The Antikythera mechanism, a type of device used to determine the positions of heavenly bodies known as an orrery, was described as an early mechanical analog computer by British physicist, information scientist, and historian of science Derek J.
The Antikythera mechanism, dating between 150 and 100 BC, was an early analog computer. Some of them may even have been dubbed 'computers' by the press, though they may fail to fit modern definitions. This is a list of examples of early computation devices considered precursors of the modern computers. See also: Timeline of computing hardware before 1950 More complex applications, such as aircraft flight simulators and synthetic-aperture radar, remained the domain of analog computing (and hybrid computing) well into the 1980s, since digital computers were insufficient for the task. Perhaps the most relatable example of analog computers are mechanical watches where the continuous and periodic rotation of interlinked gears drives the second, minute and hour needles in the clock. Complex mechanisms for process control and protective relays used analog computation to perform control and protective functions.Īnalog computers were widely used in scientific and industrial applications even after the advent of digital computers, because at the time they were typically much faster, but they started to become obsolete as early as the 1950s and 1960s, although they remained in use in some specific applications, such as aircraft flight simulators, the flight computer in aircraft, and for teaching control systems in universities.
Slide rules and nomograms are the simplest, while naval gunfire control computers and large hybrid digital/analog computers were among the most complicated. In contrast, digital computers represent varying quantities symbolically and by discrete values of both time and amplitude ( digital signals).Īnalog computers can have a very wide range of complexity. TR-10 desktop analog computer of the late 1960s and early 1970sĪn analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities ( analog signals) to model the problem being solved. The Norden bombsight was a highly sophisticated optical/mechanical analog computer used by the United States Army Air Force during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War to aid the pilot of a bomber aircraft in dropping bombs accurately. For the Atari 8-bit computer magazine, see ANALOG Computing.Ī page from the Bombardier's Information File (BIF) that describes the components and controls of the Norden bombsight.
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