[lbo-talk] The extreme Google brain

Dwayne Monroe dwayne.monroe at gmail.com
Wed Apr 29 17:53:16 PDT 2009


Chuck Grimes wrote:

It would be really interesting to know what the military uses as a platform to run their killer drones and battlefield robots Anybody know, please put up a post. I sort of understand the engineering issues from power wheelchair and mechanized seating systems controllers. These use custom manufactured central processors from Motorola.

.....

If memory serves, US unmanned war machines all run on somewhat purpose tweaked UNIX variants (Solaris, I think).

The Predator, for example, must interface with military C4 applications which are definitely UNIX-based. If you're unfamiliar, you can read about C4 system specs here:

<http://defense-update.com/features/du-3-05/c4i-3.htm>

And here's, of all things, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) fan site:

<http://theuav.com/>

BTW, you can learn a great deal about these systems by reviewing the help wanted listings for General Dynamics and other defense contractors. The same firms provide lovely kill-pr0n brochures filled with declassified technical info. I learned a lot about the mil uses for the Ku sat band (essential for the planet straddling remote control of Predators, among many other non-mil applications) by simply ordering a booklet.

Oh look, here's a Wiki article about the Ku band:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_band>

.d.



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