Signal Corps Laboratories Signal Corps Laboratories ( SCL ) was formed on June 30 , 1930 , as part of the U . S . Army Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth , New Jersey . Through the years , the SCL had a number of changes in name , but remained the operation providing research and development services for the Signal Corps . Background . At the beginning of World War I in 1917 , the U . S . Army Signal Corps opened a training facility named Camp Vail in east - central New Jersey . This facility was named after Alfred Vail , an inventor associated with Samuel F . B . Morse . Later that year , the Army established the Signal Corps Radio Laboratories at Camp Vail , devoted to research in radio and electronics . The overall installation was upgraded and became Fort Vail . Under the direction of Col . ( Dr . ) George Owen Squier , the Radio Laboratories centered on the standardization of vacuum tube s and the testing of equipment manufactured for the Army by commercial firms . Experimentation was also being done on radio communications with aircraft , detection of aircraft using sound and electromagnetic waves , and meteorology . Squier had earlier made a major contribution to communications by developing multiplexing , for which he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1919 . After the end of WWI , aviation communication was transferred to the Signal Corps Aircraft Radio Laboratory at Wright Field in Dayton , Ohio . The Radio Laboratories at Camp Vail continued at a low level , centering on design and testing of radio sets , field telephone and telegraph equipment , and meteorology . The facility survived as an Army installation by the Signal Corps moving all of its schools to Camp Vail , with the consolidation named the Signal School . In 1925 , Fort Vail was renamed Fort Monmouth . Although overshadowed by the Signal School and at a reduced scale due to budget restrictions , the Radio Laboratory remained an important activity at Fort Monmouth . Developments included a variety of radios for voice and Morse - code communications . Coupling capabilities in electronics and meteorology , in 1929 the Laboratory developed and launched the first radio - equipped weather balloon . Formation of the SCL . As the Great Depression started in 1930 , decline in economic conditions forced the consolidation of the Signal Corps ’ widespread laboratories . The Electrical and Meteorological Laboratories and the Signal Corps Laboratory at the National Bureau of Standards , both previously in Washington , D . C . , were moved to Fort Monmouth . The Subaqueous ( Sediment ) Sound Ranging Laboratory was transferred there from Fort H . G . Wright , New York . The Aircraft Radio Laboratory , however , remained at Wright Field . On June 30 , 1930 , the consolidated operations at Fort Monmouth became the Signal Corps Laboratories ( SCL ) . The initial SCL had a personnel strength of 5 officers , 12 enlisted men , and 53 civilians . Major ( Dr . ) William R . Blair was named Director . The SCL was responsible for the Army ' s ground radio and wire communication development and for improvement of the meteorological service . The next year , this Laboratory was also made responsible for research in the detection of aircraft by acoustics and electromagnetic radiation . While the number of personnel was inadequate for major work in these many and diverse areas , Blair , the Director , was personally knowledgeable in all of them . During the 1920s , the Army Ordnance Corps at Frankford Arsenal had made tests in detecting infrared emitted from airplane engines or reflected by their surfaces . When the SCL was formed , this work was transferred to that Laboratory . Carrying this forward , in 1931 , Blair initiated Project 88 , “ Position Finding by Means of Light . ” Here “ light ” was used in the general sense of electromagnetic radiation , including infrared and very short - length ( microwave ) radio waves . Initially , emphasis was placed on special devices with high - gain amplification for detecting reflected infrared from an illuminating searchlight . In August 1932 , this equipment was used to track a blimp at a distance of over a mile . Further pursuit of active detection techniques was then abandoned because of the limit of infrared energy available from searchlight sources . Although research continued at the SCL in the passive detection of infrared emitted from heated aircraft engines , Blair became convinced that practical detection systems would involve reflected radio signals . He was certainly influenced in this by his earlier doctoral research in this field , and he was aware of the work on radio detection at the Naval Research Laboratory ( NRL ) in Washington , D . C . In December 1930 , representatives of the SCL had been briefed at the NRL on the beat - interference phenomena that they were investigating , and in 1932 , an NRL report on radio interference for target - detection was passed on to the Army . It does not appear , however , that any of this information was used by Blair . Radio - Based Target Detection . The SCL ' s first definitive efforts in radio - based target detection started in 1934 when the Chief of the Army Signal Corps , after seeing a microwave