Management Overview of System Technical Support Plan for the FIREFINDER System Support Center

摘要

The Radar Sets AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 represent the state of the art in counter-mortar and counter-artillery radars. Both systems are computer controlled and depend on software for controlling hardware and processing target information. This dependency on software for operating the radar could lead to a major maintenance support problem. The high degree of interaction between the software and hardware makes it difficult to determine whether or not the cause of a fault is software or hardware. A field repairman could exhaust all of his hardware troubleshooting techniques and still not determine the problem is the fault was in the software. Field maintenance personnel must have a new method for dealing with software problems to adequately support FIREFINDER systems. Under this plan, the FIREFINDER System Support Center (FFSSC) is a part of the Electronic Research and Development Command's (ERADCOM) Software Support Center. The personnel at the FFSSC are trained in both the system software and hardware. The FFSSC's responsibilities are (1) to assist field personnel in determining if a problem is caused by a hardware or software fault, and (2) to correct any software faults. This can be done, depending on circumstances, through telephone calls or onsite visits. The FFSSC also assists the system manager in solving hardware faults.