The Evolution of Machinery Control Systems Support At the Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station

Introduction Machinery Control Systems (MCS) have evolved rapidly with the development of smaller and more powerful computational and display technologies. Over the past three decades machinery controls have moved from hardware-based logic to software-based logic. The use of relays, push buttons and light-bulbs has been replaced by processors, graphical user interfaces, keyboards and track balls. Suppliers have also evolved from using basic circuit cards and military-specified processors running machine language to Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) processors running high level languages like C11 and JAVA. Networks provide communication using industry standard protocols. These changes have driven changes in acquisition philosophy, life cycle support, training, and modernization programs.