{{One source|date=June 2024}}
The Advanced Technology Airborne Computer (ATAC) was a product of Itek (a division of Litton Industries), used on US naval aircraft, and the NASA Galileo (spacecraft).{{cite report|last=Tomayko |first=James E. |title=Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience |publisher=NASA History Office |date=March 1988 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19880069935/downloads/19880069935.pdf |access-date=29 October 2020}}{{rp|198–201}}
The ATAC was built using AMD 2901 4-bit processors and had a basic cycle time of 250 ns.{{rp|198}} It could be programmed in HAL/S, and could be microprogrammed to add new instructions. The Galileo project added four instructions.
Use on US Naval aircraft
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Use by [[Galileo project]]
The Galileo Attitude and Articulation Control System (AACSE) was controlled by two Itek Advanced Technology Airborne Computers (ATAC), built using radiation-hardened 2901s.{{rp|201,207}} The project wrote their own GRACOS (Galileo realtime Attitude Control Operating System).
The Galileo project had radiation-hardened 2901 processors made (by Sandia National Lab) for the spacecraft.{{rp|202}}
References
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Further reading
- {{cite book|chapter-url=https://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch6-3.html|chapter=Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience|title=Distributed Computing On Board Voyager and Galileo|date=March 1988 |publisher=NASA|access-date=August 26, 2014 |last1=Tomayko |first1=James E. }}
Category:Aircraft Research aircraft
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