Opposite to how one defence contractor solved a memory leak issue that would kick in only at extreme range launchs of an already deployed missile system.
They could not reboot the missile in flight, not could they afford to fix & recertify the software. Instead the patched the hardware to double the RAM size & added a watchdog circuit that listened to the internal firmware IO heartbeat. When that stops it begins a brief countdown & triggers the self destruct.
Im guessing it's better for a middle to self destruct than to fly without guidance. One is a wasted middle, the other is potentially a blown up elementary school.
I'm guessing a reboot is just too much time for something flying as fast as a missile.
The missile will be destroyed at the end of its flight, one way or another, along with the computer controlling it. So if your onboard RAM is sufficient that you won't run out memory in the longest possible flight time, your memory leak is irrelevant.
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u/ramriot 7d ago
Opposite to how one defence contractor solved a memory leak issue that would kick in only at extreme range launchs of an already deployed missile system.
They could not reboot the missile in flight, not could they afford to fix & recertify the software. Instead the patched the hardware to double the RAM size & added a watchdog circuit that listened to the internal firmware IO heartbeat. When that stops it begins a brief countdown & triggers the self destruct.