starid77

_drafts/starid77.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "starid77"
+categories: aerospace starid
+---
+[paper 1977](https://statespace.dev/docs/papers/1977%20junkins.pdf){:target="_blank" rel="noopener"}
+
+this paper is a time-capsule from the seventies, capturing the era when integrated-circuit 'chips' were fully coming on-line, at least for state of the art aerospace hardware, in two separate domains - microprocessors or 'systems on a chip', and charge-coupled device imagers or 'digital cameras'.
+
+the original was published in 77, and this is a pdf of an extended version from 78. 77 is a reminder of fortran77. fortran was born in 57, the same year as sputnik, and this paper is a window into the twentieth year of the space age and the fortran era.
+
+the star recognition algorithm is limited by the first-generation hardware, and nowhere near tackling the lost in space problem. it assumes an attitude estimate is available and sufficient to limit the pattern match to a 'sub-catalog' of stars, in other words a small region of the sky. it's an excellent historical review of the types of work done from the fifties thru the seventies.
+
+the discussion of the [fairchild semiconductor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device#History) ccd camera is of special interest. fairchild played an important role in the research and development phase of digital imaging. 
+
+_Several companies, including Fairchild Semiconductor, RCA and Texas Instruments, picked up on the invention and began development programs. Fairchild's effort, led by ex-Bell researcher Gil Amelio, was the first with commercial devices, and by 1974 had a linear 500-element device and a 2D 100 × 100 pixel device._ 
+
+the paper describes a 488 x 380 pixel device, so possibly fairchild's second generation ccd imager. the larger story around the transistor, shockley, fairchild, chips, and the birth of intel is too far afield for project starid, at least for now. 
+
+beyond the purely technical history, this paper also captures a certain 'spirit of the times'. one element of the fortran era was the cold war sense of urgency around engineering and science. some of that legacy survives today in enclaves like the national science foundation, the [berkeley physics course](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Physics_Course), the [feynman lectures on physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics), and the remaining engineers and scientists from that generation.
+
+by the eighties and nineties, the fortran generation were becoming the teachers and role models. this paper captures a part of what that was like. it was created on a manual typewriter, and then poorly xeroxed multiple times. at the same time, it was discussing dramatic digital advances. it's on the divide between the analog and digital worlds.
+
+john junkins became a leading professor at texas a&m university and interacted directly with byron tapley, bob schutz, george born, the university of texas at austin center for space research, and the university of colorado at boulder laboratory for atmospheric and space physics. parts of that enter the project starid story, and the intention is to explore that over time.

_posts/2024-05-17-starid77.md

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "starid77"
+categories: aerospace starid
+---
+[paper 1977](https://statespace.dev/docs/papers/1977%20junkins.pdf){:target="_blank" rel="noopener"}
+
+this paper is a time-capsule from the seventies, capturing the era when integrated-circuit 'chips' were fully coming on-line, at least for state of the art aerospace hardware, in two separate domains - microprocessors or 'systems on a chip', and charge-coupled device imagers or 'digital cameras'.
+
+the original was published in 77, and this is a pdf of an extended version from 78. 77 is a reminder of fortran77. fortran was born in 57, the same year as sputnik, and this paper is a window into the twentieth year of the space age and the fortran era.
+
+the star recognition algorithm is limited by the first-generation hardware, and nowhere near tackling the lost in space problem. it assumes an attitude estimate is available and sufficient to limit the pattern match to a 'sub-catalog' of stars, in other words a small region of the sky. it's an excellent historical review of the types of work done from the fifties thru the seventies.
+
+the discussion of the [fairchild semiconductor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device#History) ccd camera is of special interest. fairchild played an important role in the research and development phase of digital imaging. 
+
+_Several companies, including Fairchild Semiconductor, RCA and Texas Instruments, picked up on the invention and began development programs. Fairchild's effort, led by ex-Bell researcher Gil Amelio, was the first with commercial devices, and by 1974 had a linear 500-element device and a 2D 100 × 100 pixel device._ 
+
+the paper describes a 488 x 380 pixel device, so possibly fairchild's second generation ccd imager. the larger story around the transistor, shockley, fairchild, chips, and the birth of intel is too far afield for project starid, at least for now. 
+
+beyond the purely technical history, this paper also captures a certain 'spirit of the times'. one element of the fortran era was the cold war's sense of urgency around engineering and science. some of that legacy survives today in enclaves like the national science foundation, the [berkeley physics course](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Physics_Course), the [feynman lectures on physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feynman_Lectures_on_Physics), and the remaining engineers and scientists who remember.
+
+by the eighties and nineties, the fortran generation had become mid-career role models. this paper is a snapshot of that in action. it was created on a manual typewriter, and then poorly xeroxed multiple times. simultaneously, it was discussing dramatic digital advances. it's on the divide between the analog and digital worlds.
+
+john junkins became a leading professor at texas a&m university and interacted directly with byron tapley, bob schutz, george born, the university of texas at austin center for space research, and the university of colorado at boulder laboratory for atmospheric and space physics. parts of that history enter the project starid story, and the intention here is to gradually explore that.