This article discusses some of the important engineering and design aspects that need to be considered when developing electronic systems for space.
Ultimately, the success of a satellite or space mission relies hugely on the reliable performance of the electronic circuits and components that enable and control all subsystems onboard. These are usually grouped as the term electrical and electronic equipment (EEE).
In recent years this area has seen a lot of change in the supply chain, with new components from a range of suppliers undergoing space qualification and testing, often adapted from terrestrial uses.
But incorporating any new component, particularly when it offers significantly different performance levels, or requires very different integration, is best done inside a system where feedback is easily shared and acted on.
Are you building tight feedback loops in engineering?
One of the things that we’ve noticed good space engineering teams do well is to create rapid mechanisms to act on feedback during development.
Whether this is top-down due to programmatic changes, driven by supply chains disruptions (or new opportunities), or arising from bottom-up input from component-level work; teams that can adjust rapidly will find a way to succeed.
Systems thinking in space technology design is essential, and it can be the purview of just a handful of engineers. But during manufacturing, particularly at scale, building and testing a system of systems requires a team (unless time isn’t a factor . . . which it always is) and how that team shares information is very important.
Building such feedback loops requires a few key elements:
- Culture – an environment in which open communication is encouraged and enabled, without affecting efficiency,
- Feedback workflows – a clear understanding of to whom and how to provide information, and what to do if they’re unavailable, and
- Technology – tools or platforms that enable structured, fast, private, and trackable feedback internally.
In our work helping mission teams at satsearch, one area where we’ve found this is particularly important is during procurement. There are, of course, compliance reasons why information about procurement needs to be transparent and auditable within a team or department, but it can also bring engineering benefits.
For example, to look at the bottom-up situation – a wide array of new electronic components have been brought to the space market in recent years. Some of these can offer relatively large benefits in terms of power efficiency, data processing rates, and simplifying engineering.
Although such improvements are small compared to the operating parameters of the overall satellite or spacecraft, they can add up when used multiple times across the system. But it needs good internal communication to ensure that these benefits are realized, any trade-offs that come with them are mitigated, and auxiliary benefits (such as an operational increase to the power budget) are made the most of.
Its is for reasons like this that we try to engage with all of the relevant stakeholders on both the buy- and demand-side when facilitating a trade study, supply chain assessment, or purchasing conversation. It helps the messages about opportunities, or potential risks, to more easily spread on both sides – although we always defer to company preferences.
Facilitating a high level of internal communication, in a clear and structured way, without adding administrative overhead, can help take your engineering to new levels of efficiency, reliability, and performance.
Approaching the space electronics supply chain
Component level procurement in the space industry can be a challenge. Many suppliers have radiation-hardened or up-screened components used in terrestrial sectors (such as aerospace or automotive) while custom-developed components from heritage missions are also being commercialized at larger scales.
With new models on the market, individual components can bring iterative improvements that add up to large overall gains in power efficiency and performance for a space mission. But it is hard to ensure that the best options are sourced, and very hard to do so efficiently because of the small volumes involved.
At the engineer’s level, component procurement can face the typical issues that all space purchases have to account for; e.g. NDAs, uncertain heritage, access to qualification data, and an opaque supply chain that is hard to
And when volumes are higher – for scaling up manufacturing – supply chain managers are also faced with additional challenges, such as:
- Staying up to date with electronics regulations, compliance, and technical standards that have an impact on your engineers’ work, and request such information from vendors when needed.
- Determining what level of traceability and transparency is relevant for the work upfront, and ensuring all procurement is carried out in line with this. This is particularly important if attempting to repurpose technologies developed for other domains and/or for serving customers in defense or intelligence.
- Balancing multiple sourcing options by ensuring they acquire enough information and options to make progress with confidence, but not so much that it is paralyzing, in an often fragmented market.
To help with this challenge, satsearch is bringing the electronic components supply chain for space onto our platform to speed up and simplify procurement.
You can find information on thousands of individual components at satsearch today and we also have connections with suppliers right across the global supply chain, to help find you anything needed to keep your mission program running.
Useful resources on space electronics
- An article on the use of plastic semiconductor packaging for space electronics, as a replacement for, or in conjunction with, ceramic packaging
- An article on the benefits of phased array antennas and a discussion of the capabilities they can bring to satellites
- An article on practical ways to reduce power consumption in space electronics at the component and circuit level, bringing greater efficiency, stability and performance
- A podcast discussing trends in space engineering from a power perspective at the component level
- A podcast on developing a high-performing satellite communications chain and payload, at the circuit and component level
- An article that discusses the design and optimization of a satellite’s acquisition system for telemetry data, to better monitor it’s health during a mission
- A podcast on how to select, qualify, and integrate the most suitable electronic components for a NewSpace mission or service
