Computer-Controlled Automated Testing on the Polaris Program

Recently there has been increased interest in the use of computer-controlled testing equipment at static test facilities and prelaunch checkout areas as well as at manufacturing locations. LMSC has designed, built and operated such a system for over two and one half years. During the early phases of the Polaris program, an impending need was already apparent. The anticipated high rates of production would require extensive personnel and equipment for system and subsystem testing. Could automation alleviate this problem within reasonable economic limits? Also, sought was a quality of testing consistent with the degree of reliability being designed into the missile, and a means for providing accurate and reliable test data for design-improvement feedback and missile system reliability analysis. Lockheed design personnel felt strongly that the solution to these problems was a flexible automated testing system under the control of a stored program general purpose digital computer but it was necessary to minimize the cost of the control computer. Two steps were taken to accomplish this: A small test-oriented drum memory general purpose computer was designed and built by Lockheed, and a most significant advancement for that day, the testing system was organized so that one computer could be time shared among eight testing stations. The digital computer, located in a central control set, controls the operation of remote test consoles and automatically evaluates missile systems, subsystems and modules.