Experience with hybrid computation

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on the use of electronic analog and digital computers in the fields of science, engineering, and education. Interest has also been generated in computational methods not readily available from either of these classes of computers alone, but rather from the combination of them provided by the so called hybrid computer system. This interest has been a direct result of the increase in the complexity of present day systems and hardware, and the increased accuracy required of them. Based on two years of experience with a large hybrid facility, this paper will review the main characteristics of digital and analog computers, compare their capabilities and their limitations, and show some of the reasons for and advantages of mating the two to form the hybrid computing system. We will describe some of the problems to which we have successfully supplied hybrid solutions, and predict the direction of future hybrid progress.