by Russell Fish rhfish@dhc.net
September 4, 1998
THE BIG QUESTION
Is the CADC designed in 1968 by Ray Holt and Steve Geller a
microprocessor? The answer is "Yes".
The chip Ray and Steve called the SLF (Special Logic Function) is a
single chip CPU. It contains an ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit),
instruction decoding, and control logic.
In addition, not only did they design a microprocessor, they designed an
entire family of compatible support chips, similar to the 1974 Motorola
6800 family of chips.
Their architecture included many advanced features including, execution
pipelines, built-in boundary scan self test, math coprocessing, and
multiprocessing. Their ROM (read only memory) included its own program
counter, seven years before David Chung at Fairchild did the same with
the F8. Their PDU and PMU chips are probably the world's first math
coprocessors, a concept reintroduced by INTEL with the 8087 in 1979.
Furthermore, not only is the CADC a microprocessor, it is an advanced
type of microprocessor called a DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
commercially pioneered in 1980 by Texas Instruments.
BACKGROUND
In 1967 an engineer one year out of Cal Poly was asked by his employer
to design an electronic F-14 flight computer to replace the mechanical
computers used on the F-111. Without computer assist, the variable
geometry F-14 was thought to be possibly unflyable.
The computer would be known as the CADC (Central Air Data Computer). It
was to receive commands from the pilot and perform the actual control of
the moveable surfaces (rudder, ailerons, etc.) in an optimized manner
taking into account the variable sweep position of the wings. This type of aircraft control is called "fly-by-wire" since there is no
mechanical connection between the pilot's movement of the stick and the
control surfaces. The advantage of fly-by-wire is that the flight
computer can make decisions to optimize the aircraft performance not
possible with human reaction time. In 1968 this was a very advanced
state of the art. The F-14 was the first producting fly-by-wire fighter.
(NOTE: The Air Force claims it flew the first fly-by-wire fighter, a
modified F4 in 1972. According to Grumman, the first F-14 flew in
December 1970 and it began deployment to the fleet in 1972.)
THE MILITARY REQUIREMENT
The computation requirement was staggering for the time. Very small,
very fast, very smart, and very rugged. Minicomputers of the same
vintage executed instructions in the range of 500khz to 1mhz at room
temperature, required a hundred or more watts of power, and consumed
five or six cubic feet of space.
The Navy required computing power more advanced than the leading
minicomputers of the day, shrunk to the size of a paper back book, and
able to perform in boiling water.
Heat is the enemy of computers. The electrons inside the transistors
bump into each other more frequently at high temperature slowing them
down. Today's PCs will drop dead if the fan quits running, long before
the temperature of boiling water.
The most popular minicomputer of the time was Digital Equipment's PDP-8,
a 12-bit machine. Twelve bits means that the computer could count to
4,095. To control the F14, the Navy required a 20-bit computer which could
count to 1,048,575.
Simply stated, given the 1968 state of the art, the specification was
not possible to meet. What was required was a significant advance of the state of the art.
THE SOLUTION
Three decades later, Mr. Holt's solution must still be viewed with awe.
It is by any definition a technical tour-de-force of the first order.
In light of today's of $400 toilet seats the CADC must be considered
military procurement at its best.
Furthermore, it is unfortunate that the project was classified since if
had been incorporated into a commercial product of the time, it could
have certainly dominated the minicomputers of the time in real-time
process control and possibly could have accelerated the microprocessor
industry by five years and DSPs by a decade. AMI might have been INTEL
or at least Motorola.
HOW THEY DID IT
The solution was a multiprocessor general purpose microcomputer
implemented in the most advanced P-MOS process of the time. Not only
did the design team create a single-chip microcomputer, but they
designed the memory chips to work with it, and the multiplier and divide
coprocessor chips to accelerate math operations.
The solution was so mathematically intensive it was not possible with a
single processor. The Holt/Geller design allowed as many as sixteen
processors to be connected together. The F-14 version used three. Only
last year INTEL was struggling to get its four processor Pentium systems
to work.
THE INTEL 4004 AND CONTEMPORARY MICROCOMPUTER CONTEXT
The INTEL 4004 introduced around 1971 was essentially an early
calculator chip, and not even the best in the industry. The motivation
for its creation was the commercial "adding machine" market. The
generalized solution chosen by Ted Hoff created a product that was less
than optimum for a calculator but was a solution which might have
utility in other areas.
The INTEL genius was marketing this calculator chip as a general purpose
computing solution and continuing to invest in and enhance the
microprocessor concept.
The 4004 was a 4-bit computer. It could count to 16. To perform the
calculator operation it broke the problem down into many operations
performed one-after-another. The business calculator it powered
performed the four-function calculator operations; addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division in response to a human pressing
keys one-at-a-time.
The CADC on the other hand was evaluating sixth order polynomial
expressions rapidly enough to move the control surfaces of a dogfighting
swing-wing supersonic fighter. The 4004 could not interface to the real world analog signals required
by a flight computer or any process controller.. It was at least a
factor of twenty too slow to perform the complex math of the CADC. The 4004 absolutely could not have controlled a fighter aircraft. Not a
dozen 4004s. Neither could the 4040, its successor introduced around
1973 nor the 8008 shortly thereafter.
The INTEL 8080 and 6800 introduced in 1974 were 8-bit processors and
could count to 255. The first commercial 16-bit microcomputers were the
National Semiconductor PACE and a design by General Instruments, both
introduced around 1975. The Nitron division of McDonald Douglas
produced a classified military 16-bit processor called the Actron in the
1973 time-frame. There may have been other classified projects of the
early 70's yet to be disclosed. The National, GI and McDonald Douglas chips while only 16-bits, were
close to the performance as the CADC. They were also five to seven
years later.
The CADC was optimized for computer control of time critical operations,
like the much later DSP chips. DSP's process very complex mathematical
problems at high speed. Many minicomputers of 1968 were doing similar
control of factory processes and machine tools. Some of the highest volume microprocessors today are found performing
similar functions in automobile emission control, fuel injection
systems, and just about every military and large commercial aircraft.
PERSPECTIVE
INTEL's place in microprocessor history is secured by a certain amount
of technical prowess including the process wizardry of Andy Grove, the
manufacturing genius of Bob Noyce, and the marketing skill of Gordon
Moore.
In the strictly technical dimension INTEL historically wasn't always
first or even the best. The INTEL 1103 DRAM was inferior to AMI DRAMs
which had on-chip sense amps. The 8080 was slower than the 6800, 6502,
and even Signetics 2650. The INTEL 8088 was definitely architecturally
inferior to the Motorola 68000. The hated segment registers are a
standing joke in the industry to this day. Just as the quarterback with the strongest arm and fleetest feet doesn't
always win, the product with the greatest technical merit doesn't always
make the most money. INTEL has consistently won the financial game
despite being occasionally late or lacking in technology.
They have done it with a little lucky, a lot of foresight, and intense
execution.
INTEL's success in no way diminishes the recently declassified
accomplishments of Mr. Holt and Mr. Geller three decades ago.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
After completing the CADC, Mr. Holt was hired by AMI where he completed
the design of an advanced microprocessor dubbed the 7200. One day in
1972, AMI management determined that there was no future in
microprocessors, and fired the entire microprocessor staff of 18. In its last fiscal year, AMI reported sales of $266 million. INTEL
reported sales of $21billion.
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