Designing a ground support equipment for sattelite

subsystem based on a product development reference

model
Henrique Pazellia,1, Sanderson Barbalhob , Valntin Obac Rodac
a

Development engineer, Opto Eletrnica S.A. (So Carlos - SP), BR.

PhD, Senior engineer, Opto Eletrnica S.A. (So Carlos - SP), BR.
c
PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engng. / USP.(So Carlos - SP), BR.
b

Abstract. This work presents an application of a reference model for product development:
a ground support equipment for an environmental monitoring imager. MUX-EGSE is a
product designed on demand to INPE (Brasilian National Institute of Spatial Researches). It
is an equipment of electronic tests of a camera which will equip the CBERS3&4 satellite.
This reference model was adapted to manage the development of this product, which is quite
diferent from the products commercialized in other lines of the researched company.
Keywords. New product development, mechatronic reference model, aerospace industry,
ground support equipment.

1 Introduction
In [11] is defined AIT: activities of assembly, integration and tests of an artificial
satellite to be launched in the Earths orbit. It corresponds to a set of procedures
and the execution of logically inter-related events with the purpose of reaching a
high level of reliability and robustness in the satellite performance. The
multispectral imager (MUX) of CBERS3&4 satellite, which is being developed in
a Brazilian company, ought to be submitted to a set of acceptance, calibration and
functional tests in its design and AIT phases. Hence, it demands a specific
electronic system which makes viable the satellite interface and the execution of
this complex analysis. This system is called MUX-EGSE ground support
equipment of MUX subsystem.
For the design of this equipment it was necessary a process model of product
development that comprehended the best practices in a mechatronic design context.
The inexistence of such a model was observed in [1], that works in this gap and
1

Development engineer. Opto Eletrnica S.A., Joaquim R. de Souza, Jardim Sta. Felcia,
So Carlos, BR; Tel: +55 (16) 2106 7000; Fax: +55 (16) 3373 7001; Email:
hpazelli@opto.com.br; http://www.opto.com.br

H. Pazelli, S. Barbalho, V. Roda

developed the mechatronic reference model (MRM). MRM is also utilized in other
products commercialized by this company.

2 Reference models in New Product Development

This section presents some NPD reference models as chronologically available in
the literature.
In [10] is presented the total design model. The author makes differences
between total and partial design. He argues that Universities have taught partial
design and this practice has created some troubles in company environments. [10]
describes NPD as a phased process in which product specifications are continually
refined. [9] develop a systematic approach to product design. They present design
steps organized by phases too. Each phase is carrying out throughout a problem
solving method. At the final, phase outputs are compared with a requirement list.
In [2], NPD is discussed as a map of information assets. Their proposal is a
phased structure in which some deliverables are identified. The authors focused in
performance measures that allow managers to look at results of development effort.
[13] illustrate NPD as a development funnel. Authors stated in the beginning of
NPD there are so many opportunities and along the time this number decrease
because many ideas are realized to be unviable. At the end only few opportunities
are transformed in new products.
In [3], NPD is studied as a process that needs to be performed in concurrency
with the technology stream. He states that phases need to be monitored and
controlled by check points and describes mandatory activities in NPD projects. A
simultaneous engineering background is clear in [3] proposal when he describes
the organization by which a new product must be designed. Author relies strongly
in product development teams at several organizational levels. [12] rely in activity
description and form utilization to present how to develop a new product. Authors
identify different roles to each organizational unit in accord to the company
organizational structure. For example, a functional manager has different functions
if the company structure is functional or projectized.
In [8], NPD is studied to build a knowledge creating theory. All information
generated by a new product is classified as a explicit knowledge and the company
role is to allow knowledge conversions, especially from tacit to explicit. Some
organizational structure and skills are more appropriated to enable conversions. [4]
started to call NPD as a stage-gate process. He shows that is necessary to manage
NPD to balance different kinds of development efforts. The author models the
decision making process in NPD. He describes two situations in which important
decisions are made to prioritize projects and allocate resources: gates performed
inside each project and portfolio reviews performed by product line as a whole.
In [6] is built a design for six sigma proposal. Authors integrate several of
previous approaches into a consistent framework. The main structure of their
reference model is a stage-gate process. Each phase is detailedly described to allow
activity scheduling and tracking. Another core concept in [6] is critical parameter
design. Authors state product requirements must be prioritized and when a product
concept is generated it is necessary to identify critical parameters of the product.

