Beta-2 Mobile Computer System

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1. Beta-2 mobile computer system.
2. Chief designers: A. M. Larionov, V. I. Shteinberg.

   Development engineers: A. M. Litvinov, A. T. Polunin, V. I. Alekseyev, I. F. Lygin, N. B. Shteingard.

3. Designing organization: Research Institute of Computer Engineering (NICEVT) of the USSR Ministry of Radio Engineering (since 1986 - Research Institute NII Argon).
4. Manufacturer: PO Zvezda (Sergiyev Posad), the USSR Ministry of Radioelectronic Production.
5. Completion of development: 1972.
6. Beginning of production: 1972.
7. Termination of production: 1975.
8. Field of application: military automated control systems.
9. Number of machines produced: 12.
10. Description: Beta-2 mobile computer system is meant for collecting, processing and displaying information in the form convenient for taking decisions and sending data to subscribers through communication channels. The complex consists of a computational system, telecode communication equipment, radio equipment and mobile electric power station.

    The computational system includes Ritm-20 computer, control console, external memory devices and peripherals.

    The high-performance Ritm-20 computer has architecture close to general-purpose machines. Its instruction set is optimized to specific tasks.

    Representation of numbers - fixed and floating point.

    Word length - 12 and 24 bits with fixed point; 48 bits with floating point.

    Addition time - 2.4 ms with fixed point; 6.4 ms with floating point.

    Multiplication time - 12 ms with fixed point; 22.4 ms with floating point.

    Instruction set - Ritm-20, specialized.

    Number of basic instructions - 62.

    RAM capacity - 32,000 24-bit words; memory cycle - 4 ms.

    ROM capacity - 32,000 24-bit words; memory cycle - 4 ms; access time - 1.5 ms.

    External memory:

    NB-10 magnetic drum drive capacity - 200,000 24-bit words; access time - 20 ms

    LPM-14 tape drive capacity - 3 x 512,000 24-bit words; waiting time - 45 s.

    Peripherals:

    ACPU-64-5 alphanumeric printing device: speed - 250 lines per minute; line width - 64 characters; number of characters - 63.

    FSM-7 photoreading device: speed - from 4,000 to 6,400 characters per second.

    PL-150 output tape: punch speed - from 750 to 1,200 characters per second.

11. Element base: Posol family ICs.
12. Design: Ritm-20 computer has modular (small-block) design with four hierarchical levels - cell, panel, rotating frame and cabinet. The cell is mounted on a 175x75x11 mm double-sided printed circuit board with up to 30 mounting seats for Posol ICs. Cells and higher level units are interconnected with soldered wires and cable assemblies. The dimensions of a typical large cabinet - 1,500x750x590 mm; a small one - 802x750x590 mm.
13. Technology: unified double sided printed circuit boards.
14. Software: operating system, automated programming system with Ritm autocode, OS debugging utilities, diagnostics and troubleshooting programs, application software.
15. Specifications:

    	Weight, kg	Size, mm	Power consumption, W
    Computer unit	468	1,560х750х625	550
    RAM	330	1,560х750х625	435
    ROM	135	750x802x625	135

16. Special features: hardware implementation of floating point instructions; new technological solutions which substantially influenced further development of mobile military computers.