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GPS Transitions to New Control System

Posted by Zonk on from the angels-on-our-shoulders dept.

gsfprez writes "It took us a long time, but the Air Force has finally moved off of the 1970's mainframe GPS control system and is now running on a new Unix-based Control System called AEP — Architecture Evolution Plan. It's important to remember that current GPS satellites are basically solar powered iPod shuffles with atomic clocks that simply playback whatever we upload into them at a precise rate. They don't actually have any idea where they are — its the control system at Schriever Air Force Base that does. The new system will be a lot cheaper to support and modify since Sun stocks things like SATA drives - while digging up Saturday Night Fever-era DASDs isn't simple. AEP will also allow us to be ahead of the curve: we're basically good to go to fly the new IIF birds."

2 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Re:i was edited and my points were lost.... by Santheman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was at "Schriever" (Falcon back then) from 1992 to 1994 and the GPS DASDs were being replaced. I know, as I was in the GPS module on a daily basis and the new drive enclosures were microscopic compared to the DASDs. Not sure where the GPS DASD references are coming from. The GPS module was the first to replace the DASDs as they had all the money. San

  2. Hope the reliability is just as good! by ErichTheRed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is by no means a "keep the legacy crap" rant -- systems you can't buy parts for without an unlimited budget should be retired ASAP.

    However, I wonder who's handling the conversion for them, or if the Air Force is doing it themselves. I've seen great legacy conversion projects, and been involved in some really awful ones. One problem is just a lack of people who know enough about the "old" system to implement the software in the "new" side. The other, and far worse one is when companies (not militaries, mind you) bring in contractors who know _nothing_ about the hidden surprises in the old system, or nothing about the actual real-world application the computer is supporting.

    As long as the system's not running J2EE or outsourced to a bunch of "expert" consultants, I'm guessing we're fine. But there is one key thing that's lost on "modern" IT -- proven systems work. Just because something is new doesn't mean it will work better! This is why I'm glad they stuck with UNIX instead of Linux or Windows.

    Side note, how much do you think IBM was charging to maintain that monster??