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[email protected] · October 24th 16, 11:13 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , d () wrote:

On Mon, 24 Oct 2016 03:58:55 -0500
wrote:
In article , d () wrote:
So its up to the manufacturer to choose items that he can make a fair
guess will still be around in 10-20 years time and if that means using
a discrete CPU + TTL and I/O chips instead of some all in one DSP or
SoC then thats what they'll have to do. As for traction kit its not as
if no one makes thyristors any more.

You completely misunderstand electronics manufacturing. Kit has only got
smaller because functions are more and more integrated into single chips.

The size of the motherboard might matter for consumer kit, but its
hardly significant when you're building something as big as a train.

I think the difference between the mid-80s radio and its predecessor was
having a single board. The FM1000 model was very different and that was no
longer manufacturable by the late 1990s because manufacturing had switched
to chip placement and the capability to manually assemble boards at
affordable costs had gone.

Also you might want to consider how aircraft manufacturers manage. You
think Boeing or Airbus are going to say to BA or Virgin "Sorry lads, but
we can't get the parts for the avionics or engine control system any more,
you're going to have to scrap that 20 year old $100million 747/A340".
Of course not.

I can see the problem but not how they answered it. It won't be cheap,
that's for sure.

--
Colin Rosenstiel