Fieldata

FIELDATA (also written as Fieldata) was a pioneering computer project run by the US Army Signal Corps in the late 1950s that intended to create a single standard (as defined in MIL-STD-188A/B/C^[1][2][3][4]) for collecting and distributing battlefield information. In this respect it could be thought of as a generalization of the US Air Force's SAGE system that was being created at about the same time.

Unlike SAGE, FIELDATA was intended to be much larger in scope, allowing information to be gathered from any number of sources and forms. Much of the FIELDATA system was the specifications for the format the data would take, leading to a character set that would be a huge influence on ASCII a few years later.^[1][5] FIELDATA also specified the message formats and even the electrical standards for connecting FIELDATA-standard machines together.

Another part of the FIELDATA project was the design and construction of computers at several different scales, from data-input terminals at one end, to theatre-wide data processing centers at the other. Several FIELDATA-standard computers were built during the lifetime of the project, including the transportable MOBIDIC from Sylvania, and the BASICPAC and LOGICPAC from Philco. Another system, ARTOC, was intended to provide graphical output (in the form of photographic slides), but was never completed.

Because FIELDATA did not specify codes for interconnection and data transmission control, different systems (like "STANDARD FORM", "COMLOGNET Common language code", "SACCOMNET (465L) Control Code"^[6][5]) used different control functions. Intercommunication between them was difficult.^[1]

FIELDATA is the original character set used internally in UNIVAC computers of the 1100 series, represented by the sixth of the 36-bit word of that computer. The direct successor to the UNIVAC 1100 is the Unisys 2200 series computers, which use FIELDATA to this day (although ASCII is now also common with each character encoded in 1/4 of a word, or 9 bits). Because some of the FIELDATA characters are not represented in ASCII, the Unisys 2200 uses '^', '"' and '_' characters for codes 004_oct, 076_oct and 077_oct respectively.

The FIELDATA project ran from 1956 until it was stopped during a reorganization in 1962.

FIELDATA characters

Tag Bit (1)	Indicator Bits (2)	Detail Bits (4)	Binary Bits (1+6)	Decimal	Octal	Glyph	Name
0	00	0000	0:000000	0	000		Blank / Idle (IDL)
0	00	0001	0:000001	1	001		Control Upper Case (CUC)
0	00	0010	0:000010	2	002		Control Lower Case (CLC)
0	00	0011	0:000011	3	003		Control Tab (CHT)
0	00	0100	0:000100	4	004		Control Carriage Return (CCR)
0	00	0101	0:000101	5	005		Control Space (CSP)
0	00	0110	0:000110	6	006	a
0	00	0111	0:000111	7	007	b
0	00	1000	0:001000	8	010	c
0	00	1001	0:001001	9	011	d
0	00	1010	0:001010	10	012	e
0	00	1011	0:001011	11	013	f
0	00	1100	0:001100	12	014	g
0	00	1101	0:001101	13	015	h
0	00	1110	0:001110	14	016	i
0	00	1111	0:001111	15	017	j
0	01	0000	0:010000	16	020	k
0	01	0001	0:010001	17	021	l
0	01	0010	0:010010	18	022	m
0	01	0011	0:010011	19	023	n
0	01	0100	0:010100	20	024	o
0	01	0101	0:010101	21	025	p
0	01	0110	0:010110	22	026	q
0	01	0111	0:010111	23	027	r
0	01	1000	0:011000	24	030	s
0	01	1001	0:011001	25	031	t
0	01	1010	0:011010	26	032	u
0	01	1011	0:011011	27	033	v
0	01	1100	0:011100	28	034	w
0	01	1101	0:011101	29	035	x
0	01	1110	0:011110	30	036	y
0	01	1111	0:011111	31	037	z
0	10	0000	0:100000	32	040		Dial 0 (D0)
0	10	0001	0:100001	33	041		Dial 1 (D1)
0	10	0010	0:100010	34	042		Dial 2 (D2)
0	10	0011	0:100011	35	043		Dial 3 (D3)
0	10	0100	0:100100	36	044		Dial 4 (D4)
0	10	0101	0:100101	37	045		Dial 5 (D5)
0	10	0110	0:100110	38	046		Dial 6 (D6)
0	10	0111	0:100111	39	047		Dial 7 (D7)
0	10	1000	0:101000	40	050		Dial 8 (D8)
0	10	1001	0:101001	41	051		Dial 9 (D9)
0	10	1010	0:101010	42	052		Start of Control Block (SCB)
0	10	1011	0:101011	43	053		Start of Block (SBK)
0	10	1100	0:101100	44	054		Spare
0	10	1101	0:101101	45	055		Spare
0	10	1110	0:101110	46	056		Spare
0	10	1111	0:101111	47	057		Spare
0	11	0000	0:110000	48	060		Ready to Transmit (RTT)
0	11	0001	0:110001	49	061		Ready to Receive (RTR)
0	11	0010	0:110010	50	062		Not Ready to Receive (NRR)
0	11	0011	0:110011	51	063		End of Blockette (EBE)
0	11	0100	0:110100	52	064		End of Block (EBK)
0	11	0101	0:110101	53	065		End of File (EOF)
0	11	0110	0:110110	54	066		End of Control Block (ECB)
0	11	0111	0:110111	55	067		Acknowledge Receipt (ACK)
0	11	1000	0:111000	56	070		Repeat Block (RPT)
0	11	1001	0:111001	57	071		Spare
0	11	1010	0:111010	58	072		Interpret Sign (INS)
0	11	1011	0:111011	59	073		Non-Interpret Sign (NIS)
0	11	1100	0:111100	60	074		Control Word Follows (CWF)
0	11	1101	0:111101	61	075		S.A.C. (SAC)
0	11	1110	0:111110	62	076		Special Character (SPC)
0	11	1111	0:111111	63	077		Delete (DEL)
1	00	0000	1:000000	64	100	@	Master Space (MS)
1	00	0001	1:000001	65	101	[	Upper Case (UC)
1	00	0010	1:000010	66	102	]	Lower Case (LC)
1	00	0011	1:000011	67	103	#
1	00	0100	1:000100	68	104	Δ	Delta
1	00	0101	1:000101	69	105		Blank / Space (SP)
1	00	0110	1:000110	70	106	A
1	00	0111	1:000111	71	107	B
1	00	1000	1:001000	72	110	C
1	00	1001	1:001001	73	111	D
1	00	1010	1:001010	74	112	E
1	00	1011	1:001011	75	113	F
1	00	1100	1:001100	76	114	G
1	00	1101	1:001101	77	115	H
1	00	1110	1:001110	78	116	I
1	00	1111	1:001111	79	117	J
1	01	0000	1:010000	80	120	K
1	01	0001	1:010001	81	121	L
1	01	0010	1:010010	82	122	M
1	01	0011	1:010011	83	123	N
1	01	0100	1:010100	84	124	O
1	01	0101	1:010101	85	125	P
1	01	0110	1:010110	86	126	Q
1	01	0111	1:010111	87	127	R
1	01	1000	1:011000	88	130	S
1	01	1001	1:011001	89	131	T
1	01	1010	1:011010	90	132	U
1	01	1011	1:011011	91	133	V
1	01	1100	1:011100	92	134	W
1	01	1101	1:011101	93	135	X
1	01	1110	1:011110	94	136	Y
1	01	1111	1:011111	95	137	Z
1	10	0000	1:100000	96	140	)
1	10	0001	1:100001	97	141	-
1	10	0010	1:100010	98	142	+
1	10	0011	1:100011	99	143	<
1	10	0100	1:100100	100	144	=
1	10	0101	1:100101	101	145	>
1	10	0110	1:100110	102	146	&
1	10	0111	1:100111	103	147	$
1	10	1000	1:101000	104	150	*
1	10	1001	1:101001	105	151	(
1	10	1010	1:101010	106	152	%
1	10	1011	1:101011	107	153	:
1	10	1100	1:101100	108	154	?
1	10	1101	1:101101	109	155	!
1	10	1110	1:101110	110	156	,
1	10	1111	1:101111	111	157	\
1	11	0000	1:110000	112	160	0
1	11	0001	1:110001	113	161	1
1	11	0010	1:110010	114	162	2
1	11	0011	1:110011	115	163	3
1	11	0100	1:110100	116	164	4
1	11	0101	1:110101	117	165	5
1	11	0110	1:110110	118	166	6
1	11	0111	1:110111	119	167	7
1	11	1000	1:111000	120	170	8
1	11	1001	1:111001	121	171	9
1	11	1010	1:111010	122	172	'
1	11	1011	1:111011	123	173	;
1	11	1100	1:111100	124	174	/
1	11	1101	1:111101	125	175	.
1	11	1110	1:111110	126	176	⌑	Lozenge
1	11	1111	1:111111	127	177	≠	Not Equal

