data storage on aero planes
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How were the electronical hardware settings on a plane stored before the invention of solid state hard drives? To my mind a plane`s auto pilot is a rather complex piece of software with a lot of data to be kept somewhere when the plane computer is off. Also there are plenty of other electronics that need the default settings saved somewhere when the power is off. A conventional hard drive must have been rather unpractical on a moving vehicle. Also the lack of storage makes you understand how rudimentary the aero plane electronical devices were in WW2 days and even a few decades after that. [edit] I think my question is broader that the scope of aero plane electronics. How are the default settings in (general purpose) electronics being saved? One of my guesses is that the logic is hard coded into the circuitry. For instance the shape of a number on an old numerical display is not saved digitally (as dots making the shape) but rather each of the 7 segments making the digit has a corresponding electronical component that kicks in when required. It`s really difficult to figure out how electronics work when you`re born with a notebook in your lap, somehow understand how the software works but preserve a very vague understanding of what`s under the notebook casing.
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How were the electronical hardware settings on a plane stored before the invention of solid state hard drives? To my mind a plane`s auto pilot is a rather complex piece of software with a lot of data to be kept somewhere when the plane computer is off. Also there are plenty of other electronics that need the default settings saved somewhere when the power is off. A conventional hard drive must have been rather unpractical on a moving vehicle. Also the lack of storage makes you understand how rudimentary the aero plane electronical devices were in WW2 days and even a few decades after that. [edit] I think my question is broader that the scope of aero plane electronics. How are the default settings in (general purpose) electronics being saved? One of my guesses is that the logic is hard coded into the circuitry. For instance the shape of a number on an old numerical display is not saved digitally (as dots making the shape) but rather each of the 7 segments making the digit has a corresponding electronical component that kicks in when required. It`s really difficult to figure out how electronics work when you`re born with a notebook in your lap, somehow understand how the software works but preserve a very vague understanding of what`s under the notebook casing.
I would think it's mostly analog; which in my mind is simpler than dealing with digital feedback information. Altitude, velocity, direction, orientation, ...; action - reaction.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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I would think it's mostly analog; which in my mind is simpler than dealing with digital feedback information. Altitude, velocity, direction, orientation, ...; action - reaction.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
thanks. your second statement is slightly disorienting. You`re talking about digital "feedback" which is similar, on a superficial level, with force feedback. If my understanding is correct planes do have force feedback on the control column.