45 MAY 2021 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Form words related to pumps by combining syllables from the list, indicated by the numbers in parentheses. A BLE CAT CEN CI DE DI FU GAL ING ING MER PHRAGM PRO RE SI SUB TER TRI WA (4) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (4) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (3) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (5) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (4) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Congratulations to: Your Name Could Have Been Here J Winner for April! Time for a Little Fun! April Puzzle Solution: Win a prize! Send completed puzzle to: WWDRPO Box 660 Bonifay, FL 32425 fax: 850-547-0329 or e-mail: michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com STEM HOLLOW CONSTRUCT AUGER PROJECT P A I N T Computer Overcomplexity is Everywhere ~ Even Outer Space by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC When it comes to citing examples of overautomation, improperly applied automation, or flawed automation, there is no shortage of material to draw from. It’s everywhere. Consider the following scenario: I’ll put my comments in brackets [ ]. I mentioned an online story last month about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Orion spacecraft in orbit around the moon, and they were confident the mechanical components would perform adequately. However, they were not confident the software used to control everything the rocket does was up to the task. Shortly after it reached orbit, the spacecraft, which had no astronauts onboard, ran into trouble because the flight computers were 11 hours off. [I cannot overemphasize how critically important this is. Almost everything a computer does is referenced to time.] This caused the spacecraft to lose its navigational reference [it didn’t know where it was, so it didn’t know where it should be, either] which burned additional fuel, which in turn, forced the operators to call off the mission early [there are no fueling stations in outer space at this time]. Boeing was able to diagnose the problem and send up a software fix which managed to bring the spacecraft down safely. Later evaluation [often called a “Postmortem” and for good reason] found both the software itself and the software testing were deeply flawed [Duh!]. Boeing also revealed they did not use the actual hardware for testing, but used instead an “emulator” which is an equipment “simulator” that is supposed to simulate the real-world conditions they are trying to test. However, this emulator had the wrong values programmed into it [which literally transformed this spaceship into a space boat anchor]. There is no substitute for hands-on testing. If you cannot get hands-on testing, as would be the case here, you find the next best thing. You first test all of the components individually, and then test them as a unit. This is not a new concept and has been used successfully for many years. Henry Royce, the “Royce” of the Rolls-Royce automobile manufacturer, was known to abuse new products to determine if they were fit to use in his automobiles. The idea was, if the product could survive the abuse in the lab, it wouldn’t have any problem performing in the real world. When we develop a new product, we will often give them to the customer at no charge, for testing. We make sure they are working well during bench testing, but it’s not enough. If the product has a problem, sooner or later the problem will surface. If it performs well in the field, then and only then, will we consider marketing the product. Why do we “give away” merchandise? It would seem to be a poor business model, but it isn’t. We give it away because what we learn from customer feedback is valuable information that can be used to improve it and other products long into the future. We never turn down the chance to learn something useful. Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com eranhenderson@gmail.com New & Used Tricones PDCs Drag & Claw Bits Drill Collars Bit Tipping Subs & Stabilizers HDD Bits & Reamers DTH Hammer & Bits Custom Fabrication Junk Mills / Fishing Tools Rod Henderson 661-201-6259 Eran Henderson 661-330-0790
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