Modeling and simulation tools for rapid space system analysis and design: FalconSat-2 applications

The FalconSat Program at the United States Air Force Academy is a. small satellite organization in which participating undergraduate cadets design, build, test, and operate small satellites to carry Air Force or DoD scientific payloads. The team is currently designing FalconSat-2 to conduct measurements of plasma depletions in the ionosphere. Necessary to the design process is the development of requirements and behavioral models to analyze and simulate basic operational scenarios and their effects on the major satellite subsystems. This modeling can be used to preview the impact of potential design changes, reduce development time (especially during hardware and software integration and testing), and aid in training by providing operators with realistic simulations prior to launch. Modeling and simulation for the FalconSat Program uses commercial off-the-shelf software tools such as Excel and Matlab/Simulink environments. The paper describes some basic background on the program, followed by detailed discussion of models being developed and their effect on the evolution of the design. The current status of the design is presented as part of the conclusions.