Originally Posted by
msbbarratt
You're referring to what I call the Too-Much-Technology problem. There us an unsettling fashion for using technology, especially software, to solve problems that don't really exist.
Not applicable here.
...Certainly that's how they would have been done 30 years ago. Generator control didn’t need software for the first 80 years of flight, and not a lot has changed.
Would they have been consistently running for 8 months in that period?
However, kids coming out of university have almost no idea what an analogue control circuit is.
Actually, a decent Software Engineering graduate will be *well* aware of the fundamentals of control circuits and logic paths. Furthermore only the best of those graduates usually end up specialising in real-time/safety-critical work.
But they do know what software is. So guess what they choose to use when they're a bit older and end up designing GCUs? Software. Is it overkill? Possibly. Would they ever think of building it a different way? No.
Unfair assumption. Boeing sold this particular product on the basis of being the most energy-efficient airliner that technology could devise. Computer-controlled and regulated technology was and is the only practical method for achieving that aim (and hopefully proving it).
The only thing software has going for it in such a situation is that a whole ton of functionality can be implemented with a very low size/weight penalty.
Again, incorrect. Among other factors it is the most practical way of assessing the product's ability to meet it's design requirements, and furthermore it is a far more practical method in terms of revising the systems design when problems do arise (it's much easier/cheaper to flash an EEPROM and change the systems' programming than it is to replace a physical TLA board).
Though in the case of a GCU I'm struggling to see what that extra functionality might be.
Providing a method of assessing and measuring the efficiency of the aircraft's systems, and providing a straightforward method of tweaking and improving their behaviour, for starters.