Tackling Mission Critical Electronics Obsolescence

INDUSTRY:
Aerospace and Defense

TYPE OF WORK:
Electronics Engineering, Firmware Design, Obsolescence engineering, PCB Design

*Name of the client is withheld due to security concerns and nature of work.

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About the Client

Defense Company

This leading defence technology company specialises in delivering advanced scientific and engineering solutions for governments and commercial entities worldwide.

Their expertise spans defense, security, and critical national infrastructure, and they operate sophisticated testing and evaluation facilities across air, land and sea. These facilities ensure that military and security equipment perform reliably under both real-world and simulated conditions.

Understanding the Problem

The Challenge

The client faced a critical challenge: a key electronic component for a training system—an essential 32-bit microcontroller had become obsolete.

The supplier discontinued manufacturing, leaving the client with a legacy processor board that could no longer be supported or replaced. This obsolescence threatened the ongoing reliability and maintainability of vital systems, hampering operations.

Key Requirements:

Redesign the entire processor board to accommodate a new microprocessor.
Maintain the same form factor and pin-to-pin compatibility to ensure seamless integration.
Deliver a true drop-in replacement compatible with existing test systems.
Integrate new features based on client feedback, without disrupting established workflows.

Solving the Challenge

The Solution

A Comprehensive Approach to Managing Electronic Component Obsolescence:

Proactive Obsolescence Management: Enginuity’s electronics team initiated a thorough assessment of the existing system, prioritizing early identification of at-risk components to support a strategic legacy electronics redesign.
Reverse Engineering: Detailed analysis of the legacy processor board enabled the extraction of all functional and performance requirements, ensuring the new design would meet or exceed original specifications.
Collaborative Redesign: Regular consultations with the client facilitated the integration of new features and enhancements, transforming the processor board replacement into an opportunity for system improvement.
Hardware and Software Integration: The engineering team executed the legacy electronics redesign by developing new circuitry, laying out the PCB, and migrating the client’s code base to the updated architecture.
Testing and Validation: Without access to a simulator or field-testing environment, a comprehensive bench-top test suite was created. This suite compared the new system’s performance with the legacy board, verifying that all control-system obsolescence solutions were effective and that all required functionalities were preserved.
Documentation and Due Diligence: Throughout the process, meticulous documentation supported both immediate troubleshooting and future planned electronics obsolescence management.

Summarizing the Outcome

The Conclusion

The project delivers a robust processor board replacement that fully addressed the client’s control system obsolescence challenge. The new solution not only restores operational capability, but also provides a foundation for future enhancements, such as increased speed, memory, and expanded peripheral support, thus opening the door for continued development of new systems in an ever-changing battlefield.

This approach demonstrates the value of proactive obsolescence management and effective strategies for managing electronic component obsolescence.

Key Takeaways

Control system obsolescence

Modernize legacy controls into future-proof platforms.

Processor board replacement

Seamless drop-in swaps through joint design and rigorous tests.

Obsolescence Management  

Stay ahead of part EOL with proactive BOM tracking and redesign.