Edit Proposal: Milestone-Proposal:Wireless Transmission between Fixed Antenna and Moving Trains, 1913

Thank you for proposing a technical achievement for possible recognition as an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing. Your efforts help preserve the heritage of technology. Detailed information on the Milestone application process may be found at: Milestones:Milestone Guidelines and How to Propose a Milestone.

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? None Yes No

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s fields of interest? (e.g. “the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences” – from the IEEE Constitution) None Yes No

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? None Yes No

Was it of at least regional importance? None Yes No

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? None Yes No

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? None Yes No

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? None Yes No

Has the owner of the site given permission to place an IEEE plaque? Yes No

Contact us at ieee-history@ieee.org if you are unable to answer "yes" to all of the above and would still like to proceed.

Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

Title of the proposed milestone. (Include date or date range in title. Example: “Alternating Current Electrification, 1886”)

Please provide a plaque citation in English summarizing the achievement and its significance. Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons. NOTE: The IEEE History Committee shall have final determination on the wording of the citation. For more information and suggestions about writing milestone citations, please visit Milestones:Helpful Hints on Citations, Plaque Locations.

In what IEEE section(s) will the milestone plaque(s) reside?

Please specify the IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone, and supply name and contact information for the senior officer from those OU(s). Sponsorship has three aspects: 1) Payment for the cost of the plaque(s), 2) Arranging the dedication ceremony, and 3) agreeing to monitor the plaque and to let IEEE History Center staff know in case the plaque needs to be moved, is no longer secure, etc. Number 3 must be done by the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) is located, but aspects 1 and 2 can be done by any IEEE Organizational Unit, and they need not be the same one.

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s)

Unit: Senior Officer Name: E-mail:

Unit: Senior Officer Name: E-mail:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony

Unit: Senior Officer Name: E-mail:

Unit: Senior Officer Name: E-mail:

Unit: Senior Officer Name: E-mail:

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque

IEEE Section: IEEE Section Chair name: IEEE Section Chair e-mail:

IEEE Section: IEEE Section Chair name: IEEE Section Chair e-mail:

Milestone proposer(s)

Proposer name: Proposer email:

Proposer name: Proposer email:

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates of the intended milestone plaque site(s).

Henry Street, Binghamton, New York

Intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not—in themselves— sufficient connection for a milestone plaque. For more information on plaque locations and suggestions on how to select them, please visit Milestones:Helpful Hints on Citations, Plaque Locations.

The Milestones Plaque will be placed on the actual tower used in the experiment. It is located beyond the sidewalk on Henry St in Binghamton, New York. As the tower and plaque will be outside there is no need for visitors to go through security.

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes

Please provide the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc.

How is the intended plaque site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public? If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give details as well as the contact information visitors will need in order to arrange to visit the plaque.

The tower is accessible off the sidewalk

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

Mr. Ari Meisel

Please attach a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property.

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Please attach a letter or email from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application.

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In the space below, please describe in detail:

• the historic significance of the achievement,
• its importance to the evolution of electrical and computer engineering and science,
• its importance to regional/national/international development,
• its benefits to humanity,
• the ways the achievement was a significant advance rather than an incremental

improvement of existing technology.

The material submitted here will constitute the main descriptive article on the GHN website for readers to learn about the milestone. Space is unlimited, and detail is encouraged. Most milestones require 1000 to 1500 words of support, however there is no word limit. The article should be readable by a wide audience that includes practicing engineers, scholars of history, and the general public. Some examples of the text of good milestone articles are Milestones:First Radio Astronomical Observations Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry and Milestones:International Standardization of G3 Facsimile (Do not worry about the formatting of the page, IEEE History Center Staff will do that afterwards.)

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)?

Prior to 1913, wireless communication had only been used between two fixed stations on land or between one fixed station and one slow moving station, such as a ship at sea. It was not known whether this form of communications would perform adequately with one of the stations moving at a high rate of speed, for example a train moving at its maximum speed in 1913 of 40-55 miles per hour. The transmission between the train moving from Binghamton to Scranton at this speed, and the fixed towers at Binghamton and Scranton convincingly demonstrated that such communications were feasible, reliable and practical. For example, it was demonstrated that the length of the antenna / receiver on the train could be as small as 18 inches above the train for good communications performance. GIven the dominance of trains for high speed transportation of the early 1900's, there was a great advantage of an enabling technology to support communications from a moving train to the stations. The 1913 feasibility demonstration from this tower provided the ability for improved safety and convenience of train transportation and also spurred future development of wireless communications for other applications.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

The technical obstacle consisted of understanding the correct parameters for wireless communications to succeed between a fixed antena and the antenna on a rapidly moving train.

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

Michael C. Duffy's account of this test in Electric Railways 1880-1990 states that the test performed on November 21, 1913 was the first demonstration that wireless communication between between fixed stattions and moving trains was practical and reliable. Tests prior to then, such as those in 1909, were judged to be too primitive for dependable results. The 1913 experiments demonstrated that wavelengths of 600m-3000m and power of 1kW-5kW provided adequate communications for the train and fixed stations transmitters and receivers. It was also demonstrated that that a single tower (station) could communicate with a moving trin for over a distance of 130 miles. A series of stations could be used to cover a much longer range. This technology was rapidly adopted after its utility was shown. A severe storm in 1914 in the United States crippled most train transportation except for those lines already using wireless communication.

Significant references (minimum of five, but as many as needed to support the milestone), such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. The references should establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement. The references must be to works in English, or — if not in English — must be accompanied by an English translation (see below).

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC) which can be made publicly available on the IEEE History Center’s website (i.e. unencumbered by copyright, or with the copyright holder’s permission). All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. Images and photographs are especially appreciated, however, it is necessary that you list the copyright owner for these and obtain the copyright owner’s permission to reuse.

Submit this proposal to the IEEE History Committee for review. Only check this when the proposal is finished

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