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Philips Tarolex → ← Ecolex IV
Tapeless Rotorless Online cipher machine
- wanted item
TROL was Philips' contribution to a NATO evaluation
of 1962 for a Tapeless Rotorless On-Line cipher machine (TROL).
It was a combination of a modified Ecolex IV
cipher machine, a unit for editing the key settings (SIMILEX),
and a key generator (TAROLEX).
It was never released, as the evaluation was lost to the British
BID/610 (ALVIS) [3], but parts were used
in later designs.
TROL would initially be named Ecolex V, but that name was
dropped when the evaluation was lost.
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TROL consisted of the following three units:
The image on the right shows a complete early setup.
At the top is an Ecolex IV cipher machine of which both tape
readers have been removed. One tape reader is replaced by a key generator,
whilst the other one is replaced by a teleprinter.
The modified Ecolex IV is only used as a mixer.
In a later version of the TROL design,
it was replaced by a simplified unit
which contained a mixer and interfaces for teleprinter and line.
The unit at the bottom left has a hinged door behind which a short piece
of punched paper tape can be installed in a
special reader. It is used as
the seed for the key generator. This part was later reused in the
Tarolex 19" design.
As far as we know, there are no surviving Philips TROL
units, and the photographs below and on the right are the only evidence
that the machine ever existed. The images below show the various development
stages of the design, with the
final design consisting of just two
units — the key generator and the mixer/interface — that were fitted in a
single 19" rackmount front panel.
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TROL was originally destined to become Ecolex V — the successor
to the Ecolex IV mixer — but
as the NATO evaluation for TROL was lost in 1962 to the
British BID/610 (ALVIS) [3],
the project was discontinued and never taken into production.
Nevertheless the core componenents were reused four years later, around
1966, when developing Tarolex 19"
for the Royal Dutch Army, as a gap-fill solution until the anticipated
Ecolex X cipher machine was ready for production.
➤ More about Tarolex
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Device Encryption device with key generator Purpose Encryption of military teleprinter traffic Model TROL, Ecolex V Manufacturer Philips Usfa Year 1962 Customer NATO Predecessor Ecolex IV Successor Tarolex 19" Key length 110 bits Interface 5-bit teleprinter Dimensions ? Weight ? Quantity None
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Ecolex IV Modified one-time tape cipher machine (mixer) Tarolex Key generator Similex Key reader
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- TROL
- Ecolex V
- Ecolex 5
- Tarolex
- Similex
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Saturday 15 June 2013. Last changed: Wednesday, 07 August 2024 - 06:11 CET.
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