Designing a GSE for sattelite subsystem based on a product development reference model 3

To each parameter a critical functional response in technological solutions to

monitor it must be chosen. Tolerances must be designed to build capability indexes
to each critical response.
In [5] is proposed the capability maturity model integration (CMMI). CMMI
consists of best practices organized in process areas that address the development
and maintenance of products and services covering the product life cycle from
conception through delivery and maintenance. It is a new form of understanding
product development, since other authors traditionally describe this process as a
stage-gate intercalation, as above described. In CMMI NPD must be evaluated
according to a maturity (or capability) level scale and a targeted profile should be
used to improve it.

3 Mechatronic reference model

The reference model, used to develop new product in the company, utilizes a
framework that represents NPD as a phased process.
The model reflects best practices in mechatronic product development, and a
mechatronic reference model (MRM) has been dubbed because, from the technical
standpoint, it involves products that integrate electronics, mechanics and software.
Figure 1 gives an overall view of the process of the proposed reference model.
The phases of the MRM are defined as a function of the results they generate.
Results are documents and represent the concept of information of value
discussed by [2].
The phases of the MRM can be described as follows:
Strategy: definition of the strategic objectives to be pursued in each product
line (PL);
Portfolio: definition of the portfolio of each PL;
Specifications: definition of the specifications of each product;
Project Planning: definition of the project plan for each product;
Conception: definition of the main components and solution principles for the
main functions of the mechatronic product;
Technical planning: detailing of the project plan based on the previous defined
conception;
Technical design: technical solutions for the main functions of the product;
Optimization: detailing and testing of solutions for the products secondary
functions and analyses required to increase the products robustness and
reliability;
Homologation: homologation (approval) of the products manufacturing and
assembly process;
Validation: product validation and certification;
Launch: launching of the product in the market;
Monitoring: monitoring of the results attained with the product and
management of the modifications made in the initial production configuration.
Each phase is separated by a decision point and four different types of gates
were developed. The gates, illustrated by ( ),represent moments but the decisions

H. Pazelli, S. Barbalho, V. Roda

are made for a given set of products. In the strategy phase, the set comprises all the
products of the company, while in the portfolio phase, all the products belong to a
given PL.
Gates ( ) are business-oriented decisions made on the basis of design
performance indicators. These gates ( ) are technical decisions made through peer
review meetings, and a gate ( ) represents the closing of a given development
project after ramp-up of the product.

Figure 1. Phases and decisions of the MRM

4 Development of a ground support equipment

The application of the MRM started in the specification phase because strategy and
portfolio phases are related to business decisions. In the aerospace industry the
specification phase of a new product project is performed by contractor. The
company role is to understand functional, constructional and safety requirements
and to deploy design specifications in a verification matrix associating the proper
types of verification (analysis, similarity, inspection or test).
In the project planning phase the product architecture suggested by contractor
was written as a work breakdown structure (WBS). Some designers were allocated
to each element of WBS and a schedule was built to comply with contractor
milestones. This schedule was used to develop equipment conception. In this phase
the ground support equipment was the larger risk of the project as a whole because
its timetable was shorter than other project parts and its complexity was almost so
larger than the main equipment.
In the conception phase, the main technologies, components and facilities of the
project were chosen. As demanded by the requirements, the electronic system
should be composed by two racks with industrial computers that automate the
control of all equipments and the tests to be executed. Real and virtual
measurement instruments were chosen and an own electronic system based in
boards settled in slots of a main board was developed to process hundreds of

Designing a GSE for sattelite subsystem based on a product development reference model 5

telemetries, telecomands, video, high-frequency and other necessary signals

between MUX-EGSE and MUX subsystem.
Before technical planning phase all technologies were known. A product tree
was structured (Figura 2) and a detailed schedule was built and refreshed every
month.

