Concurrent Engineering at CNES
- Paper number
IAC-05-D1.3.06
- Author
Mr. Pierre W. Bousquet, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France
- Year
2005
- Abstract
Pierre W. BOUSQUET, François GONZALEZ, Philippe GILLEN, Jean-Philippe SIRE All co-authors from CNES CNES decided in 2004 to create an infrastructure based on concurrent engineering methodology dedicated to preliminary studies of spacecrafts. For the build-up of system budgets and the exchange of parameters between disciplines, we make good use of the IDM (Integrated Design Model) tool provided by the Concurrent Design Facility of ESA and resulting from close cooperation between both agencies. This effort takes place within the frame of PASO (Plateau d’Avant-projet de Systèmes Orbitaux) which has been running all pre-phase A studies of orbital systems at CNES since 2002. The paper deals with the experience gained during the early stages of the activity. A brief description of the facility is given. Beyond the network of computers, multi-media devices and software tools, emphasis is placed upon teamwork and the way in which System Engineering enables managing complexity and change. The results of an initial in-house study, performed in early 2005, dedicated to a formation flying mission are then presented, together with the conclusions with respect to methodology and organisation. Finally, the efforts to integrate the new infrastructure within CNES’ existing tools, processes and working methods are elaborated. We will focus particularly on the interface with CAD tools, since it was established that the geometrical design of the spacecraft was a significant part of the design process in preliminary studies, and that a particular effort was needed to shorten the elaboration of CAD models, and improve access to their data from other specialities. Several specific interfaces have been developed with the main CAD tool currently used for mechanical and configuration design at CNES. The major achievements are: - transfer of equipment mass and dimension data, from the IDM to the CAD model, and automatic generation of the 3D model of the corresponding elements, - transfer spacecraft Mass / CoG / Inertia properties from the CAD model to the IDM, - simplification functions of CAD models for analysis and orbital representation purposes, - deployment of viewers enabling access to the spacecraft 3D geometry for any member of the design team from a standard PC. The contents of this paper correspond to recent developments at CNES. They have not previously been presented at a conference. The CAD to system tool interface is an original in-house effort which has already proved very efficient for preliminary studies. The participation of the main author in the 2005 IAC has been budgeted by CNES.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-D1.3.06.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.