News Article announcing the development of the ICONORAMA as an accurate, secure image transmission device, a capability that was not available in the late 1950s -early 1960s.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1959 – New Device Will Plot All Planes COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Science Service) — A new system has been developed for keeping track of all airplanes, friendly or unfriendly, approaching or flying over the (continent). The new plotting system, called Iconorama, will be installed here at North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters and at Strategic Air Command (SAC) headquarters at Omaha, Neb. Iconorama shows almost instantly the positions of aircraft thousands of miles away, such as those that might be detected by the Distant Early warning defensive radar network. By projecting the automatically drawn tracks on a big screen, it has been demonstrated that the system can do the work of six men at the old clear-plastic plotting boards used since World War II. The Iconorama system expands traffic information handling capacity by 400 per cent. It is expected to pay for itself in four years by obviating human plotters. Traces made by the planes being tracked are scribed on a coated slide by a moving stylus. Data received over existing telelype lines are made to guide lite stylus over the slide, scribing a special metallic coating. The slide plot measures only one inch square, yet overall error of the projected display is said to be about one part in 1,000. As many slides as needed may be used to cover a given situation. Each is projected, in register, on the viewing screen and in its own identifying color. When the slides become tilled with tracks, or the situation is over, the slides are replaced. Each removed slide can be filed as part of the flight record of the plane it represents. Leasing contracts for the Iconorama system, made by Fenske, Fedrick and Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, call for installation to be completed at NORAD by July, 1960, and at SAC by October, 1959 Iconorama units already have been installed and operated at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu California; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation also is understood to have signed a contractor for use of Iconorama at its Palo Alto, Calif, control center.
Advertising the ICONORAMA
ICONORAMA in use
ICONORAMA Display at NORAD HQ circa 1960
Re-creation of a typical ICONORAMA image
See Air Defense Doctrine for More Detailed Explanation
“The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) is a combined command exercising operational control of forces allocated for AD of Canada, Alaska, and the continental United States. Its mission is “To defend the North American Continent against aerospace attack.” Headquarters NORAD, located at Colorado Springs, Colorado, prepares operational plans, conducts tactical exercises and readiness tests, and coordinates plans and requirements for new AD weapons. It is the supreme headquarters for directing the air defense of North America in the event of war. “
