Originally Posted by
Self Loading Freight
Have you looked inside the box?
Yes, not half....
I've had all the boards out (24 boards in all), did an inventory, then listed all the components on the digital boards (10 boards), and identified them.
However, "reverse-engineering" (or rather, extracting some of the schematics) is near-impossible, since most are three-layer boards (tracks on the outside, but a groundplane between them).
I'm primarily interested in the digital part... most of the AICU is small analog boards with synchro demodulators and modulators, and control logic, and I'm already familiar with those from my work on the AFCS, which is essentially all analog.
... banks of flip-flops configured from very 60s era metal-can transistors. Is your computer discrete components too, or MSI?
As usual for the early 1970s era, it's a mix, including individual transistors (and relays), op-amps, and SSI and MSI logic, all TTL, still all in the below-200 type range.
It would be a worthwhile if time-consuming project to collate as much information about the Conc's avionics, while there are still enough people around who worked on them.
I know...
Much the same has occurred to me.
Museums are usually more interested in "iconic" items like instruments, such as the famous Mach-meter.
One stroke of luck is that the key British Airways manuals (such as flying manual, maintenance, wiring, illustrated part catalog, Olympus maintenance and overhaul) were all transferred to CDs (later DVDs) and are still available.
They already constitute an incredibly rich source of information for nearly everybody still working on the aircraft or the simulators, or those trying to identify a Concorde part they obtained though an auction.
It's the component maintenance manuals that already seem to be lost, mostly.
And yes, information and knowledge is being lost. It's remarkable how many people in the aviation field do no longer have any idea of what an "analog computer" is...
CJ