demonstration by RCA , suggested that radio - echo techniques be investigated . Emphasis was placed on assessing capabilities of the existing microwave tubes , including a German - built Hollmann tube with an output at 50 cm ( 600 MHz ) , and a 9 - cm ( 3 - GHz ) magnetron on loan from RCA . Neither of these devices produced sufficient power for use in detection systems . . To house the activities of the SCl , Squier Hall was constructed in 1935 . The facility was named to honor Dr . George O . Squier , founder of the SCL and Chief Signal Officer during WWI . Lt . Colonel Roger B . Colton was assigned as the SCL Executive Officer . During 1934 and 1935 , tests of microwave RPF equipment resulted in Doppler - shifted signals being obtained , initially at only a few hundred feet distance and later over several miles . These tests involved a bi - static arrangement , with the transmitter at one end of the line of transmission and the receiver at the other , and the reflecting target passing through or near the path . The development state of this Doppler - beat detector was summarized by Blair in 1935 : In an internal report , Blair noted that the SCL might investigate another technique : Radio Position Finding . In 1936 , a small project in pulsed microwave transmission was started by W . Delmar Hershberger . The SCL called this technique radio position - finding ( RPF ) . Lacking success with microwaves , Hershberger visited the NRL ( where he had earlier worked ) and saw their 200 - MHz pulsed set . Back at the SCL , he and Robert H . Noyes built an experimental set with a 110 - MHz ( 2 . 73 - m ) pulsed transmitter and a receiver patterned on the one at the NRL . A request for project funding was turned down by the War Department , but , with the backing of the Chief Signal Officer , Maj . Gen . James B . Allison , $ 75 , 000 for support was diverted from a previous appropriation for a communication project . In October 1936 , Paul E . Watson ( later Lt . Colonel ) became the SCL Chief Engineer and led the project . A field setup near the coast was made with the transmitter and receiver separated by a mile . On December 14 , the experimental set detected at up to range aircraft flying in and out of New York City . Development of a prototype system followed , with Captain Rex Corput as the Project Officer . Ralph I . Cole headed receiver work and William S . Marks led transmitter improvements . Separate antennas and receivers were used for azimuth and elevation measurements . These receiving antennas , plus the transmitting antenna , were made of large arrays of dipole wires on wooden frames . The system output was used to aim a searchlight . The first demonstration of the full set was made on the night of May 26 , 1937 . An unlighted bomber was detected and then illuminated by the searchlight . The observers included the Secretary of War , Henry A . Woodring ; he was so impressed that the next day orders were given for the full development of the system . With strong support from General Allison , a special Congressional appropriation of $ 250 , 000 was obtained . The frequency was increased to 200 MHz ( 1 . 5 m ) . The transmitter used 16 tubes in a ring oscillator circuit ( developed at the NRL ) , producing about 75 - kW peak power . Colton wanted lobe switching for the receiving antennas , and Major James C . Moore was assigned to head the resulting complex electrical and mechanical design . Engineers from Western Electric and Westinghouse were brought in to assist in the overall development . First Fielded Army Systems . For better security and more space , the RPF activities were moved to Fort Hancock , New Jersey . This was an isolated location on Sandy Hook , a sandbar peninsula reaching into the New York Harbor . During 1938 , Blair ’ s health failed , and the position of SCL Director was taken over by Roger Colton , who was then promoted to Colonel . ( After succeeding Blair as the Director of the SCL , Colton remained until September 1944 , when he transferred to the Army Air Forces . He was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Service Medal for his work at the SCL . ) Colton arranged for the demonstration of a prototype system in late November 1938 . The system was designated SCR - 268 , with SCR meaning either Set Complete Radio or Signal Corps Radio used interchangeably in documents . The SCR - 268 was primarily intended for aiming searchlights associated with anti - aircraft guns ; the system allowed coarse pointing of a thermal infrared detector , and this then aimed the searchlight . The night demonstration was for the Coast Artillery Board and was conducted at Fort Monroe , just off the coast near Hampton , Virginia . This was almost a failure because the target , a Martin B - 10 bomber at altitude , was blown off course and flew miles out over the Atlantic . After a long return flight , it came above an opening in the clouds and , to the delight of the observers , was immediately illuminated by the radar - directed searchlight . Production of SCR - 268 sets was started by Western Electric in 1939 , and it entered service in early 1941 ; about 3 , 100 sets were eventually built . Later , the plan position indicator ( PPI ) was added and the system was designated SCR - 516 , a low - altitude early - warning radar . Another observer at the May 1937 test was Brig . Gen . Henry H . Arnold , then Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army Air Corps . This led to a request from the Air Corps for a simpler , longer - range , early - warning system . In parallel with the completion of the SCR - 268 , a new project led by Major , later Lieutenant Colonel , ( Dr . ) Harold A . Zahl got underway . Good funding and a high priority were received ; thus , development was quickly completed . This new system operated at 106 MHz ( 2 . 