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The AN/FSQ-7 (aka "Whirlwind II") intercept computer, developed by Cambridge Research Laboratory and IBM in partnership with the US Air Force, was, as its alias suggests, a modified Whirlwind computer. It was used in performing air defense command and control functions for the SAGE air defense system.
The computer system was first tested by placing it at a control center in Cambridge, Massachusetts to receive data from a long-range and several short-range radars set up on Cape Cod. The key breakthrough was the development of magnetic core memory that vastly improved the machine's reliability, operating speed (×2), and input speed (×4) over the original storage vacuum tube memory.
References
- Morton M. Astrahan, John F. Jacobs, History of the Design of the SAGE Computer - The AN/FSQ/7 (Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 5 (No. 4), 1983, pp. 340-349)
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