In June 1973, the Engineering Board set up a Working Group to clarify future engineering computing requirements. This Group reported in December 1974, and one of its recommendations was that a centre should be set up, based at an SRC establishment, to provide facilities for interactive computing to engineers in universities and polytechnics. It was recommended that detailed proposals for such a centre should be drawn up by a small Technical Group.
The report of the Working Group was considered by the Engineering Board in December 1974 and its recommendations were strongly endorsed. The Council subsequently (February 1975) supported in principle the recommendations made and invited the Engineering Board to arrange the preparation of detailed proposals for implementation of the recommendations.
As a result, the present Technical Group was set up by the Engineering Board in March 1975. Its terms of reference are wider than those suggested by the Working Group and are given in Section 2. They include the identification of specific needs and the suggestion of means by which these needs can be met in the next five years.
The Technical Group interpreted its terms of reference within the framework of the SRC's responsibilities. That is to say, it considered the computing needs of engineers whose research was likely to be supported by SRC in the next five years. It investigated the facilities at present available to these engineers and likely to become available in that period. It has proposed a way in which the gap between needs and available facilities can be narrowed in the most economical way. It has not proposed any additions by SRC to the general computing facilities for research and teaching in universities, which are the responsibility of the Computer Board and UGC. Access to the proposed new facilities will be approved through the SRC committee structure, where a research programme supported by SRC requires these facilities and they are not available from other sources.
The recommendations of the Technical Group are in accordance with the dual support system for university research. Under this system the Science Research Council provides additional facilities required for selected areas of research, including computers provided solely and essentially for the purpose of specific research projects. There have been many examples of such provision in High Energy Physics, ranging from small computers, dedicated to a single experiment, to the IBM 360/195. There have also been many examples in the Engineering Board's area, where numerous requests for interactive facilities have been received, and each has usually been considered in isolation. It was partly concern that this procedure might not lead to the best solution which prompted the Engineering Board to initiate the investigation by the original Working Group.
The Technical Group recommends a co-ordinated provision which it believes will give better facilities at less cost, and will help to avoid unnecessary duplication of software effort. The staff associated with the proposed facility at Chilton will be available to assist users of the Chilton machine and of other machines located in universities and polytechnics. They will also be able to advise subject committees on the best way to meet interactive computing needs, and will be closely concerned in network developments. Through contact with other staff who would be on the Chilton site, including the federal computing centre if it is established, they would be able to foster contact between university and polytechnic research on the one hand and industrial needs and applications on the other.
In presenting its report, the Technical Group wishes to comment on the scope which it sees for research on computer aided design (CAD) in universities. CAD techniques are now common in some parts of industry, and it has been suggested that the need for university research is therefore small. Most industrial work, however, uses design methods which do not fully exploit the opportunities of man-machine interaction. The Technical Group sees a need for university research of very high quality in the next ten years, devoted to finding new design procedures specially adapted to CAD.
The recommendations in this report for immediate action take account of the facilities currently provided by the Computer Board. It is recommended that a further review be made in 1977/78 to give detailed information on the further necessary provisions. A forecast is made of the requirements beyond 1978 and budgetary figures are included on the assumption that the present trend for mini computers, to become more powerful and rapidly cheaper, continues. Should this trend fail to continue it may be necessary to enhance the central system.
For brevity polytechnics are not always included when referring to universities, but this should be understood. References to engineering in this report are meant to include all subject areas covered by the Engineering Board including Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, etc. All references to Chilton in the body of the report mean the Rutherford Laboratory.
