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Simulation – Digital Mission Engineering

Digital mission engineering (DME) software has become a must-have tool for engineers who design and operate mission-critical systems across space, air, sea and land domains – such as satellites, aircraft and maritime vessels, all of which deal with complex and dynamic operational environments. 

DME tools allow for the design and validation of today’s large interconnected systems, where the interaction of assets across physical domains is both complex and ever-changing. Modelling these systems in a physics-accurate environment enables a crucial understanding of both system performance, and ultimately, mission success.

With a mix of posts from LEAP’s expert team, along with examples from our customers around Australia and New Zealand, this blog will explore how (from chip to mission) advanced DME simulation tools are transforming the engineering landscape and helping engineers to ensure they deploy their products successfully, getting it right the first time. 

Digital Transformation solutions at LEAP Australia - Product Design Blog

STOP Analysis Part 2: Exploring the unknown

The scenario in our previous article on STOP Analysis utilised existing ground texture maps, produced by real-world satellites as the only imaging target. In this instalment, we’ll expand on this simulation, adding new hypothetical elements to the scene with the goal of assessing the ability of the payload to reliably detect these new elements.

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Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) Analysis with Ansys at LEAP Australia

STOP Analysis – Structural Thermal Optical Performance Analysis

We introduce the basics of Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) Analysis and work through a real-world example for optical payloads on a LEO Satellite. STOP analysis is a critical design assessment for optical payloads, particularly those being deployed on systems requiring high-performance or operating in harsh environments.

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Orbit Determination: An Introduction with ODTK

Orbit determination serves as a foundational cornerstone to almost all modern telecommunications systems. It allows us to accurately discern not only the current, but the future position of satellites in orbit, a vital component to being able to transmit and receive data from these satellites, avoid collisions up in space and plan future space exploration missions. This post explains how orbital determination works and how the Ansys Orbit Determination Tool Kit (ODTK) helps to simplify what can be an incredibly difficult undertaking.

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Satellite Design with Digital Mission Engineering: Part 2 – Constellation Coverage Analysis

In part one of this satellite design series, we explored the modelling of a physics accurate RF Comms link between ground facility and LEO satellite. However, rarely do modern LEO satellites work in isolation. Instead, they work as part of a larger constellation, continuously exchanging data to fulfil their intended mission. Part two of this series explores the design of a larger LEO constellation and how Ansys STK allows for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of user-specified regions of interest to discern how effective a given constellation will be.

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Satellite Design with Digital Mission Engineering: Part 1 – RF Comms Link

This is the first instalment in our 3-part DME Series that will explore the design of a LEO satellite constellation, exploring the implementation of Ansys STK to tackle common design challenges, including the design of a reliable RF communication link, the evaluation of LEO constellations for specific coverage metrics, and the conjunction analysis of the proposed constellation to ensure satellite survivability.

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GUEST BLOG – Navigating the Future: LEO-PNT Systems Improve Satellite Orbits

In the world of satellites, there’s a new game-changer: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations joining hands with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). What does this mean for us? In this guest blog, Dr. Amir Allahvirdizadeh, Research Fellow at Curtin University explains how LEO-PNT systems help solve numerous challenges when operating in critical environments, ensuring greater reliability and precision than ever before.

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Digital Mission Engineering for Aviation-Based Systems: Part 3 – LEO Constellation and Comms

In this final instalment of our 3-part series the DRM is expanded to incorporate a communications relay from the intercept aircraft to a ground facility. This link is facilitated via a phased array mounted on top of the aircraft and a LEO constellation which serves as a relay between the aircraft transmitter and ground facility receiver. The goal here is to evaluate the access intervals between assets and ensure that the aircraft can maintain a satisfactory communication link to the ground facility.

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