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Article
Publication date: 1 October 2019

Laszlo Hetey, Eddy Neefs, Ian Thomas, Joe Zender, Ann-Carine Vandaele, Sophie Berkenbosch, Bojan Ristic, Sabrina Bonnewijn, Sofie Delanoye, Mark Leese, Jon Mason and Manish Patel

This paper aims to describe the development of a knowledge management system (KMS) for the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) instrument on board the ESA/Roscosmos…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development of a knowledge management system (KMS) for the Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) instrument on board the ESA/Roscosmos 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft. The KMS collects knowledge acquired during the engineering process that involved over 30 project partners. In addition to the documentation and technical data (explicit knowledge), a dedicated effort was made to collect the gained experience (tacit knowledge) that is crucial for the operational phase of the TGO mission and also for future projects. The system is now in service and provides valuable information for the scientists and engineers working with NOMAD.

Design/methodology/approach

The NOMAD KMS was built around six areas: official documentation, technical specifications and test results, lessons learned, management data (proposals, deliverables, progress reports and minutes of meetings), picture files and movie files. Today, the KMS contains 110 GB of data spread over 11,000 documents and more than 13,000 media files. A computer-aided design (CAD) library contains a model of the full instrument as well as exported sub-parts in different formats. A context search engine for both documents and media files was implemented.

Findings

The conceived KMS design is basic, flexible and very robust. It can be adapted to future projects of a similar size.

Practical implications

The paper provides practical guidelines on how to retain the knowledge from a larger aerospace project. The KMS tool presented here works offline, requires no maintenance and conforms to data protection standards.

Originality/value

This paper shows how knowledge management requirements for space missions can be fulfilled. The paper demonstrates how to transform the large collection of project data into a useful tool and how to address usability aspects.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 92 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 January 2015

Laszlo Hetey, James Campbell and Rade Vignjevic

This paper aims to describe the development of an advisory system that helps building sound finite element (FE) models from computer-aided design data, with actual uncertainty…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development of an advisory system that helps building sound finite element (FE) models from computer-aided design data, with actual uncertainty levels expressed by error values in per cent, as today there is no widely accepted tool for FE idealisation error control.

Design/methodology/approach

The goal is to provide a computer-aided engineering (CAE) environment which assists the FE modelling phase. A demonstration program has been developed that leads the user through a step-by-step process and helps to detect idealisation errors. Uncertainties are identified and analysed following the procedure. An example illustrates the methodology on the collapse analysis of aerospace stiffened panels.

Findings

The design shows how a knowledge-based system can be used to aid a safe virtual product development.

Research limitations/implications

The extension of current CAE environments is difficult, as the programs do not provide sufficient flexibility, changeability and FE solver independence. New developments can take the presented concept as a starting point.

Practical implications

The application of error control strategies increases the FE modelling fidelity and can prevent incorrect design decisions. The practical conversion of FE idealisation support depends on the ambitions of CAE software providers.

Originality/value

This research shows how a previously paper-and-pencil-based error control procedure can be transformed to an easy-to-use tool in modern software.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal, vol. 87 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

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