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Show 6 August 5, 1999 n n h 3b( poeouoooQOTio Potential year 2000 problems in near future 2000. GPS calculates time by counting the number of weeks since Jan. 6, 1980 with a max- by Terry Kriekard HillAFB Y2K Infrastructure POC Do you use Global Positioning System receivers and are you aware of two potential problems they could experience in the n near future? GPS is a worldwide conformed from a system imum of 1,023 weeks. At midnight between Aug. 2132, 1999, the GPS week "counter" will roll back to zero weeks. DoD agencies say this will not create problems for the GPS satellites or DoD's GPS ground control center, but it could present a problem for all those who use older GPS receivers and related applications. That's because after Aug 21, 1999, receivers could process satellite data incorrectly and display inaccurate information. Also if GPS receivers are not Y2K compliant, they will use two digit dates for the year resulting in incorrect satellite data. radio-navigatio- stellation of satellites and their ground e stations. GPS uses these stars" as reference points to calculate posi"man-mad- tions accurate to a matter ofmeters. Recreational boaters and pilots, hikers, campers, hunters and fishermen in addition to military personnel use GPS. All GPS users should be aware of the following important dates: Aug. 21-21999 and Jan. 1, 2, AWACS to be Y2K complaint ate the ground and mission soft ware which operates the aircraft's mission on-boa- rd computing system, global positioning system, integrated navigation system and other mission said Col. Bradley Butler; AWACS program director at ESC. will ensure the AWACS weapon system supports the warfighter seamlessly through the year 2000 and meets consub-systems- By Jack Rankin Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs ) Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. . Comprehensive tests of computer systems which support the Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, are expected to demonstrate full Year 2000 compliance by early fall. Managed by Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., an extensive program involving numerous critical areas of AWACS capability is being undertaken to uncover any previously undiscovered Y2Kbugs which could cause problems for ," gressional mandates." The first phase of testing was recently completed and involved rolling forward the ground-basemission software generation computer to the year 2000 in order to test its compatibility with the computer systems. "This Joint Test Force gives us both testing and operator expertise in one unit and allows us to properly test and evaluate all new and modified systems for the entire AWACS fleet," said 1st Lt. Laird Abbott, AWACS test director. "While the air- d on-boa- rd the AWACS, according to program officials. "Our objective is to realistically evalu- - andor 3) it will appear to be working but These problems could become very serious. Many GPS receivers are used to syn- display inaccurate positions, times or dates. At Hill AFB, we have GPS receivers in the 75 Civil Engineering Group, 75 Communication Squadron, 75 Operations Support Squadron, 75 Security Forces Squadron, chronize network time and hardware systems. Conflicts with server and PC time could cause data packets to be lost, files deleted by archiving programs, and users to be locked out. Conflicts among network components may cause the network to go down as the components try to resolve the actual time. mis-route- d, e-m- Users who depend on GPS for geographic locations at sea, on land or in the air, may experience one of the following problems with their receiver: 1) it will be unable to locate the satellites, resulting in the receiver not working; 2) it will take more time than usual to locate the satellites; craft' s computer systems don't keen track of dates, the ground computer, which actually generates the mission software, does." The ground computer system develops a program for each mission which is installed on the E-- 3 aircraft by means of a Remov;1 ; able Memory Assembly. The RMAis a portable hard-drivwhich is transferred from the ground-base- d comfor each mission, said puter to the aircraft : Abbott. "This is a critical test because, if there is a year 2000 flaw in the ground computer "End-of-Wee- k" mission software generated from the ground station computer and all were completed without any failures the aircraft. "We successfully tested Y2K compatibility on a Block 3035 AWACS and on a live-fir- e exercise involving 18 participating ' aircraft," said Abbott. Y2K-specif- e, ic on-boa- rd Further demonstrations are planned throughout the summer and will involve the other mission critical said sub-system- s, Butler. "We will focus our efforts not only on testsystems, but also in demonAWACS' strating the interoperability with system, the computer systems the AWACS may not be able to operate at On-boa- Environmental Management, and Technology and Industrial Support Directorate which are all rollover and Y2K compliant. Y2K contingency plans will be in place for any possible problems that we may experience. If you use GPS receivers and do not know whether they are EO W rollover andor Y2K compliant, check with your receiver manufacturer or for further information, contact Terry Kriekard at Ext. ing all rd all," said Abbott. on-boa- rd other Department of Defense weapon systems," Butler said. "Our goal is to successfully demonstrate that the AWACS is capable of operating in a Y2K environment with no mission impacting flaws whatsoever, and we are continually proving that The demonstrations were performed through a cooperative effort between the AWACS Joint Task Force, the 552nd Air Control Wing and the 513th Air Control Group at Tinker AFB, Okla. Several sorties were performed using it can do this." . COMPUTERS FOR EVERYONE! Illustration by Scott Goodwin Now Everyone can own a High Quality Computer, 1999 -j- - v. Regardless of . Past Credit History ajppWp -8- 00-944-0415 24692999 f f J 1 CLI 5 1 Mlfllrf fifes . isr OFTHE (6 -- is Legendary! 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