Hybrid computers combine analog and digital components to provide fast and accurate equation handling. They eliminate the need for users to choose between speed and accuracy, making them ideal for real-time applications. True hybrid computers are built with the necessary components, while hybrid systems are often less efficient.
Hybrid computers are computers designed to provide functions and features found with analog computers and digital computers. The idea behind this combined or hybrid computer model is to create a work unit that offers the best of both computer types. In most designs, the analog components of the equipment provide efficient processing of the differential equations, while the digital aspects of the computer address the logical operations associated with the system.
By creating this type of embedded computer, the benefits of analog and digital processing are immediately available. A hybrid computer is extremely fast when it comes to handling equations, even when those calculations are extremely complicated. This advantage is made possible by the presence of the analog components inherent in the design of the equipment.
While the hybrid computer can handle equations just as easily as an analog computer, the digital components help eliminate one of the major drawbacks of a purely analog device. Comparatively speaking, the range of accuracy on an analog computer is limited, while the accuracy with a digital computer is much greater. By incorporating components that allow the digital computer to go beyond the three or four digits of precision common with analog equipment, hybrid processing makes it possible to handle equations much faster than the digital option alone. In other words, hybrid computing offers both speed and accuracy, thus eliminating the need for the user to settle for one or the other.
The value of a hybrid computer is readily seen where real-time equation handling is needed. While a strictly analog device would give quick results that aren’t entirely accurate, and a digital device would give more precise answers that would take longer to compute, the hybrid approach allows you to get answers now rather than later. At the same time, those responses are more detailed and therefore more useful than the quick responses provided by analog equipment.
It’s important to note that a true hybrid computer is not simply a hybrid system. The hybrid computer is built with the components necessary for the device to operate with speed and accuracy. Products marketed as hybrid systems are often nothing more than digital computing equipment that has been enhanced with an analog-to-digital converter for input and a digital-to-analog converter to handle the output. While effective, such a system is usually considered less efficient than a true hybrid computer.
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