What SAGE Was
SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) was the military response to the perceived Cold War threat that came into being almost immediately after WWII. The concern was for the Air Defense of North America. SAGE was the technical answer to the need to convert raw radar data to digital form and display it in real-time. This enabled SAGE operators to detect and and direct the intercept of any unknown aircraft penetrating the air space of the North American Continent. The Air Defense Command of the United States Air Force had the command authority to operate and maintain the SAGE system.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Lab was responsible for the design and manufacture of the AN/FSQ-7/8 computer system. The MITRE Corporation was responsible for the design and implementation of the software. SAGE was perhaps the start of the military-industrial complex that exists to this day. The origin of much of the computer technology existing today had its beginning in SAGE.
The revolution of the technology industry that began in WWII was largely influenced by three massive government projects - the Manhattan Project, SAGE and the Apollo Program.
Purpose Of The SAGE Site
To record and publicize the seminal contribution SAGE made to the development of computer technology, both in hardware and software. The SAGE system firmly established that a large scale, network connected, computerized system consisting of many computers and devices could be highly effective and reliable.
To provide an archive for as much technical information as is available regarding all aspects of the AN/FSQ-7/8 computer system, including, but not limited to, the design, manufacture, software, peripherals and physical plant. Especially welcomed are photographs of any aspect of the SAGE system.
To encourage visitors to this site who were in any way associated with SAGE to contribute their personal history.
The AN/FSQ-7 Maintenance Control Room
The photograph below shows a typical SAGE Direction Center Maintenance Control room. When visitors entered on a tour, they typically were quite impressed with seeing the computer. But they were not actually seeing the computer - only the Maintenance Consoles from which the Operator and the Maintenance Technicians controlled both the Active and Standby Q7 computers. Along the sides of the room are seen long windows. These windows open onto the huge room that housed both of the Q7 computer frames . The Active Computer controlled the current air defense situation and supplied all of the real-time data to the various situation display consoles on the upper floors. The StandBy Computer was either running in tandem with, or connected to, the Active Computer; should the Active Computer have failed the Operator would immediately have made the StandBy Computer the Active Computer. This switching of computers could go undetected by the people at the Situation Display Consoles upstairs in the so-called War Room. Normally, visitors were not allowed inside either of the computer frames room. The floor beneath the Maintenance Console room was completely empty for the chilled air being fed, under pressure, to each of the computer frames. The bottom of each frame opened directly onto the chilled air room. After the chilled passed through the frames it was directed to the rest of the four story building. There was no other source of heat of AC in the building. This information is the best I can remember at the age of 72. Some notes of clarification: There is now quite a bit of information available on the Internet regarding SAGE. Two silly things have repeatedly caught my eye. We DID NOT motor around the frames room on roller skates, and the failure rate of components was quite low, so we DID NOT lug around replacement components, mainly PUs (Plugable Units), in shopping carts. I was there (the Portland Air Defense Sector - Adair AFS, Corvallis, Oregon) and I visited two other sites. There were no roller skates and no shopping carts. If there are any factual errors on this page, I would appreciate an email. Click on my name to send me a message: Jeff Barnes
The SAGE Site first went on-line November 12, 1998 and remained so until December 22, 2002.
It was resurrected July 23, 2009 and will remain so until the gas runs out.Comments? Send Email to Jeff Barnes - Old 30573 & The SAGE Site Webmaster.
