The Pen Plotter Computer System

Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Course
Date
The History of Computer Art ‘The Pen Plotter’
In the current era, computer technology has rapidly developed to cater for the growing demanding needs in most of the fields. Significant strides have taken effect in technology innovation, and this has seen more sophisticated computer technologies that are more advanced compared to the prior past technologies. Conversely, computer technology has increased its fields ranging from businesses, factories to even military fields. In the military, the implication of Pen Plotter technology has primarily developed a continental air defense system. This has catered for a considerable reduction in some of the atrocities associated with weak air defense system. Therefore, this paper discusses more on the Pen Plotter technology and how it is used by Air Force’s SAGE system to boost out the defense system.
Semi-Automatic Ground System (SAGE) program was developed and established by the United States military air force. The program was established to create a continental air defense system with the purpose of enhancing security defense. This in return would grant forefront protection against nuclear bomb attacks. The program was formed in 1945, a period when the Cold War was in its threshold, and nuclear wars were highly anticipated (Packer 178). Consequently, SAGE system was highly recommendable for the American states. This system was formed to help safeguard the American citizens from the atrocities that would emerge from any volatile attacks of nuclear warheads or ballistic missile that the Soviet Union persistently threatened to release.

SAGE being a computer program, it required very advanced and enhanced automated components to run the system smoothly. Majorly, hardware was a necessity to produce the output data in the coherent form. Pen Plotter was of much consideration than other hardware that provided data in prints. Pen Plotter is a computer printer that is used in printing vector graphics giving a hardcopy of the output. Remington Rand first invented it in 1953, and it was in line with the UNIVAC computer that created a technical drawing (Packer 181). It develops a hard copy of schematics and also efficiently applied in writing tool to draw multiple and continuous lines. Pen Plotters uses those continuous lines to create images, unlike printers that use a collection of dots.
Furthermore, Plotters can create large pictures on an oversized sheet of paper. These images can be relayed efficiently to a SAGE system to prevent an incoming missile attack. This is enhanced by initiating a counter attack, as the exact location of the ballistic missile would be known. It also largely contributed to the discovery of several seminal software engineering concepts that correlated effectively with Pen Plotter to monitor potential incoming hostile’s aircrafts and manage their status. SAGE required maintenance of high resolution as their operation recommended vivid and explicit accuracy that the Pen Plotter provided. In addition, Pen Plotter allowed the same pattern to be reproduced a thousand times without degrading the image in any way. This had a great effect since it facilitated ease in accessing data within the SAGE system operations.
In summation, clear evidence of Pen Plotter’s functions and operations has been well presented in above discussion. Besides the Pen Plotter is advantageous since it boosts the general defense mostly in the Air Force’s SAGE system. It is indeed a necessary an essential defense kit that most of the developed and developing nations should embrace in their defense system.
Work Cited
Packer, Jeremy. “Screens in the Sky: SAGE, Surveillance, and the Automation of Perceptual, Mnemonic, and Epistemological Labor.” Social Semiotics, vol. 23, no. 2, Apr. 2013, pp. 173-195.