AIT
AIT Overview
The purpose of the AIT team is to plan, coordinate, and execute all necessary assembly, integration, and testing activities that occur at the spacecraft level. For the Iris project, all satellite assembly and testing activities will occur in a class 100,000 clean room located at Magellan Aerospace Winnipeg.
These facilities are available to the team at no cost as the University of Manitoba owns 50% of the larger clean room, the Advanced Satellite Integration Facility (ASIF). The vibration table for vibration testing is located in the ASIF, and will be available for use by the team. The thermal vacuum chamber is located in the smaller clean room, and will also be available for testing as necessary. Magellan Aerospace employees will also be providing both design and test support to the Iris team throughout the program.
Figure 1: AIT Main Functions
The Iris AIT plan is a multi-step plan to carefully build a functioning satellite using functioning subsystem assemblies, as outlined in Figure 2.
Subsystem Assembly
Each subsystem team begins building their respective subsystem inside of the clean room using qualified parts and components. Each subsystem lead develops their respective subsystems assembly and integration plan. This information can be found in their respective subsystem pages.
Isolated Subsystem Tests
Once each subsystem has been assembled, isolated subsystem tests are undertaken to demonstrate functionality. Each subsystem lead develops and manages their respective isolated subsystem tests on the flight model.
FlatSat tests are used to demonstrate functioning interfaces between subsystems and a first demonstration of compliance with the Concept of Operations. The FlatSat test is a major opportunity for the team to identify issues with subsystem interfaces and CubeSat functionality. The electrical and data interfaces are incrementally connected between subsystems and tested to identify possible non-conformances for every subsystem except for MEC. Once the full satellite function is demonstrated, each subsystem is prepared for satellite integration.
Each subsystem is integrated into the Iris structure in accordance with the MEC ICD. Each subsystem will be integrated into their respective modules, allowing for concurrent integration with available facilities.
After completion of CubeSat integration, the Iris team undertakes a series of tests to demonstrate satellite functionality in representative environment, such as vibration and thermal vacuum (TVAC) environments. Tests consists of verification activities created by subsystem leads that show compliance with subsystem requirements. The Iris team will also undertake preparation for shipment activities to ensure that a functioning satellite reaches the Nanoracks and the launch facility. Before launch, one final functional test is planned to be undertaken at the launch facility.
References
1. Costabile, V., Discepoli, A., Fiorentino, C., Morelli, G.: New spacecraft assembly, integration and test approach for Globalstar satellite constellation. In, 1996, p. 1149
2. Silva, A.C., Loureiro, G.: Quality assurance of complex systems-satellite AIT. In, 2009, pp. 935-939. IEEE