brightball
A while back I wrote the Comparing Elixir and Go post for Codeship. Every now and then something recirculates the post and my Twitter blows up.
One of the things I mention in that article was a story I came across when I was initially learning about Elixir, Erlang in the BEAM that talked about an occasion when hot loading was used to update a flight computer on a plane that was in the air. I’m trying to go back and dig up the reference for where I found it, but it’s been long enough and I’ve read enough that I can’t remember where I saw it. I thought it was on the Erlang wikipedia entry at some point.
https://twitter.com/Exadra37/status/948311050910404608
If y’all could help me find it I’d appreciate it. I figured if anybody would know where I could find that reference it would be @sasajuric pragdave @rvirding @joeerl
Where Next?
Trending in Discussions
Other Trending Topics
Latest on Elixir Forum
Sponsor Spotlight
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Categories:
Sub Categories:
Forums
Popular Tags
- #ecto
- #liveview
- #troubleshooting
- #learning-elixir
- #library
- #deployment
- #erlang
- #testing
- #genserver
- #mix
- #absinthe
- #remote-other
- #otp
- #plug
- #how-to-question
- #macros
- #postgres
- #elixirconf
- #channels
- #exunit
- #discussion
- #code-sync
- #podcasts
- #javascript
- #onsite
- #dialyzer
- #docker
- #authentication
- #umbrella
- #full-time-contract
- #podcasts-by-brainlid
- #ai
- #ecto-query
- #elixirconf-us
- #blog-post
- #elixir-ls
- #phoenix_html
- #iex
- #graphql
- #genstage
- #websockets
- #supervisor
- #advent-of-code
- #distillery
- #processes
- #elixirconf-eu
- #api
- #forms
- #metaprogramming
- #hex
Our Sponsors
Build Elixir applications with speed and confidence.
We build reliable cloud platforms for business-critical systems.
Catch errors, track performance, monitor hosts and more.
Error tracking, logs, uptime, and Just Enough APM. Built for developers.
Elixir, Erlang & BEAM conferences from Code Sync - join us in 2026!
Practical resources that improve the lives of professional developers.
Master modern tools, write cleaner code, and tackle real-world challenges.
The deployment platform built for Elixir: PaaS ease, VPS control.
The team behind Membrane, Popcorn, LiveDebugger. Available for hire.
Courses that'll move you from confusion to "Aha, now I get it!"
Showing Posts 1 to 8- Show Best Posts
- Show All (oldest first)
- Show All (newest first)
gon782
Is it possible that this is one of those cases where in-flight hot code reloading for Erlang drones passes through enough tweets/blog-posts and transforms into a fact about the same for flight computers in airplanes?
There was a YouTube clip made by a company/organization called Feuerlabs (Ulf Wiger of gproc fame and other prominent Erlangers were/are part of it) that showed exactly that; a hot-code reload of some flight control system while the drone was in the air, fixing a bug. They’ve since taken it down and I’m not entirely sure why.
outlog
I wouldn’t think erlang is(should be?) used for hard realtime stuff such as flight controls in real airplanes..
but there is this drone/quadcopter project, and I believe I’ve seen hot code reload while in flight.. if not in this project then somewhere else:
presentation:
http://www.elixirconf.eu/elixirconf2017/loic-vigneron
video:
brightball
I distinctly remember it being an actual plane.
dom
Are you sure it was an Erlang system? I’ve seen similar confusion in the past because someone mentioned Erlang-style hot code deployments are used in space probes, and that got misquoted like “Erlang deployments are used in space probes”.
On a side note on the same article, Facebook chat moved away from Erlang many years ago.
peerreynders
###Drone In-flight Firmware Upgrade
Exosense Flight Control - Live in-flight firmware upgrade.
Using Exosense and Erlang, we upgrade the flight control system while in the air.
https://tune.pk/video/4391026/drone-in-flight-firmware-upgrade
Also:
###Minimal Downtime: In-flight Drone Firmware Upgrade in Erlang
Erlang Solutions - Scalable Distributed Technology
gon782
Indeed, that’s the one.
brightball
Yea, I think that was referenced in the comments. I seem to remember there being a link to Quora post explaining that it was largely due to so much C++ infrastructure and tooling.
yuchunc
Those links has gone cold again
This are the links I found so far:
I think Feuerlabs is gone
Their Github
I think next step is either reaching out to the members through Github, or some one has downloaded it.