NASA's Instrument Synthesis and Analysis Laboratory (ISAL) has developed new methods to provide an instrument study in one week's engineering time. The final product is recorded in oral presentations, models and the analyses which underlie the models

Brown, Tammy L.

Herring, Ellen L.

Wood, H. John

NASA Technical Reports Server

New Developments at NASA's 
Instrument Synthesis & Analysis Laboratory 
H. John Wood, Code 551, Ellen L. Herring, Code 500 & Tammy L. Brown, Code 556 
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 
H0ward.j. wood@nasa.gov 
Abstract: NASA's Instrument Synthesis & Analysis Laboratory (ISAL,) has developed new methods 
to provide an instrument study in one week's engineering time. The final product is recorded oral 
presentations, models and the analyses which underlie the models. 
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1 ISAL Study Process 
Rapid design of instruments for Earth and Space Science is the goal of the ISAL. The laboratory goes from a 
conceptual design or a measurement requirement to a modeled, analyzed and illustrated point design in as little 
as one week's time of the engineering team. ISAL provides the science customer with an exceptional 
engineering staff and a rapid, iterative engineering design environment throughout all the instrument 
subsystems. The customer participates throughout the entire study. The ISAL also responds to other requests 
such as: requirements definition, end-to-end concept studies, independent technical assessments and technology 
and risk assessments. 
ISAL discipline engineers include: Instrument Systems, Science Liaison, Optical Design, Electro-Optical, 
Electrical, Electro-Mechanical, Opto-Mechanical, Structural Analysis, Thermal, Cryogenics, Detectors, Lasers, 
Flight Software, Risk Assessment and Cost Modeling. 
New One-Week Engineering Study Capability 
It has been found that some aspects of the instrument design process are serial in nature. For example, the 
optical design must be nearly complete before the full interactive study begins. And the Cost Modeling and 
Structural Analysis can only begin after the full Mechanical Design is complete. Thus the ISAL has developed 
a study that costs the customer one week of engineering time but is spread over three weeks. The ISAL Optical 
Designer works the optical design to near completion before the study begins. The nearly full-staffed 
interactive study is executed in a one week period culminating with a formal presentation from all discipline 
areas except for Parametric Costing and Thermal and Structural Analysis. In the third and wrap-up phase, the 
cost, thermal and structural analysis are completed and briefed to the Customer Team. The final product is a 
CD with all the engineering and cost analyses, models, and presentations available for use in proposal 
preparation. 
3 Large Wavelength Coverage for All Scientific Disciplines 
The ISAL, supports studies for instrument concepts in Space Science, Earth Science and Exploration, and the 
instruments developed make measurements at wavelengths across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. 
Vis 
Gamma 
Rays 
1 0-11 10-10 , u9 
Wavelength (meters) 
From x-ray sky surveys to UV-visible instruments for solar and planetary physics to passive and active 
microwave radiometers for Earth observing, the ISAL covers the spectrum. 
X-Rays UV Infrared Microwave Radio 
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New Developments at NASA's Instrument Synthesis and Analysis Laboratory

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