Viking '75 spacecraft design and test summary. Volume 3: Engineering test summary

The engineering test program for the lander and the orbiter are presented. The engineering program was developed to achieve confidence that the design was adequate to survive the expected mission environments and to accomplish the mission objective

A Specification For A Next Generation Cad Toolkit For Electronics Product Design

Electronic engineering product design is a complex process which has enjoyed an increasing provision of computer based tools since the early 1980's. Over this period computer aided design tool development has progressed at such a pace that new features and functions have tended to be market driven. As such CAD tools have not been developed through the recommended practise of defining a functional specification prior to any software code generation. This thesis defines a new functional specification for next generation CAD tools to support the electronics product design process. It is synthesized from a review of the use of computers in the electronics product design process, from a case study of Best Practices prevalent in a wide range of electronics companies and from a new model of the design process. The model and the best practices have given rise to a new concept for company engineering documentation, the Product Book which provides a logical framework for constraining CAD tools and their users (designers) as means of controlling costs in the design process. This specification differs from current perceptions of computer functionality in the CAD tool industry by addressing human needs together with company needs of computer supported design, rather than just providing more technological support for the designer in isolation.Racal Reda

Improving materials management in electronics manufacturing

The aim of this thesis is to determine how in-plant materials management in electronics manufacturing can be improved and to show how a strategy for improvement can be developed for Celestica Limited's Kidsgrove plant. The literature was reviewed to bring out the current issues and topics of interest in materials management. An industrial analysis, through company visits and case studies, was carried out. A number of "best practices" were identified from the literature and the case studies. The "best practices" identified were prioritisation methods, outsourcing of value added services, shop floor control systems, focused stores, tailored logistics, use of computers, trace ability, use of technology or automation, automatic identification, maintaining data integrity, internet-enabled supply-chain, JIT or hybridised JIT-MRP, Kanban, linking and communication of MPS's, application of technology, kitting and recording actual usage of material. [Continues.

Atmosphere, Magnetosphere and Plasmas in Space (AMPS). Spacelab payload definition study. Volume 7, book 2: AMPS phase C/D analysis and planning document

The results are presented of the AMPS Phase C/D (Design, Development, and Operations) program analysis and planning effort. Cost and schedule estimates are included. Although the AMPS program has been specifically addressed, these task descriptions are basically adaptable to a broader-based program incorporating additional or different Spacelab/orbiter payloads

Extended equivalent dipole model for radiated emissions

This work is on the characterisation of radiated fields from electronic devices. An equivalent dipole approach is used. Previous work showed that this was an effective approach for single layer printed circuit boards where an infinite ground plane can be assumed. In this work, this approach is extended for the characterisation of more complex circuit boards or electronic systems. For complex electronic radiators with finite ground planes, the main challenge is characterising field diffracting around the edges and boundaries. It is shown that this can be satisfactorily characterised using passive dipoles located along the edge. It is also shown that the number of dipoles used to characterise a device can be further optimised by using a complex location for the dipoles. Novel optimisation approaches such as particle swarm optimisation were also investigated. It is concluded that characterisation of complex electronic devices can be achieved in 3D space using edge dipoles to represent diffraction effects and available optimisation strategies

Design of the Electronics Subsystem for a High-Resolution Electro-Optical Payload Using Systems Engineering Approach

Satellite imagers, in contrast to commercial imagers, demand exceptional performance and operate under harsh conditions. The camera is an essential part of an Earth Observation Electro Optical (EO) payload that is designed in response to needs such as military demands, changes in world politics, inception of new technologies, operational requirements and experiments. As one of the key subsystems, the Imager Electronics Subsystem of a high-resolution EO payload plays very important role in the accomplishment of mission objectives and payload goals. Hence, these Electronics Subsystems require a special design approach optimised for their needs and meticulous characterizations of high-resolution space applications. This dissertation puts forward the argument that the system being studied is a subsystem of a larger system and that systems engineering principles can be applied to the subsystem design process also. The aim of this dissertation is to design the Imager Electronics Subsystem of a high-resolution Electro Optical Payload using a systems engineering approach to represent a logical integration and test flow using the space industry guidelines. The Imager Electronics Subsystem consists of group of elements forming the functional chain from the Image Sensors on the Focal Plane down to electrical interface to the Data Handling Unit and power interface of the satellite. This subsystem is responsible for collecting light in different spectral bands, converting this light to data of different spectral bands from image sensors for high-resolution imaging, performing operations for aligning, tagging and multiplexing along with incorporating internal and external interfaces