Autonetics was a division of

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the ...

that produced various

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...

but is best known for their

inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity ...

s used in submarines and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its 188-acre facility in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

, with 36,000 employees, was the city's largest employer. Through a series of mergers, Autonetics is now part of

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

Origin

Autonetics originated in North American Aviation's Technical Research Laboratory, a small unit in the Los Angeles Division's engineering department, in 1945. In 1946, the laboratory won an

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

contract to develop a 175 to 500 mile range glide missile. The work and the lab expanded, and by June 1948, all of the Aerophysics Laboratory was consolidated at

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home ...

. The evolution of the

Navaho The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

missile program then resulted in the establishment of Autonetics as a separate division of North American Aviation in 1955, first located in Downey, moving to

in 1963.

Divisions

Autonetics included the Navigation Systems division, designing and producing inertial and stellar-inertial navigation systems for ships, submarines, missiles, aircraft and space vehicles. One of the automatic navigation systems produced by the division was the N-6 or NAVAN (North American Vehicle Auto Navigation) for the Navaho missile system. Other products included alignment devices and attitude reference systems for missile launchers, artillery, land survey, aircraft and missile-range ships. The Electro Sensor Systems division built multi-function radar systems, armament control computers, data and information display systems for high performance aircraft, and sensor equipment. The radar systems included the R-14 and F-15, which were multimode, monopulse systems. This family of radars was termed NASARR (North American Search And Ranging Radar). The R-14 system was installed in the USAF F-105 Thunderchief and the more advanced F-15 system with Terrain Following capabilities was developed for the USAF

F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the " Century Series" of ...

which were also used by NATO, MAP, and the Canadian Air Force. Both radar systems allowed Time On Target (ToT) impact control capability with a high degree of accuracy. The R-14 and F-15 systems used (pre-solid state) electronic vacuum tubes in their designs. Both systems were developed, built and tested at the Downey (Slauson Avenue), and Anaheim facilities. The Data Systems division developed data-processing systems, general-purpose digital computers, ground support equipment, control systems and telemetry systems. Autonetics built an office computer system (RECOMP), and was responsible for the guidance and control system for the Boeing-built Minuteman missiles. The division ultimately produced the Monica family of microcomputers, the

D-17B The D-17B (D17B) computer was used in the Minuteman I NS-1OQ missile guidance system. The complete guidance system contained a D-17B computer, the associated stable platform, and power supplies. The D-17B weighed approximately , contained 1,52 ...

Minuteman I computer, and the D-37B and D-37C Minuteman II computers, in which micro-miniaturization reduced weight by two-thirds. Autonetics also developed and tested flight programs for the D37D Minuteman III computer. The 1966 Autonetics

DDA integrator A digital differential analyzer (DDA), also sometimes called a digital integrating computer, is a digital implementation of a differential analyzer. The integrators in a DDA are implemented as accumulators, with the numeric result converted back ...

was the first MOS large scale array (LSA) using four-phase logic. After producing the DDA and other MOS-LSA circuits, the team involved decided to design a general purpose computer suitable for navigation (sometimes called the MOS GP computer). The Autonetics D200 computer was built using MOS LSAs.

Milestones

* The first airplane flight of an inertial autonavigator (XN-1) in 1950. * The first flight of an all-solid-state computer (for the Navaho guidance system) in 1955. * The navigation system for the first submerged crossing of the North Pole, on board the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) in 1958.

References

External links

Autonetics division of Boeing
Avionics companies Boeing mergers and acquisitions

Origin

Divisions

Milestones

See also

References

External links