Obsolescence replacement-applied technology

Equipment obsolescence is a growing concern for both military and commercial test equipment users. Many critical test systems currently in use were designed to remain in service for many years - sometimes even decades, using the most innovative technology at the time. However, as technology constantly evolves, newer, more advanced systems have since taken the place of these legacy systems. In fact, many of the older technologies are no longer in production so when instruments fail, the replacement components may not be available and the instruments become non-maintainable. This paper covers the options available to test engineers and program managers facing test equipment obsolescence problems. These include on-going maintenance & repair, replacement through a secondary (used) market, replacement using similar products and software or hardware adapters, rehosting all existing test program sets (TPSs) to a new target system, and replacement using 100% form-fit-function instrumentation.