Re-engineering
Support
Engine Test Cell / Hardware Design,
Upgrade, & Re-engineering
The Atmospheric Early Warning System (AEWS) is responsible for five primary systems:
- AN/FPS-117(V) Long Range Radar
- AN/GSQ-235 Command Information Link
- AN/FYQ-93 Processor
- Advanced Interface Control Unit (AICU)
- AN/FPS-124 Unattended Radar (UAR)
These systems were developed several decades ago and most of their components are now obsolete and difficult to obtain. Years of maintenance actions have degraded the circuit assemblies and system components such that they are no longer easily repairable. The original designers and vendors of the equipment no longer exist. Personnel familiar with the equipment are becoming unavailable. The U.S. Air Force needed sources of the system components in order to support the systems until the systems could be replaced.
Re-engineering Support for the Atmospheric Early Warning System
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) provided this re-engineering support. The components of the systems needing replacement included:
- Circuit card assemblies (CCAs)
- Power systems
- Keyboards
- Line printers
All components had to interface with remaining components of the system. In several cases, where documentation describing the components was not available or incomplete, information had to be developed from samples of the hardware. The original circuit assemblies had to be analyzed to determine purpose and functionality. Commercially available and compatible components were sought. Adapter kits were developed to allow the use of alternative commercially available power supplies and line printers. New circuit card assemblies were developed from the derived information and tested in the actual systems. Programmable logic equivalents were developed from VHDL descriptions of logic assemblies.
Adapter kits were developed to allow the use of alternative commercially available power supplies and line printers.
Related Terminology
re-engineering support • atmospheric early warning system • obsolete system update • update circuit assembly • system components • aerospace engineering
