A systems engineering approach to Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) design is essential to achieve performance objectives, minimize risk, and to meet program schedule and cost. The GN&C design is strongly coupled with all other spacecraft subsystems and subject to mission requirements and constraints. For example, environmental factors such as thermal control affect attitude sensor performance and alignment, calibration maneuvers are limited by pointing and mission constraints, structural modes and propellant slosh can cause image motion (such as smear, and jitter) that degrades optical payload performance, and control-structure interaction can cause instability of the pointing control system.
Systems engineering services include
- Concept of Operations (ConOps) development and evaluation
- Requirements definition and analysis
- Pointing control and knowledge error budgeting
- Trade studies and feasibility studies
- System architecture development and evaluation
- GN&C subsystem design and development
- Orbit determination design and performance analysis
- System Timing analysis
- Evaluation of structural, thermal, operational effects on pointing control and knowledge
- Design Review and IV & V
- ICD development and analysis
- Telemetry planning and analysis
- Test planning and support
- Flight Operation planning and support
- contingency planning
- performance assessment
- anomaly analysis and resolution
- ground-based telemetry processing for attitude determination, attitude sensor alignment, and gyro calibration
Contact me if you need systems engineering support in any of these areas.
Copyright © 2021 by Mark E. Pittelkau and Aerospace Control Systems, LLC