On 21/09/15 15:40, rickman wrote:
On 9/19/2015 8:09 AM, David wrote:
At Wed, 16 Sep 2015 17:30:56 -0400, rickman rearranged some electrons to
write:


I got a little knowledge on the EMSP. I seem to recall it never reached
deployment, but I find Internet references to it being the standard
acoustic platform at some point. I can't imagine 1980's technology
would be used even in 2000, much less now. I guess they did some
upgrades before it reached production.

Every single bare circuit board used on AN/UYS-2 was tested using
programs that I wrote. Back in the day.

Maybe you can help me understand. I was on the program when it first
got started. ATT got the contract to develop the hardware and it was
all fully custom ICs. The design consisted of processing units with 2
adders and 1 multiplier each, all floating point. ECOS was supposed to
be the way it was programmed and was graphical. I left for another job
and years later a friend told me the EMSP program got very complicated,
ECOS never worked right, potential users of the system started to bail.
They ended up having so few potential users that the unit cost rose
through the roof. I thought in the end the entire program was canceled.
But I find references that say it was the system used in the 90's
which is really surprising.

Did I hear wrong or was it just exaggerated? Where was this processor
actually used? I think it the program was started by the Navy for use
on submaries, so I assume they would have been the last user to stay
with the program.


Assuming it was made to work, the 'life span' is not that unusual.

The AYK-14 Mission Computer was a mid 70s design and celebrated 30 years
in service about a decade back. It was used in a raft of aircraft and is
gradually being replaced by a more modern design.