Originally posted by: itachi
pft.. 80880?
the cpu is the pilot.. the air data processor was made by Sperry; the data bus is based mostly off the 1553 standard (MIL-STD-1553); communications interface- ky-58 for voice, arc-186 (vhf) and arc-164 (uhf) transreceivers, ibu by novatronics, apx-101/109/111/113 interrogator/transponder (101 used initially.. 113 used more recently); and the radar is based off the apg-66 for a/b and apg-68 for c/d models.
check out.. http://www.f-16.net
theres also an airforce page somewhere that lists some of the parts used for their respective interface.
they should work fine.. temperature and sensitivity are the main issues. around 10 km the temperature drops down near -75 degrees Celsius. no modern computer can handle a temperature that low, or as high as military issue ic's are designed to handle.Originally posted by: ariafrost
I doubt modern computer systems would function very well at 5+ Gs anyways
Originally posted by: f95toli
I agree, AFAIK there is nothing special about the fabrication technology used to make the computers in military equipment. The circuits are designed to that they are as fault tolerant as possible and there are of course backup systems but other than that they are just normal ASICS.
Originally posted by: Colonel C
Some piece of crap from the 1970's. The F16 is quite old afterall. Its entering retirement soon too. The JSF and F-22 are replacing nearly every strike/fighter bomber in the airforce (the U.S airforce that is). The JSF is replacing some planes like the Tornado and the Harrier in the Royal Air Force too.
Originally posted by: TerryMathews
F-16s, for example, are up to block 50 the last time I checked.
Originally posted by: Farmer
From what I read, the F-16 Block 60 was intended to be a strike varient that looked a lot like the NASA F-16XL. The project was scrapped I think, when the Gov't favored the F-15E and A-10 for that role. Would've been cool, though, dontchya think?
Originally posted by: f95toli
I agree, AFAIK there is nothing special about the fabrication technology used to make the computers in military equipment. The circuits are designed to that they are as fault tolerant as possible and there are of course backup systems but other than that they are just normal ASICS.
Originally posted by: Eris23007
Originally posted by: f95toli
I agree, AFAIK there is nothing special about the fabrication technology used to make the computers in military equipment. The circuits are designed to that they are as fault tolerant as possible and there are of course backup systems but other than that they are just normal ASICS.
Not true. Most mil-spec processors, particularly for space systems, are designed to a completely different level of radiation tolerance. A significant percentage of this difference is related to the packaging, to increase the Linear Energy Transfer at which radiation events will cause one of the various types of Single Event Upset events. Also it turns out that new Silicon-On-Insulator technologies are very effective at increasing a CPU's resilience to these SEU events.
It turns out that smaller mfg processes (e.g. the new 0.09u, 0.13u, etc) are much more susceptible to radiation events. Therefore mil-spec CPUs are generally much larger - 0.25u,0.5u, even 1u or larger. This also partially accounts for their lower speed capabilities, though the crazy fault-tolerant/redundant designs contribute to low speeds as well.
Fortunately military equipment tends not to have nearly the level of feature-creep of consumer equipment. Eye candy likewise is not a concern - military user interfaces tend to be as simple and stark as possible, to present the greatest amount of information in the most efficient manner.
Originally posted by: Eris23007
Originally posted by: f95toli
I agree, AFAIK there is nothing special about the fabrication technology used to make the computers in military equipment. The circuits are designed to that they are as fault tolerant as possible and there are of course backup systems but other than that they are just normal ASICS.
Not true. Most mil-spec processors, particularly for space systems, are designed to a completely different level of radiation tolerance. A significant percentage of this difference is related to the packaging, to increase the Linear Energy Transfer at which radiation events will cause one of the various types of Single Event Upset events. Also it turns out that new Silicon-On-Insulator technologies are very effective at increasing a CPU's resilience to these SEU events.
Originally posted by: f95toli
I know that systems used in space are made in a different way due to radiation but is that really the case also for "ordinary" mil-spec electronics?
Mil-spec components are quite common and from what I have seen the only difference between the ordinary version of e.g. an op-amp and the mil-spec version is the temperature range where it can be used and sometimes the packaging,