Description
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a computer-assisted approach for in-situ operational health monitoring and anomaly detection for mission-critical platform mechanisms (e.g., reaction wheels, solar array drive mechanisms, antenna pointing mechanisms, laser communication terminals, etc.) in telecommunication spacecraft. Rather than relying on telemetry data, this activity will develop an approach using the full signal and sensor data available at mechanism level. Procurement Policy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to:http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Small_and_Medium_Sized_En… improvements:-Reliable detection of failures and establishing less conservative design rules.-Reducing false triggering of the fault detection system by an order of magnitude.-Enabling autonomous failure management in large constellations without operator intervention.Description:For many telecommunication missions, the life expectations on the platform follow a rising trend. Furthermore, the number of spacecraft and equipment items of a similar type is increasing in the frame of constellation programmes. These trends translate into higher demands on the operational life and overall robustness of mission-critical mechanism equipment (including, for instance, reaction wheels, solar array drive and antenna pointing mechanisms, and, more recently, pointing assemblies of lasercommunication terminals). Full-scale verification by ground testing is becoming more and more challenging in view of the in-orbit life requirements or due to the large number of spacecraft and hence, the large number of equipment items to be surveyed (in particular, for large constellations). In addition, the adequacy of accelerated mechanism testing is often questionable. Once a spacecraft is in orbit, there is high interest by satellite operators to follow the performance evolution of mission-critical equipment in orderto anticipate any deviations or anomalies, and to implement appropriate means for preventive intervention and risk mitigation. The available telemetry, in particular housekeeping data, limited in terms of the number of signals and their sampling rate. Hence health monitoring and anomaly detection based on telemetry data is very unreliable. It is often an inadequate diagnosis tool and does notallow conclusions on the root cause of anomalies.In-situ condition and health monitoring concepts and methods using the full signal and sensor data have the potential to provide reliable health monitoring and anomaly detection. They have been already established in many industrial sectors, for example in the context of preventive maintenance (e.g., aircraft engines, machine tools) or for remotely operated equipment (e.g.gas compressors and pumps). This activity will adopt and develop algorithms for in-situ operationalhealth monitoring and anomalydetection of spacecraft mechanisms. The developed algorithms will be implemented in a test-bench for aselected mechanism and evaluation testing will be performed.