Editing Draper Laboratory (section)

==Notable innovations==
Laboratory staff worked in teams to create novel navigation systems, based on inertial guidance and on digital computers to support the necessary calculations for determining spatial positioning.

* Mark 14 Gunsight (1942)—Improved gunsight accuracy of anti-aircraft guns used aboard naval vessels in WWII<ref>[http://museum.mit.edu/150/143 "U.S. Navy Mark 14 Gunsight, MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, 1940s"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818192840/http://museum.mit.edu/150/143 |date=2011-08-18 }}. MIT Museum. Retrieved 2011-08-16.</ref>
* Space Inertial Reference Equipment (SPIRE) (1953)—An autonomous all-inertial navigation for aircraft whose feasibility the laboratory demonstrated in a series of 1953 flight tests.<ref name = "NATO">{{cite web | last = Schmidt | first = George T. | title = INS/GPS Technology Trends | publisher = NATO R&T Organization | url = http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public/PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-SET-064/EN-SET-064-01.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131224111420/http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public/PubFullText/RTO/EN/RTO-EN-SET-064/EN-SET-064-01.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-12-24 | access-date = 2013-12-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Gruntman | first = Mike | title = Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry | publisher = AIAA | year = 2004 | pages = 204 | isbn = 9781563477058 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2XY9KXxF8OEC&q=spire+draper+lab&pg=PA240 }}</ref>
* The [[Laning and Zierler system]] (1954: also called, "George")—An early algebraic compiler, designed by [[Hal Laning]] and Neal Zierler.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Battin|first=Richard H.|date=1995-06-07|title=On algebraic compilers and planetary fly-by orbits|journal=Acta Astronautica|location=Jerusalem|volume=38|issue=12|pages=895–902|bibcode=1996AcAau..38..895B|doi=10.1016/s0094-5765(96)00095-1}}<!--| access-date = 2013-12-28-->
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* [[Q-guidance]]—A method of missile guidance, developed by Hal Laning and [[Richard Battin]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Spinardi | first = Graham | title = From Polaris to Trident: The Development of US Fleet Ballistic Missile | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1994 | location = Cambridge | pages = 44–45 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8mH-EbdNl0UC&q=q-guidance+equation+draper&pg=PA44 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[Apollo Guidance Computer]]—The first deployed computer to exploit integrated circuit technology of on board, autonomous navigation in space<ref>{{cite book| last = Hall| first = Eldon C.| title = Journey to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Guidance Computer| publisher = AIAA| year = 1996| isbn = 9781563471858| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G8Dml1x55r0C }}</ref>
* Digital [[fly-by-wire]]—A control system that allows a pilot to control the aircraft without being connected mechanically to the aircraft's control surfaces<ref>{{cite web| title = Draper, Digital Fly-by-Wire Team Enters Space Hall of Fame| publisher = Space Foundation| date = 15 April 2010| url = http://www.spacefoundation.org/media/partner-news/draper-digital-fly-wire-team-enters-space-hall-fame| access-date = 2013-12-28| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232346/http://www.spacefoundation.org/media/partner-news/draper-digital-fly-wire-team-enters-space-hall-fame| archive-date = 30 December 2013| url-status = dead}}</ref>
* Fault-tolerant Computing—Use of several computers work on a task simultaneously. If any one of the computers fails, the others can take over a vital capability when the safety of an aircraft or other system is at stake.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last = Rennels| first = David A.| title = Fault-Tolerant Computing| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Computer Science| publisher = UCLA| year = 1999| url = http://www.cs.ucla.edu/~rennels/article98.pdf| access-date = 2013-12-28}}</ref>
* Micro-electromechanical ([[MEMS]]) technologies—Micro-mechanical systems that enabled the first micromachined gyroscope.<ref>{{cite web| last = Sarvestani| first = Arezu| title = Draper's tiny bio-MEM tech goes from a head-scratcher to a no-brainer| work = Mass Device| publisher = Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal| date = 8 June 2011| url = http://www.massdevice.com/features/drapers-tiny-bio-mem-tech-goes-head-scratcher-no-brainer| access-date = 2013-12-28}}</ref>
* Autonomous systems algorithms—Algorithms, which allow autonomous rendezvous and docking of spacecraft; systems for underwater vehicles
* GPS coupled with inertial navigation system—A means to allow continuous navigation when the vehicle or system goes into a GPS-denied environment<ref name = "Schmidt"/>