83 m ) and had simplifications of the antenna , elimination of lobe - switching , and the addition of a duplexer developed by Zahl . Overall , there was a sacrifice in accuracy , but thus was balanced by ease in maintenance and greater range ( up to 240 miles ) . There were two configurations – the SCR - 270 ( mobile ) and the SCR - 271 ( fixed - site ) . Westinghouse received the production contract , and started deliveries near the end of 1940 . An SCR - 270 was in service near the island of Oahu on the morning of December 7 , 1941 . At 7 : 20 , the operators reported detecting a flight of planes due north , but the Duty Officer dismissed it as “ nothing unusual ” and the alarm went unheeded . At 7 : 59 , the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor . Taking over an earlier project of the NRL , the Laboratory developed the SCR - 518 radar altimeter for the Army Air Forces . Operating at 518 MHz ( 0 . 579 m ) , this system was produced by RCA starting in 1940 . The final system weighed less than 30 pounds and was accurate to about above ground . The Laboratory was also involved in an early version of a portable , radar - based instrument landing system , eventually designated the SCS - 51 . Evans Signal Laboratory . During 1941 , the SCL again relocated , this time to Camp Evans , a site a few miles south of Fort Monmouth . Here it was called the Camp Evans Signal Laboratory , with Lt . Col . Paul E . Watson the Director . This site included the original facility of the Marconi Belmont Station , and a central building commonly called the Marconi Hotel became the headquarters . Outdoor testing of hardware was often done at Twin Lights , a lighthouse station between Camp Evans and Fort Hancock , New Jersey . In mid - 1940 , the British and American governments made the decision to exchange information on their defense technologies and enter into shared developments . The Tizard Mission initiated this exchange , bringing to America their most secret items . Among these was the cavity magnetron . This high - power generator of microwave signals was immediately seen as the solution to further developments in radar . Before the end of the year , the Radiation Laboratory ( commonly called the Rad Lab ) was established in facilities at MIT with the primary purpose of consolidating development of microwave radar . The name radar came from the acronym RADAR , coined by the U . S . Navy in 1940 as a cover for their secret activities in Radio Detection And Ranging . The name was soon adopted by the U . S . Army , replacing Radio Position Finding ( RPF ) , and by the British , replacing Radio Detection and Finding ( RDF ) . One of the first projects at the Rad Lab was the development of a mobile microwave gun - laying ( aiming ) radar for use with anti - aircraft ( AA ) guns . In May 1941 , the preliminary system was completed and a demonstration was given to now Brig . General Roger B . Colton , Chief of Research and Engineering at the SCL . He promised Army support for the final development and recommended procuring a set for every AA battery . In close cooperation with the SCL , representing the eventual user of the system , the Rad Lab developed an engineering model of the GL system . Designated XT - 1 , this was carried in four trucks , including a large power generator . To provide automatic target tracking , the Bell Telephone Laboratories ( BTL ) developed an electronic analog computer containing 160 vacuum tubes . Called the M - 9 Predictor - Corrector Unit , this computer the system could automatically track targets to and direct four anti - aircraft guns . Preliminary testing of the full GL system , now designated the SCR - 584 , was conducted by the SCL at Fort Monmouth in December 1941 . It was eventually placed into production by General Electric and Westinghouse as prime contractors . About 1 , 500 of these systems were used in both the European and Pacific war theaters . The SCR - 584 is largely credited with enabling anti - aircraft guns to destroy most of German V - 1 flying bomb s attacking London following the Normandy invasion . Wartime Radars . Although the SCL initiated its radar research using microwaves , it never returned to developing sets in this wavelength region . The Evans Signal Laboratory did , however , push the frequencies higher , primarily through Harold Zahl ' s development in 1939 of the VT - 158 , a tube generating 240 - kW pulse - power at up to 600 MHz ( 0 . 