Figura 2. Product tree

The product architecture and interfaces were detailed consisting in:

GSE-LAN interface: integrated local network with D-Link router that utilizes
Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)
standards to communicate among the controller rack, the images exhibition
rack, printer and remote client computers.
High speed I/O interface: acquisition PCI board of high speed low voltage
differential signaling (LVDS information can be found in [7]) of National
Instruments which receives the image data from the MUX camera.
TM/TC simulator: PCI boards of analog and digital data I/O with developed
circuits to multiplex, demultiplex, conditionate and distribute signals
simulating the MUX interface with the on-board data handling (OBDH)
subsystem of the satellite.
Energy source supply interface: Agilents source supply controlled by GPIB
with developed circuits to distribution, in-rush current measurements, power
switching and closed loop to supply precision simulating the interface of
electrical power source supply (EPSS) subsystem of the satellite.
Measurement electrical equipments: virtual instrumentation PCI boards that
emulate multimeter, scope, logic analyzer and waveform generator for
electronic tests.
Optical equipments control: equipments acquired of specialized companies
(Omega, Labsphere, Newport) controlled by interfaces RS232, GPIB and
Ethernet: temperature and pressure sensors, radiometric light source, filter
wheel, precision motorized motion controllers and integrating sphere.
Critical parameters were identified in form to allow the team to search
functional responses to manage them. In the project the following aspects were
understood as critical:
Real time camera images acquisition;
High precision jitter signal measurements;
Client remote computers system access;

H. Pazelli, S. Barbalho, V. Roda

Software requirements were identified using structured analysis. LabVIEW

platform was chosen to the software development. It makes simple the
implementation of communication routines between virtual or real measurement
instruments and computers. Hence, the processing activities of telemetries,
telecomands and image data decode were the only ones which demanded more
work. Figure 3 presents a data flow diagram for the EGSE controller software.

Data
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Figure 3. Data flow diagram for the EGSE controller software

In the technical design phase the reference model predicts some concurrent
activities as illustrated in Figure 4.
The basic engineering of the product was basically the development and
fabrication of mechanical parts to support the equipments.
The communication and control system was developed interconnecting all
necessary connections as required by specification and setting all instruments
controlled by Ethernet, GPIB or RS232 with proper options as in the router, in the
software and in the operational system of EGSE controller.
For electronic design, the components were chosen considering already used
ones in other company projects or the main manufacturers such as Texas
Instruments, Analog Devices, among others. Circuit simulations, electrical
schemes, lay-outs and gerber were developed using Altium Designer platform.
After the boards were designed, they were manufactured, assembled, tested,
revised and re-manufactured achieving theirs second fully operational version. For
tracing purposes lots of documents had to be generated to each developed board:
electrical scheme, lay-out, gerber, assembly map, assembly list, assembly
checklist, assembly fluxogram, test procedures, inspection checklist, inspection
procedures and test report.
Software develoment was divided in low and high level. In the first one, all
communication among system components routines were designed and in the
second one, using these routines, all necessary programs were designed to run all

Designing a GSE for sattelite subsystem based on a product development reference model 7

MUX subsystem tests automatically, such as grounding and bounding, signal clock
jitter, optical alignment, temperature control, among many others.

Figure 4. Technical design fase

The phases of optimization, homologation, validation, launch and monitoring

were not yet implemented because the engineering model of satellite camera is still
being developed, then optimization phase could not be finished. Figure 5 presents
some photos of the built system: controller rack, part of its electronics and image
acquisition test screen.

Figure 5. EGSE controller rack, electronic boards and image acquisition test screen

H. Pazelli, S. Barbalho, V. Roda

5 Final considerations
This work presents a well suceeded adaptation of MRM, a development reference
model. Althought it has been designed to consumer goods, its guidelines
emphasize the concept of phases that helped designers in the consistent
development of an equipment for aerospace industry and in the generation of its
documents. By practice viewpoint, the results obtained so far are totally
satisfactory, since the developed electronic ground support equipment for CBERS
multispectral camera is able to test all the satellite subsystem requirements,
fulfilling all specifications.
These results show the qualities of the MRMs structured framework, which
provides a clear understanding of design status and guides the designers through
the best practices observeds in academic researches and companies approaches.

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