Contents includes -- Performance of Burst-trapping Codes (Tong); Analysis of a Burst-trapping Error correction procedure (Pehlert, jr) Synthesis of Stochastic representations of ground motions (Liu); Limiting behaviors of Randomly excited hyberbolid tangent systems; Liu and Cohoon); Masking of Crosstalk by Speech and Noise (Sen); Also, BSTJ Briefs -- Charge coupled semiconductor devices (Boyle and Smith); Experimental verification of the charged coupled device concept (Amelio, Tompsett and Smith) In 1969, George Smith and Willard Boyle invented the first CCDs or Charge Coupled Devices at Bell Labs. A CCD is an electronic memory that can be charged by light. CCDs can hold a charge corresponding to variable shades of light, which makes them useful as imaging devices for cameras, scanners, and fax machines. Because of its superior sensitivity, the CCD has revolutionized the field of astronomy and is found on many scientific space vehicles such as the Hubble Telescope. Announcement of the CCD The charge-coupled device was invented in 1969 at AT&T Bell Labs by Willard Boyle and George E. Smith. The lab was working on semiconductor bubble memory when Boyle and Smith conceived of the design of what they termed, in their notebook, 'Charge "Bubble" Devices'.[1] A description of how the device could be used as a shift register and as a linear and area imaging devices was described in this first entry. The essence of the design was the ability to transfer charge along the surface of a semiconductor one storage capacitor to the next. The initial paper describing the concept[2] listed possible uses as a memory, a delay line, and an imaging device. The first experimental device[3] demonstrating the principle was a row of closely spaced metal squares on an oxidized silicon surface electrically accessed by wire bonds. The first working CCD made with integrated circuit technology was a simple 8-bit shift register.[4] This device had input and output circuits and was used to demonstrate use as a shift register and as a crude eight pixel linear imaging device. Development of the device progressed at a rapid rate. By 1971, Bell researchers Michael F. Tompsett et al. were able to capture images with simple linear devices.[5] 2009 Nobel Prize physicists Willard Boyle and George E. Smith described their new Charge Couple Device in the journal: "Charge coupled semiconductor devices." Bell System Technical Journal, 49(4): 587-93, April 1970.