IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 54
in vehicles, weather monitoring, aerial
reconnaissance, even for seeing through
walls. But as applications for it proliferate at an accelerating rate, government
regulators, including those in the United
States, are having a hard time keeping up.
It's vital that they do, because foot
dragging on their part threatens to slow
the pace of innovation. If you have any
doubts, read on and discover just how
deeply radar has integrated itself into
the fabric of modern industrial society,
despite what I regard as a problematic
regulatory environment. It's a cautionary tale, and though I'm concerned with
54
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feb 2015
|
north american
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radar here, the warning is relevant to
many technologies-including drones,
app-based ride sharing, and cryptocurrencies, to mention just a few.
M
uch of the development of radar during
World War II, building on Watson-Watt's
work, took place at
MIT's Radiation Laboratory-the direct
predecessor of the still-active Research
Laboratory of Electronics. U.S. contributions helped to make radar equipment more effective and reliable, and
SPectrUm.ieee.orG
also a lot smaller. One compact model,
with electronics the size of a shoebox,
warned fighter pilots of enemy aircraft
approaching from behind. This device
found another wartime application as
well: The nuclear bombs dropped over
Hiroshima and Nagasaki each carried
four of these units to monitor the dwindling distance to the ground as the bombs
descended, so that detonation could be
triggered at a preset altitude.
Vigorous development of radar continued after the war, and along with
improvements to military systems, two
civilian applications quickly emerged:
CloCkwise from top left: Bettmann/CorBis; antonio fuCCi/radiomilitari.Com;
Bettmann/CorBis; Hulton-deutsCH ColleCtion/CorBis; ap pHoto
RADAR'S mIlITARy ROOTS: Radar guided the naval airmen working on the aircraft carrier USS Essex in 1945 [top left]. The compact APS13 radar [top right]
was used in some fighter aircraft of that era and also for altitude sensing in the first atomic bombs. Radar was further refined during the Cold War, when it
scanned the skies for an impending nuclear strike. Initially, men, like those working at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland in 1957 [middle right], monitored
the screens visually. Later, radar-based detection of nuclear threats, such as that supplied by stations of the Distant Early Warning Line [bottom left], was
automated. All this was an outgrowth of radar's invention by Sir Robert Watson-Watt [bottom right].
http://SPectrUm.ieee.orG
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum February, 2015
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 1
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 2
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 4
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 5
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 6
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 7
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 8
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 9
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 10
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 11
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 12
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 13
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 14
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 15
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 16
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 17
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 18
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 19
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 20
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 21
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 22
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 23
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 24
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 25
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 26
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 27
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 28
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 29
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 30
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 31
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 32
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 33
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 34
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 35
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 36
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 37
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 38
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 39
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 40
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 41
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 42
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 43
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 44
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 45
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 46
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 47
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 48
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 49
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 50
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 51
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 52
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 53
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 54
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 55
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 56
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 57
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 58
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 59
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 60
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 61
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 62
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 63
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 64
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 65
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 66
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 67
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - 68
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum February, 2015 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0411
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0510
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1209
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