A Systems Engineering Tool for The Multidisciplinary Design of Spacecraft
- Paper number
IAC-09.D1.6.7
- Author
Mr. Guido Ridolfi, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
- Coauthor
Dr. Erwin Mooij, Delft University of Techonology (TU Delft), The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Sabrina Corpino, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
- Coauthor
Prof. Sergio Chiesa, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
- Year
2009
- Abstract
The conceptual design of a complex system, such as a spacecraft, is a very challenging and crucial engineering problem. The process usually deployed to achieve the design baseline, which is further developed in the advanced phases of the life cycle, is highly coupled; many disciplines must be taken into account and the contrasting needs they present must be balanced. In order to face such a complex problem, the authors developed a multidisciplinary process for the design of spacecraft’s subsystems (i.e., satellites and interplanetary spacecraft) based on the previous experience achieved with SEM, the Systems Engineering Module that is integrated in the open-source Space Trajectory Analysis software developed by ESA. The subsystem’s mathematical models are currently being implemented in a modular and expandable software architecture, which represents the fundaments of the rule-based expert system. This system is developed to enhance the quality of the design, by guiding and advising the user through the whole design process. This paper highlights the design parameters for the two space systems mentioned before, and identifies the commonalities and differences. The nature of those parameters was found by doing an interface and functional analysis prior to implementing all mathematical models and link them between each other. One of the questions to answer is the following: “who needs what, and when?” The paper demonstrates the actual opportunity of code-reutilization (inheritance concept) in modeling the subsystems of satellites and interplanetary spacecraft, reducing the computational time and increasing the efficiency of the whole design procedure. The relationships amongst subsystems and between subsystems, trajectories and the environment are outlined as well as some basic examples demonstrating the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary design process and the software developed to implement it. At the current stage of development, the software mostly relies on heritage technologies (empirical and analogy models have been developed). This means that COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) products are considered to assess the feasibility of the system architecture and the mission definition, which are automatically derived from user inputs. The second objective of the paper is to demonstrate the flexibility of the software, as to allow the possibility to include more models. Current research is focusing on the development of (sub-) system optimization techniques, based on user-defined criteria, and sensitivity-analysis techniques for the management of uncertainties that will allow the user to speculate on the effect of new technologies on the complete design.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)