Cosmic rays... that's the ticket

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:54 am

A few decades ago, while working on classified programs which were pushing the envelope for computer-controlled systems, my coworkers and I would jokingly attribute anomalous system behavior to "cosmic rays", when no other explanation was apparent. The automotive world now seems to have also gained an appreciation for these particles from the Great Beyond:
Cars vs. cosmic rays
which links to this interesting anonymous email and related docs:
Submission on Sea-Level SEU Phenomenon

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:47 am

Triple redundancy and voting for safety critical subsystems.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:58 pm

And make them TEMPEST to boot.

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:21 pm

KitemanSA wrote:And make them TEMPEST to boot.

Are you even allowed to mention that?

When I was working in the field the specs were never available to me. And I had held a Secret clearance in the past.

DeltaV · Post by **DeltaV** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:57 pm

MSimon wrote:Triple redundancy and voting for safety critical subsystems.

For the really critical stuff, divide the redundant channels into redundant lanes that use dissimilar processors, dissimilar compilers, dissimilar control/monitor functions and dissimilar sensors, with a "last ditch" analog backup mode. For radiation environments, consider rad-hard circuits. For hopeless cases, where KHz will do, there's always fluidic logic.

BenTC · Post by **BenTC** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 8:45 pm

MSimon wrote:
KitemanSA wrote:And make them TEMPEST to boot.
Are you even allowed to mention that?

When I was working in the field the specs were never available to me. And I had held a Secret clearance in the past.

Oh you mean Tiny ElectroMagnetic Particles Emitting Secret Things [wikipedia] ?
The entropy of information.....

ladajo · Post by **ladajo** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 12:09 am

I once told a guy at a company I worked at that you could sit in the parking lot in a van and see everything on his computer screen.
He did not believe me. It was not worth arguing.

Maybe there is something to wearing tinfoil hats...

MSimon · Post by **MSimon** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 2:43 am

ladajo wrote:Maybe there is something to wearing tinfoil hats...

If they are properly grounded.

djolds1 · Post by **djolds1** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:55 am

MSimon wrote:
KitemanSA wrote:And make them TEMPEST to boot.
Are you even allowed to mention that?

When I was working in the field the specs were never available to me. And I had held a Secret clearance in the past.

Public sector knowledge for over a decade now.

rashudo · Post by **rashudo** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:02 pm

This is why i always use tinfoil compilers.

kunkmiester · Post by **kunkmiester** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:19 pm

Another use for cosmic rays:
http://home.earthlink.net/~drestinblack/tesfreee.htm

This is a project I want to do eventually, I just need to find a decent wiring diagram that shows how to get power out so it can be measured.