History: Measurement Systems Inc. (MSI) was founded in Norwalk, Connecticut in November 1960 by Morton Mehr and a handful of engineers from Perkin-Elmer. Initially focused on analytic and electro-optical instruments, the company's capabilities and talents led to opportunities to provide solutions for fire control and surveillance systems, radiometry and missile range instrumentation. As many technical solutions were derived from expertise in Human Factors Engineering, it wasn't long before MSI started developing hand controls.

Technology: Our original "Human Tracking Controls" were two-axis joysticks with a pushbutton and, true to MSI tradition, their quality was exceptional as determined by labs at UCLA, the Naval Research Lab and Grumman Aircraft Corporation at the time. Original applications for MSI's joysticks included ground-based systems, airborne military systems and industrial equipment. Recognizing the need for more information precise control of tracking and cursor positioning systems, Morton Mehr invented the force joystick in 1973. 

It's this core competency in hand controls that laid the foundations for MSI today as the leading designer and manufacturer of HMI solutions for defense applications. MSI's ability to effectively design to customer requirements led the company to grow through the successful development of flight critical throttles and flight sticks, Gunner's and Commander's style controls for land vehicles, and even high-resolution track balls for air traffic control. 

Mission:  the company mission has been the guiding motivation for MSI's success and longevity, “The soldier in theater is our customer. What we do here at MSI every day is make products and devices that hopefully help our soldiers come home safe and sound.”

It's through this guiding principal of helping warfighters to stay out of harm's way, that MSI has followed the soldier out of the vehicle and out of the ground station and into dismounted operations at the tactical edge to support mission critical success in modern warfare. MSI has done this by pioneering the fully ruggedized, game-style controller, developing enhanced soldier control units for soldier systems and network capable tactical controllers with integrated HMI and touch screen for battle management applications.

Today located in Wallingford Connecticut, MSI has been an important part of Ultra Electronics since its acquisition by that company in 1996.