Spacecraft Avionics Systems - 675.753

This survey course will focus on the management, engineering development and operation of the spacecraft Avionics system consisting of hardware topics covering Spacecraft Processing; Command Data Handling and Command Execution; Telemetry Acquisition, Conditioning and Conversion and Telemetry Data Handling; Bulk data storage; Fault Management Support; and Timekeeping Support. The course is grounded in computer and data architecture fundamentals with focus on key electronics such as data interfaces, spacecraft processors, volatile and non-volatile memories, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and analog sensors and circuits. Spacecraft Avionics systems topics will be applied through reference design scenarios to illustrate requirements/implementation trades bound by the constraints of the space environment and spacecraft data resource limitations. Topics such as hardware development, integration and test and inflight support will be used to illustrate the difficulties inherent to the spacecraft’s Avionics system.

Course Prerequisite(s)

Completion of EN.675.600 Systems Engineering for Space and EN.675.601 Fundamentals of Engineering Space Systems I, or with approval of the instructor.