Average Response Computer
From Computer History Wiki
The Average Response Computer was not actually a computer (as implied by the name), but a digital transistor data recording/analysis device. It took a number of data samples, provided by an analog-to-digital converter, and summed and averaged them (hence the 'computer'), to remove the noise. It was built at Lincoln Laboratory in 1958. Its importance was as a predecessor to the LINC (see the tale in the Clark history, below).
Further reading
- W. A. Clark, R. M. Brown, M. H. Goldstein, C. E. Molnar, D. F. O'Brien, H.E. Zieman, "The Average Response Computer (ARC): A Digital Device for Computing Averages and Amplitude and Time Histograms of Electrophysiological Responses", IRE Trans. Biomed. Electronics, 1961
- W. A. Clark, Section B, "Average Response Computer (ARC-1)", in Communications Biophysics Quarterly Progress Report, No. 49, Research Laboratory of Electronics, April, 1958 - includes a description, block diagram and sample data
External links
- Wesley A. Clark, The LINC Was Early and Small, ACM, Proceedings of the ACM Conference on the History of Personal Workstations, 1986, pp. 133-155 - covers the ARC on pp. 136-137
- John C. Conley, Average Response Computer Program (ARC), 1960 - program to implement the functionality of the ARC on a PDP-1
