Dornier DO-960

The Dornier DO-960 was a hybrid computer designed for the Dornier Do 31 experimental VTOL aircraft.

The hybrid approach was necessary because the computations for controlling VTOL were not feasible with
digital computers available at that time. Vertical take-off requires solving complex differential equations in
real-time. The DO-960 incorporates both digital computer and analog computer elements. The analog units
are fit for solving computationally challenging differential equations, while the digital units are responsible
for controlling the overall program flow.

Although known primarily for aircraft, Dornier had been building analog and hybrid computers as soon as it
started engineering vertical takeoff aircraft. The Dornier DO-960 was the last known hybrid computer of
this series.

References
The Dornier DO-960 Analog Computer (http://www.vaxman.de/my_machines/dornier/do960/do
960.html)

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This page was last edited on 30 May 2013, at 19:03 (UTC).

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