Altium Designer Enhances Satellite Design Productivity at Penn State University
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
- Sensors - GPS
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Equipment & Machinery
Applicable Functions
- Product Research & Development
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Time Sensitive Networking
- Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing
Services
- System Integration
- Testing & Certification
About The Customer
The Student Space Programs Laboratory (SSPL) at Pennsylvania State University is a unique educational environment where undergraduate and graduate students get the opportunity to design, fabricate, and integrate space systems. The hands-on projects apply classroom knowledge to real-world, interdisciplinary projects, giving students the experience of working through a complete design cycle. The SSPL projects are guided by a small team of graduate students and involve the contributions of nearly 70 undergraduates. The lab has been involved in several significant projects, including the OSIRIS-3U CubeSat mission, which aims to aid in the study of space weather.
The Challenge
The Student Space Programs Laboratory (SSPL) at Pennsylvania State University provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to design, fabricate, and integrate real, working space systems. However, the design tool suite they were using, OrCAD, was proving to be a challenge. The system was slow and difficult to use, particularly for incoming undergraduates who were new to the field. The long learning curve and non-intuitive workflow resulted in frequent errors that had to be caught and corrected by more senior engineers. This was particularly problematic for the OSIRIS-3U CubeSat mission, a complex project that required system-level, electrical, and mechanical design efforts to create a compact satellite for studying space weather. The project was guided by three grad students and nearly 70 undergraduates, and the usability challenges of the design software were a significant obstacle to its completion.
The Solution
The SSPL switched to using Altium Designer, a design tool suite that proved to be much more user-friendly and efficient. The online tutorials and wiki pages provided by Altium made the transition easy, and the quality and speed of project completion improved significantly. New students were able to self-train quickly, often designing schematics within a few hours of first sitting down at the workstation. The common parts library was another major advantage, reducing mistakes and increasing productivity. The lab was able to import parts directly from suppliers, and grad students could customize this capability to meet the specific system requirements of their projects. Altium Designer’s Footprint Wizard was critical for ensuring the physical package footprints were correct, resulting in a noticeable drop in board layout errors. AltiumLive also made it easier to support many students with a dozen seats of Altium Designer in SSPL, automatically pulling preferences from the cloud and configuring the workstation to the user.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
Case Study missing?
Start adding your own!
Register with your work email and create a new case study profile for your business.
Related Case Studies.
Case Study
Smart Water Filtration Systems
Before working with Ayla Networks, Ozner was already using cloud connectivity to identify and solve water-filtration system malfunctions as well as to monitor filter cartridges for replacements.But, in June 2015, Ozner executives talked with Ayla about how the company might further improve its water systems with IoT technology. They liked what they heard from Ayla, but the executives needed to be sure that Ayla’s Agile IoT Platform provided the security and reliability Ozner required.
Case Study
IoT enabled Fleet Management with MindSphere
In view of growing competition, Gämmerler had a strong need to remain competitive via process optimization, reliability and gentle handling of printed products, even at highest press speeds. In addition, a digitalization initiative also included developing a key differentiation via data-driven services offers.
Case Study
Predictive Maintenance for Industrial Chillers
For global leaders in the industrial chiller manufacturing, reliability of the entire production process is of the utmost importance. Chillers are refrigeration systems that produce ice water to provide cooling for a process or industrial application. One of those leaders sought a way to respond to asset performance issues, even before they occur. The intelligence to guarantee maximum reliability of cooling devices is embedded (pre-alarming). A pre-alarming phase means that the cooling device still works, but symptoms may appear, telling manufacturers that a failure is likely to occur in the near future. Chillers who are not internet connected at that moment, provide little insight in this pre-alarming phase.
Case Study
Premium Appliance Producer Innovates with Internet of Everything
Sub-Zero faced the largest product launch in the company’s history:It wanted to launch 60 new products as scheduled while simultaneously opening a new “greenfield” production facility, yet still adhering to stringent quality requirements and manage issues from new supply-chain partners. A the same time, it wanted to increase staff productivity time and collaboration while reducing travel and costs.
Case Study
Integration of PLC with IoT for Bosch Rexroth
The application arises from the need to monitor and anticipate the problems of one or more machines managed by a PLC. These problems, often resulting from the accumulation over time of small discrepancies, require, when they occur, ex post technical operations maintenance.
Case Study
Data Gathering Solution for Joy Global
Joy Global's existing business processes required customers to work through an unstable legacy system to collect mass volumes of data. With inadequate processes and tools, field level analytics were not sufficient to properly inform business decisions.
