Parts Engineering and Product Assurance service
From ‘Classic Space’ to NewSpace, the Electrical, Electronic and Electromechanical (EEE) Parts Engineering and Product Assurance activities are transversal disciplines across the complete cycle of design and implementation of space units. Check out how ALTER Technology, with more than 25 years of experience in space sector, can help you from the earliest stages of your design/idea, moving to the multiple milestones-reviews (PDR, CDR, MRR, TMR…) to finally reach the successful during the initial stage of equipment to final delivery for integration
From study-CubeSats to the most demanding telecom payloads or scientific missions, all designs are based on elementary bricks which need to be carefully selected, procured and tested according to the product assurance requirements of each mission. Far from simple, the designs are evolving to include complex devices (from FPGAs or hybrids), more and more RF and optical devices; and infinitum passive devices.
Moreover, the space market is no longer leaded exclusively by national space agencies and hundreds of medium and small companies all over the world are pushing with innovative solutions based on COTS (Commercial-off-the-shelf) parts.
Parallelly, multiple reviews at EEE, radiation and material are necessary to ensure the design follows the product assurance criteria established for the mission. This involves checking extensive amount of documentation to ensure the quality requirements are followed and to act accordingly when these are met (NCR, NRB, deviation, RFD, RFW, RIDs, etc)
Accreditations
Some examples on Product Assurance support in the last 10 years for main prime contractors in Europe (OHB, TAS and Airbus)
Declared Component List Support
Definition of the EEE parts to be used in a design is usually managed through the so-called Declared Component List (DCL) or Bill or Materials (BoM). Format and content of these documents are essential for the approval and traceability of the designs, allowing users and prime contractors a proper tracking of the components, families, technologies and test to be performed on the EEE parts.
From the creation of preliminary DCL to consolidated reviews of these important documents, ALTER engineering team will guide you from the very first iteration to the last review and approval (in case of Parts Control Boards).
Moreover, the DCL content is a live document and will progress across the different stages and discussions to be held during the project execution. As example:
- Before PDR: At this stage, the DCL content is not frozen and still very much subjected to changes in the design
- PDR documentation: DCL is still preliminary but the content should contain all the inputs from previous discussions. The information related to radiation and qualification among other could be preliminary, but the future changes will need to be properly traced
- CDR: For Consolidated Design review, the approval of EEE parts and maturity of DCL are essential. Having all the documentation to support the approval for each component during Parts Control Boards (PCB) will require a dedicated team of engineers understanding how to manage the approval
The standard content of DCL is detailed in ECSS-Q-ST-60C and the following information is considered mandatory:
Upgrade or downgrade your design/DCL
Already have design (DCL/BoM) and you want to downgrade it by using lower cost components? Or in the contrary, do you want to explore how your industrial design could be converted for a LEO/GEO mission?
ALTER engineering team is specialized in providing multiple alternatives based on the product assurance requirements for each mission, finding the most suitable solutions in terms of performance and cost. Especially with the irruption of NewSpace companies and relatively ‘mass production’ from constellations, two main scenarios have emerged linked to this activity of EEE and product assurance:
Downgrade of existing Space designs, moving from consolidated Space class 1 concepts to commercial or automotive grade components with a strong cost driver. This activity usually involves intensive search for COTS devices with radiation data coming from other missions, technical papers and presentations.
Upgrade of commercial and industrial designs, with the target of including these designs in space proposals. The interest of universities and small/medium size companies with very innovative designs in the NewSpace sectors involves the review of their parts list in order to make them suitable to the harsh space requirements.
EEE parts and radiation training. Our knowledge in your hands
Based on the cumulated experience in most of the European Space missions for the last 35 years, ALTER has decided to bring this expertise to those users and companies willing to understand further the EEE parts engineering, including parts selection, quality assessment, radiation topics and procurement scenarios.
As an example of excellence, ALTER is providing since 2021 a dedicated training course to European participants through ESA Learning hub (EEE components | ESA Learning Hub), allowing newcomers and new companies in space to understand the basics on EEE parts engineering.
Beyond this, ALTER technology has developed a set of courses aimed to provide proper training over the most common EEE parts engineering topics. Multiple universities and small companies starting in the space sector are using ALTER’s expertise to bring the necessary knowledge to their own engineering and procurement teams.
Support to qualification to EEE manufacturers
The path to becoming a European Qualified manufacturer is not easy, and the requirements to become in this exclusive list is sometimes not well understood by manufacturers who are not devoted for space applications.
In this field, ALTER is contributing to boost the European space ecosystem by providing support to those EEE parts manufacturers interested in considering the space applications for their products. Guidance from the early stage of initial evaluation and audits to the execution of the most demanding test following the specifications, ALTER experience is recognised by international players as a guarantee of independence for the EEE engineering service.
As paradigm for this EEE support, it shall be noted ALTER is providing consultancy service to the German Aerospace Center (DLR – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) for multiple activities including the introduction of new German companies in the Space ecosystem as well as guide them through the necessary steps to become a qualified manufacturer for space applications, including the necessary audits and visits to manufacturers.
Key contacts
Radiation as key element in Space
Because of the unique environment in space, the selection and testing of EEE parts for space design must integrate the radiation criteria. ALTER has a unique position in this field that allow us to support the user’s needs from the early definition of radiation requirements, parts selection and radiation analysis to the final execution in case TID, TNID or SEE test are necessary
Our expertise in radiation effects for Total Ionizing dose (TID), Total Non-Ionizing dose TNID (Displacement Damage) and Single Event Effects (SEE) testing ensures accurate and reliable results that conform to industry standards, best practices, and provide our customers with detailed information on the radiation tolerance of their components.
These testing capabilities are now complemented with enhanced capabilities for the determination of radiation environment and radiation analysis by using software like OMERE, CREME96, FLUKA or FASTRAD, allowing the user to have a single partner for the complete radiation sequence in a space project.
Understanding new Space technologies and user’s need
Space is an extraordinary dynamic scenario, which involves being informed and participating in the multiple conferences, workshops, symposiums and technical committees. Just to name a few:
RADECS
European Conference on Radiation and Its Effects on Components and Systems
RADSHIELD
European Radiation Shielding Workshop
G-RADNEXT
Workshop for Industry on Radiation Hardness Testing of Semiconductor Devices and Systems at the RADNEXT Facilities
ESREF
European Symposium Reliability on Electron Devices, Failure Physics and Analysis
AMICSA
Analogue and Mixed Signal Integrated Circuits for Space Applications
EMWW
European MicroWave week
SPACE TECH EXPO Europe
ACCEDE-ESCCON
Assessment of Commercial Components Enabling Disruptive Space Electronics / European Space Components Conference)
JAXA MEWS
JAXA Microelectronics Workshop
EMPS
Electronics Manufacturing & Packaging Symposium
IMAPS
European Microelectronics & Packaging Conference
TRISMAC
Trilateral Safety and Mission Assurance Conference
SPCD
Space Passive Component Days
NEPP
NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Worshop
PCNS
Passive Components Networking Symposium
As example of commitment to this philosophy, ALTER organize every two years one of the most important European symposiums to discuss the latest developments and approaches for the utilisation of commercial parts for space applications (ACCEDE- Assessment of Commercial Components Enabling Disruptive Space Electronics): ACCEDE – ESCCON 2025 | March 25-27 | Seville, Spain