5 m ) . This was actually four triodes and their associated circuit tightly packaged in one glass envelope . Following the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor , there was a crash program to obtain radars to protect the Panama Canal Zone from a similar attack . To detect low - flying aircraft at a range allowing sufficient warning , a high - frequency system for radar picket ships offshore was needed . Captain John W . Marchetti led a 20 - person team in using the VT - 158 to adapt SCR - 268s for this application . The special project was completed in a few weeks . Marchetti ’ s team then went on to convert this into the AN / TPS - 3 , a light - weight , transportable system and the last major radar fully developed by the SCL . The set could be assembled and placed into operation by a small crew in 30 minutes . During the war , the AN / TPS - 3 was used for early warning at beachheads , isolated areas , and captured air bases . A version , AN / TQS - 3 , was developed for locating motars . Zenith manufactured about 900 total of both versions . After the war , Marchetti became the first director of the Air Force Cambridge Research Center in Massachusetts . In March 1942 , the U . S . Army was reorganized into three components : Ground Forces , Air Forces , and Service Forces . The Signal Corps was in the Service Forces . At this time , the SCL officially became the Signal Corps General Services . The operations remained at Camp Evans , and , for most purposes , continued to be referred to as the SCL or the Camp Evans Signals Laboratory . During the war years , the overall operations of the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth about 14 , 000 personnel . Most of the radar projects at the SCL were in association with the Rad Lab , primarily in transferring prototypes from the research state to rugged hardware for field use . Essentially all manufacturing was performed by commercial firms . A few of the many such systems will be noted . The SCR - 582 was an early 10 - cm radar developed for the SCL by the Rad Lab . Primarily intended as a harbor - defense system , it had a 48 - inch parabolic dish and was usually mounted atop a tower . With a PPI display , it was ideally suited for guiding ships entering harbors and could also detect low - flying aircraft at . The SCR - 682 was a transportable version . The SCL was responsible for a number of other 10 - cm radars used by the Army . Some of their air - transportable radars included the AN / CPS - 1 , an early - warning set built by General Electric with a range up to . The AN / CPS - 4 , nicknamed “ Beaver Tail ” from the shape of its beam , was a height finder set from the Rad Lab ; it was used with the SCR - 270 and SCR - 271 . The BTL developed the AN / CPS - 5 , a ground - controlled interception radar that could track targets at more than distance . Representative SCL mobile - ground radars included the AN / GPN - 2 , a search set with a range produced by Bendix Corporation , and the AN / GPN - 6 , a similar search set from the Laboratory for Electronics Inc . The AN / CPN - 18 , also made by Bendix , was the secondary surveillance radar portion of an air - traffic control system used by the Army Air Forces . In February 1945 , the Army Air Forces took over a portion of the operations ; this was designated the Watson Laboratories , named in honor of Lt . Colonel Paul E . Watson . This was later transferred to Griffiss AFB and became the Rome Air Development Center . Closure . At the end of the war in 1945 , the laboratories were again reorganized , officially forming the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratory ( SCEL ) . While for most purposes this continued to be called the Evans Signal Laboratory ( ESL ) , there was little or no further reference to the Signal Corps Laboratories . Some of the subsequent activities will be noted . The United States conducted Project Paperclip , under which a number of German scientists and engineers were brought to America to work in defense research . Twenty - four of these specialists were hired by the ESL where they made significant contributions to future radars and other electronics developments . In late 1945 , Project Diana was started at the ESL . Using a modified SCR - 271 radar with a special antenna , attempts were made receive a signal bounced off of the Moon . On January 10 , 1946 , this was successful , with the reflected signal received 2 . 5 seconds after it was transmitted . This demonstrated the potential of radio communications beyond the Earth for space probes and human explorers . In 1946 , the ESL developed the MPQ - 10 , an automatic counter - battery radar . Two years later , this was followed by the Army ’ s first weather radar . A large laboratory complex , informally called the Hexagon , was built in 1954 for the ESL operations . This was later named the Myer Center , a memorial to Albert James Meyr , founder of the Army Signal Corps . As of August 1 , 1962 , Fort Monmouth was no longer a Signal Corps installation . Under the Army Materiel Command , this became the home of the U . S . Army Electronics Command ( ECOM ) , later the U . S . Army Electronics and Communications Command ( ECCOM ) . After 80 years as the center of the Army ' s communications and electronics development , the 2005 DoD Base Realignment and Closure ( BRAC ) directed that these activities be transferred elsewhere and Fort Monmouth be closed by 2011 .