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GPS Transitions to New Control System

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."

3 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Your Credit Card by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    has been revoked instead of your citizenship.

    U.S.A. Communist Party FP!

  2. Ok I normally don't... by BlueParrot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    .. but whatever Zonk started smoking lately, I want some.

  3. In related news... by alta · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Over twelve hundred distressed calls to 911 service occured around the same time. A common thread is that they were all geeks screaming something about geocaching, their GPS isn't working and they are LOST!

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.