Does anybody know how many Megabytes does
software in aircrafts consume (not counting
add-on's like entertainment sys. etc.)
Type specific info would be optimal,
but general info is also helpful!
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Who Else Remembers When 256K Was A Lot?
That isn't a very clear question. It would be nearly impossible to give you an absolute number of bytes stored by all avionics equipment. Each system has it's own independent memory.
It's easier if we narrow it down to just an FMS. For Honeywell's Business/Commuter latest: 16MB for the nav database (containing about 4 megs for all Jep data.. the rest is for pilot defined flight plans etc). It uses pentium processors, and is a very spiffy piece of equipment. I believe the processor has 4 megs of memory (RAM) on it's board but I'm not sure exactly how much of that RAM is taken up by the running program (most of it I'm sure), but it is ~8 megabytes stored in other non-volatile memory I think.
The rest of the systems in an aircraft like the GV don't need as much memory, but 28 megs worth of total memory in the FMS is probably more than 75% of the sum of all memory chips in the entire aircraft. (realize that there may be two or three FMS's in the aircraft though).
Someone who sales or installs these things could answer your question more specifically, but I do neither so don't swear on your life by anything I tell you.
aaron
It's easier if we narrow it down to just an FMS. For Honeywell's Business/Commuter latest: 16MB for the nav database (containing about 4 megs for all Jep data.. the rest is for pilot defined flight plans etc). It uses pentium processors, and is a very spiffy piece of equipment. I believe the processor has 4 megs of memory (RAM) on it's board but I'm not sure exactly how much of that RAM is taken up by the running program (most of it I'm sure), but it is ~8 megabytes stored in other non-volatile memory I think.
The rest of the systems in an aircraft like the GV don't need as much memory, but 28 megs worth of total memory in the FMS is probably more than 75% of the sum of all memory chips in the entire aircraft. (realize that there may be two or three FMS's in the aircraft though).
Someone who sales or installs these things could answer your question more specifically, but I do neither so don't swear on your life by anything I tell you.
aaron
RE: How Much Memory Does Avionics Consume?
I don't really have any specific info, but I do recall in 777 class they said that the Primary Flight Computers use three different processors from three different manufacturers in each,in order to prevent "crashing" of the computers (and the a/c obviously).
RE: How Much Memory Does Avionics Consume?
Aaron, you have first hand informations!
I'm a bit surprised to read that each FMS has 3 differents types of processor: it must be very difficult technically, and expensive, to build a software in a such heterogenous environment. But I don't even know the OS used in the FMS; I hope it's not windows
, it's not a real-time OS!
Regards
DC10
I'm a bit surprised to read that each FMS has 3 differents types of processor: it must be very difficult technically, and expensive, to build a software in a such heterogenous environment. But I don't even know the OS used in the FMS; I hope it's not windows
, it's not a real-time OS!
Regards
DC10
OS
There isn't an operating system in the PC sense of the word. I don't know about that 777 system, but when you only have one processor/hardware architecture, the program can be compiled into the native machine language. Only one program exists in memory. It is the "OS" and the FMS software all in one. You don't need harware abstraction layers, API's, and device drivers to make it unstable. I admit that there can still be programming errors, but due to the simplicity of a program made to run on only one specific hardware setup (although the language may be difficult), you don't get a blue screen of death every two hours.
The 777 brains are in the AIMS, and I'm not going to even guess about the crap they cram in there. The catch-phrase here is Integrated Modular Avionics. blah
aaron
The 777 brains are in the AIMS, and I'm not going to even guess about the crap they cram in there. The catch-phrase here is Integrated Modular Avionics. blah
aaron
RE:It Ain't Your Avg PC
And by that I mean its more analogus to your nintendo than say the p.c I m using a 300 mhz amd. All of the info required is hard written into the chip and in the case of the 320 happens be a motorola 68000 and Intel 80186 ya you read that right basically your palm pilot is faster. The caveat here though is that the engineers wanted a chip that was stable well designed and robust considering where the chip spends most of its life well above the protective layer of atmosphere subject to increased levels of electromagnetic radiation and u.v. thats no small order. Anyway you get the picture and yes there are two software types used written by two seperate teams in two different languages just to make sure that there wasn't a hidden software language bug and of ya just to give something else to think about in boeing's latest trouble shooting manual for the 47-400 they mention something RNE's random nuetron events apparently stray nuetrons passing thru the atmosphere can cause software glitches to appear in the onboard computers of the a/c interesting.
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