Evening star., 1952-02-11
Self Driving Missile
Needs Better Brains
s
Thot's What Physicists
Are Building Right Now
By Thomos R. Henry

Building better brains into guided
missileS-so that they can ind their
own targets without any guidance after
they are fired or navigate over great
expanses Of land or sea by the stars or
q radio guidance networks the job OK
physicists at the John Hopkins Labora.
tory Of Applied Physics outside Wash.
ington. where some Of the most re.
stricted Of all defense weapons are being
forged.
These brains must, In sense, be
better brains at least quicker ones
than those Of man.
The early v weapons devised by the
Germans and shot over Britain IN the
last year Of the war were. after al.
morons. They could only do what tney
were told by some artilleryman on tho
ground. Very slightly improved IN brain
power were the smplificationS q these
by scientists of Allied nations after the
war. They really had no initiative. orig
inality or imagination. and probably
would be Of little value In the highly
technical warfare Of the future.
No Reports Permitted.
The task at the Johns Hopkins Lab
oratory. which works on projects In close
association with the Navy. is highly
secret and no report can be made on
the actual progress made towards any
OF the objectiveS. The physicists there
can however, talk about the various
lines along which progress may, or may
not. be under way. These. 1t may be
presumed, are fairly familiar anyway ito
the physicists Of any potential enemy.
Most obvious OF all setups. 1t Is re-
vealed by DR.. Ralph z. Gibson. director.
of the laboratory, in a recent johns
Hopkins publication. is command
guidance system" in which ground
radio or radar system tracks both the
missile and the target. A computer, set
l1p in conjunction with the radar sta
ton. automatically calculates what ad-
iustments must be made in its course
to cause the missile to hit the target
and transmits instructions which cause
it to take that course.
This is really a moron" DR.. Gibson
says. The computing system on the
ground, however, must be fairly intel
ligent in a limited way. It must be QUICK
and accurate. above any human capac-
ity, with figures. ~
MISSILE WHn OUNSCtCMCGs
The second type follows an. artificial
path in space, such as could be set up
by a radar beam directed towards itS
target. It has a mechanism which ofients
1t constantly to the axis OF this artl-
fetal path. This is described as missile
with a conscience" This conscience
hurts when it goes wrong, and 1t cor
rects its behavior at once.
The third type must have con-
siderably higher order OF intelligence
since, once 1t leaves the ground. IT Is
on it's own. It must locate and direct
itself towards It's own target with no
outside assistance. It receives 0 direc.
ton system straight from the target
itself through radio echoes. heat waves.
and the like, and these cause 1t TO
change its course. This type Is described
as extremely accurate at reasonably close
range but It's range ID relatively quits
restricted. $50 ss,a -.
J The fourth type Is equipped with the
kind Of brain which enables Il to ADJUST
It's own course over great distances. as
might be necessary In using 1t against
enemy cities. a1ss Gssssrs $50 4
Defined by GyFO& 4 1888
''It may use," says the Johns Hopkins
report. such q natural frame Of REFER
ence as the stars. or the direction OF
the vertical, or an artificial frame or
reference such as an electro-magnetic
network. Under this system falls the
dead reckoning system, In which the
frame Of reference Is defined BY gyroS
and In which the motion Of the missile
is followed by accelerometers."
In this work the Johns. Hopkins
scientists have devised special compute
ing machines called flight simulators. I"
Into them are fed extremely complex
mathematical data from which the
machines produce curves showing the
type of course the missile viii dy: In
formation Of the probability Of success
of an actual flight can be obtained from
them. In single morning one Of the
physicists can complete studies which
otherwise would require the flying Of
from so to 100 actual missiles.
Broadly speaking Dr.. Gibson Is
quoted, "the guidance problem is In the
forefront of mans attempt to endow
his guided missile creature with more
sensitive, more versatile and more re-
sponsive intelligence and with more re-
liable and stronger sinews TO translate