Abstract

Design of satellites to mission specifications is an expensive and labor-intensive process. The increasing availability of off-theshelf hardware and software components creates an opportunity to apply computer-aided techniques to satellite build. However, such systems often enter the design process at a relatively low level, such as 3D solids, and address a limited subset of system design requirements.
USC’s Spacecraft Portal for Integrated Design in Real-time project, or SPIDR, brings together astronautics experience of building and launching satellites on various missions with techniques from artificial intelligence and software engineering to enable rapid design-to-integration of space vehicles. SPIDR’s innovation comes in addressing the entire system engineering lifecycle from design of a satellite using real components that exist today, to verifying the overall design through actual hardware-in-the-loop execution of device drivers on the actual components. By automating this process, SPIDR cuts design time and enables exploration of multiple alternatives, which in turn improves the quality of the satellite design.

Date

January 1, 1970

Authors

David A Barnhart, Tatiana Kichkaylo, Lucy Hoag

Journal

Conference on Systems Engineering Research