References

1. Mackenzie, Charles E. (1980). Coded Character Sets, History and Development. The Systems Programming Series (1 ed.). Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. pp. 61, 64, 86. ISBN 0-201-14460-3. LCCN 77-90165. ISBN 978-0-201-14460-4. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
2. Military Communication System Technical Standard, MIL-STD-188A, 1958-04-25
3. Military Communication System Technical Standard, MIL-STD-188B, 1964-02-24
4. Military Communication System Technical Standard, MIL-STD-188C, 1969-11-24
5. Jennings, Thomas Daniel (2016-04-20) [1999]. "An annotated history of some character codes or ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Infiltration". World Power Systems (WPS). Archived from the original on 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
6. International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation (ITT) (1968). Reference Data for Radio Engineers (5 ed.). Howard W. Sams and Co. pp. Appendix. ISBN 0-672-20678-1. Retrieved 2016-05-23.

Further reading

• Leubbert, William F. (1960) [1959-12-01/03 (International Workshop on Managing Requirements Knowledge)]. Written at U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, USA. "Data Transmission Equipment Concepts for FIELDATA" (PDF). 1959 Proceedings of the Western Joint Computer Conference (WJCC). Boston, USA: American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS): 189–196. doi:10.1145/1457838.1457872. doi:10.1109/AFIPS.1959.27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-05-23. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
• Leubbert, William F. (September 1960). "Data Processing as a Tool for Generalizing Communications Systems". Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE), Part I: Communication and Electronics. 79 (4): 431–436. doi:10.1109/TCE.1960.6367290. ISSN 0097-2452. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
• Fleming, George; James, Nathan L. (2002-12-17). "Univac Fieldata Codes". 1.0. Greenbelt, USA: National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 2016-05-24. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
• Walker, John (1996-08-06). "UNIVAC 1100 Series FIELDATA Code". UNIVAC Memories. Archived from the original on 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
• Haralambous, Yannis (September 2007). Fonts & Encodings. Translated by Horne, P. Scott (1st ed.). Sebastopol, California, USA: O'Reilly Media, Inc. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-596-10242-5. ISBN 0-596-10242-9.