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UNIT 11. LESSON 3

Read the text without a dictionary.

11B. HORIZONS OF AUTOMATIOM

Transport, a vast sphere of material production, has become one of the biggest spheres in which cybernetics methods are being applied. Large scale research and experimental work are now being carried on with a view to automating transportation process by cybernetics methods in such spheres as locomotive driving, ship handling, air and marine navigation, current control over the functioning of big transport divisions, planning and technical work, such as the drawing up of cargo and passenger transportation plans, time-tables and schedules, the solution of engineering and scientific problems connected with designing, servicing and maintaining the basic units, accounting and stock-taking.

Let us dwell in greater detail on each of the above spheres. To drive a train, to steer a ship or plane strictly to schedule and at high speed, an engine driver, a helmsman or a flier should always look ahead, size up the situation quickly, set the necessary engine operation mode, use braking devices and manoeuvre.

At the same time, an operator has to ensure the normal operation of all units, using the appropriate instruments. It goes without saying that the discharge of all these functions is beyond one man's physical and physiological powers. Previously, attempts were made to solve this problem by employing more men to serve as the engine driver's mates, ship mechanics and co-pilots. But this has had an adverse effect on labour productivity and has also violated the vital principle of one-man control. Specialists see a radical solution of the problem in the automation of transport control using the latest technical means and methods of cybernetics.

The first steps in designing a robot driver for heavy high-speed trains were made at the beginning of the fifties. The robot incorporated a small-size electronic computer with assorted transducers. All the necessary data - overall distance, time of covering each stretch of the route, speed limits, etc. were programmed and fed into the computer's storage. As the train rolled along, the electronic computer set the optimum speed on the basis of information coming in from the transducers.

A system with one central electronic computer controlling all the trains proved more rational for a closed railway network of the underground type. In this case, all the trains are fitted with actuating devices. Such systems operate on the lines of underground railways. Robot drivers run each train strictly to schedule (to 3 seconds) and align it with platforms to within 0.3 meters of the set point.

There has been substantial progress in the field of automatic ship control systems,

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above all in the main propulsion plant. World experience shows that the system of comprehensive process automation is the best; it cuts down the crews by 50 per cent, makes work easier, increases the reliability of machines and prolongs their service life. New automation systems ensure the most rational cargo distribution on board large ships.

New automatic equipment guaranteeing a high degree of ships' navigational and running safety is developed. This system issues timely warning of obstacles in the ship's way and prevents collisions with other ships in conditions of poor visibility caused by fog, downpours or snowfall.

COMPREHENSION TEST

Match the beginnings and the endings of the sentences.

A:1. Transport is ... .

2.Cybernetics methods are being ... .

3.Locomotive driving, ship handling, air and marine navigation ... .

4.A helmsman ... .

5.A driver ... .

6.A flier ... .

7.A vehicle operator must ... .

8.The radical solution of the transport automation problem is ... .

9.In a robot-driver all the necessary data ... .

10.All the trains are ... .

11.The system of comprehensive process automation ... .

B:1) handles a ship;

2) look ahead, size up the situation, set the necessary engine operation mode; 3) widely applied in transport;

4) a vast sphere of material production;

5) the use of the latest technical means and methods of cybernetics; 6) are automated transportation processes;

7) drives a train;

8) fitted with actuating devices;

9) makes work easier, employs less people and increases the reliability of machines; 10) flies a plane;

11) were programmed and fed into the computer's storage.

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Translate the text into English. Entitle the text.

		TEXT 11C
Автоматика	играет	важную	роль	в	развитии . техникиМеханзация

промышленных процессов сильно повлияла на технический прогресс. Автоматизация невозможна без компьютеров. Компьютерная наука - это

дисциплина, включающая логическое проектирование, программное обеспечение,

аппаратуру, цифровой анализ, программирование, теорию вычислений и т.д.
Аппаратное и программное обеспечение вместе составляют				компьютер.
Аппаратное	обеспечение - это приборы, устройства, соединения. Программное
обеспечение - это программы, команды, процедуры. ЭВМ значительно влияют на
современное	производство. Современные	станки	оснащены	числовым
управлением и числовым программным управлением.

Процесс использования машин в работе для нас называется автоматизацией.

11D. ELECTRONICS AND THE CITY

Many different kinds of urban difficulties could be lessened by transporting men in new ways.

An explorer of our society from another planet may well wonder at our inability to use city streets in view of our ability to use strands of wire.

Morse could only send one message at a time through a wire in 1845, we now send dozens simultaneously. The wire is no larger, but we use it better. Mathematical resolution of communication phenomena has enabled us to do this. Similar analysis of transportation systems has shown that our use of city streets is about as primitive as Mr. Morse's use of wire. Their carrying capacities, too, could be increased.

The electronic engineers have numerous techniques for increasing channel's capacity. One is to digitize information by counting bits of it.

Although it is not feasible to transport man from one place to another the way we transmit his voice, it is quite easy to count the human heads rather than vehicles flowing through city streets. This suggests several different ways of getting waves of people through streets faster.

In cities, of course, streets intersections are numerous and troublesome. We control the traffic flow through many busy intersections with crude signal lights. They cannot distinguish between a bus, carrying 50 persons and a lone boy on the motorcycle. It would be quite easy to enable them to do this by putting special signals in the buses

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(that wouldn't disturb even a dog's sleep) and receivers in the signal light boxes. The control mechanism then could delay one person a few seconds to give 50 people that many seconds. Such electronic devices are becoming cheaper and would soon be tried if we seriously set out to maximize the flow of people rather than the flow of vehicles.

A new electronic device has been developed at the Highway Engineering Institute. It is capable of controlling a motor vehicle in dangerous situations many times quicker than the most experienced driver can.

I. Translate the text using the dictionary.

II. Give the main idea in 2-3 sentences.

III. Make up a short plan of the text.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION. TEXT 11E

Listen to the text and decide which division appears here.

1.The ... refers to the technical means used in the control mechanisms.

2.The ... is connected with the application of the theoretical findings and technical features of cybernetics to the solution of control problems in various fields of science and human activity.

3.The ... division deals with the philosophical problems of this science, its mathematical and logical foundations.

I.Give the main idea of the text.

II. Render the text into Russian.

III. Retell the text.