IBM System/4 Pi

<p>The <a href="/facts/IBM/QszA7nwd">IBM</a> System/4 Pi is a family of <a href="/facts/Avionics/F4gQJBJn">avionics</a> <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computers</a> used, in various versions, on the <a href="/facts/F-15_Eagle/8ublq0RC">F-15 Eagle</a> fighter, <a href="/facts/E-3_Sentry/pdIfIP9b">E-3 Sentry</a> AWACS, <a href="/facts/Harpoon_(missile)/60bT9d2q">Harpoon Missile</a>, <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a>'s <a href="/facts/Skylab/h7v9LWKE">Skylab</a>, <a href="/facts/Manned_Orbital_Laboratory/hx5gC4Ic">MOL</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_program/6Ikdvwsw">Space Shuttle</a>, as well as other aircraft. Development began in 1965, deliveries in 1967. They were developed by the <a href="/facts/IBM_Federal_Systems_Division/UHlI17tz">IBM Federal Systems Division</a> and produced by the Electronics Systems Center  in Owego, NY.
</p><p>It descends from the approach used in the <a href="/facts/System%2f360/7znvpy4K">System/360</a> <a href="/facts/IBM_mainframe/0kPkgADx">mainframe</a> family of computers, in which the members of the family were intended for use in many varied user applications. (This is expressed in the name: there are 4<a href="/facts/Pi/vC0UBj1q">π</a> <a href="/facts/Steradians/PRCqT4n1">steradians</a> in a sphere, just as there are 360 <a href="/facts/Degree_(angle)/f48Ns8SX">degrees</a> in a circle.)  Previously, custom computers had been designed for each aerospace application, which was extremely costly.
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IBM System/4 Pi open-in-new

IBM System/4 Pi