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Home Brew Analog Computer System
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GK:

--- Quote from: chickenHeadKnob on April 25, 2013, 11:56:47 am ---..... chaotic modes....
--- End quote ---


Well, here is some pseudo chaos in the meanwhile.....



I solved the coupled differential equations of the famous Lorenz system in LTspice and recorded the x and z polar coordinated to a 60 second stereo *.wav file. Now that I have a sound card modified for a response down to DC and have finished building up the deflection amplifiers I can begin plotting some fancy formula solutions on my CRT.

It didn't video real well due to the crappy resolution and frame rate of my camera, but the demonstration is clear enough. I started the mathematical solution with a rather long time constant of integration and slowly ramped it up linearly. So the display begins with the dot produced by the CRT beam apparently randomly and chaotically revolving about the "Lorenz attractor", dancing between the two domains until it becomes fast enough for the displayed image to evolve into the well known "owl face". I also included audio of the summed x and z signals in the video. Sounds kind of spooky once the frequency of oscillation (if that is the correct word) becomes high enough to be audible.


   


chickenHeadKnob:
Yup, that looks like the lorenz attractor. Its good to get confirmation that your boards are working. The only demonstration of an analog computer actually being used in anger that I can remember viewing was running the lorenz attractor. The problem of what to do with your machine as it nears completion is only going to get more acute  :'(  That's common to a lot projects where the fun is in the building.

  My father was a boy/teen in Germany during WWII and he was drafted into the FLAKhelfer (anti-aircraft assistant, or auxiliary) mobilization in the last year of the war. He had exceptionally good eyesight and could see and identify aircraft before the others so he was part of the spotting team. They had an optical sight/rangefinder with exaggerated parallax and some kind of analog ballistics computer that compensated for wind and azimuth and other inputs. I  think it may have been mechanical and I doubt it did the predictor/corrector type of aim control like American radar directed guns. He still gets exited talking about those things but he never explained to me how they worked. Not much call for analog anti-aircraft directors these days. Something I have fantasized making is a laser  fly zapper with digital computer vision and control, but then when I add up the work involved my bio computer just directs me to grab  a swatter.
GK:
You mean like one of these:



.... upon interrogation I had to reassure an Air Force cadet leader that the radar dish was no longer operational.


My classic analog computing texts are slowly arriving in the mail. I love Abebooks; you can find almost anything. One book only cost me a dollar. These books are packed with ideas and examples of problems to run. I don't think I'll have any problem finding problems to solve and run once the computer is completely built. Haven't really scratched the surface so far.



Some of these books come from interesting places:



But anyway, here is another simulation in the meanwhile:




GK:
An analog computers brain under construction...................

These are the integrator boards (schematic here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/glass-diode-photoelectric-effect/msg230406/#msg230406 ).
Turns out that I couldn't etch the boards myself in this quantity cheaper than having them made.

Also got my front panel for the display unit from Front Panel Express. Things are slowly progressing.........
alanb:
I'm constantly amazed by the scale of this project. Are you able to provide an estimate of the total cost and the time that you will have spent on it when complete.
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