Application of management and systems engineering to student projects

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Application of management and systems engineering
to student projects

• The example of the Auburn University Student
  Space Program

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Outline

1. What is the Auburn University Student Space
   Program (AUSSP)?
2. Lessons learned after 5 years
3. Corrective steps taken and preliminary results

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What is AUSSP?

• Member of the National Space Grant Student
  Satellite Program
• Involves about 35 undergraduate students any time
  in three-five teams
• Auburn High-Altitude Balloonning (AHAB) team
• AubieSat-I (CubeSat) team
• AubieSat-II (NanoSat) team
• Mars team
• Management team

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National Space Grant Student Satellite Program
Crawl Walk Run Fly From model rockets to
Mars http//ssp.arizona.edu/sgsatellites
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CRAWL
BalloonSat Programs
CanSat Programs
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WALK
Sounding Rocket Programs
CubeSat Programs
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RUN
Nanosat Programs
Arizona State University ASUSat 1
Colorado Space Grants Citizen Explorer 1
Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico Three-Corner
Sat
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FLY
To the Moon and Mars
External support opportunities to get involved
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Some Suggested activities
Science analysisSoftware tools for data storage,
handling, accessProject ManagementSystems
EngineeringMission OperationsSpacecraft
subsystemsDesign, build, test, calibration,
operations, performance maintenanceCommunications
, PowerStructures, Mechanisms, Thermal Science,
InstrumentsAttitude, orbitAerial mobility
(Flyers), Surface Mobility (Rovers)Prototyping/de
veloping applicable technologiesPublic
InformationK-12 programs (ed. Modules, teacher
training, etc.)
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Why Student Projects?

• Aging Workforce
• Inspire Retain
• Pipeline issue
• Attract and keep best students in STEM
• Active learning
• Job training learning process

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The AHAB Program

• Crawl level
• Freshmen and Sophomores
• Class Physics of the World Around Us (3
  Credits)
• Launch payloads to the edge of space (altitude
  range 80,000 - 100,000 feet)
• Max weight 16 lbs

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The AHAB Program

• GOALS
• Reliable launcher
• Importance of control cut-down system
• Shielding
• Outreach program for K-12
• Science experiments

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Troubleshooting!
lt Mooring
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AS-I CubeSat

• Walk level
• Juniors and Seniors
• Class Physics of the World Around Us (3
  Credits)
• Use COTS
• Science mission being defined
• Mass 1-kg Cube of 10-cm sides

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AS-I CubeSat

• GOALS
• Students develop technical as well as systems
  engineering and management skills designing,
  building, testing and operating a CubeSat
• Put first AU satellite in LEO
• AS-I performs successfully in space
• Develop a steady student satellite capability at
  AU

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AS-II NanoSat

• Run level
• Exceptional Juniors and Seniors
• Potential students are working on AS-I
• Mass 50-kg Max linear dimension 45-cm
• Submit proposal to AFOSR deadline for
  submission 15 October
• Radiation mitigation experiment

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Mars Student Activities

• Fly level
• Magnetic Investigation of Mars by Interacting
  Consortia (MIMIC)
• Work with JPL and 10 SG Consortia
• AUSSP in charge of science and instruments for
  the mission
• Measuring the remnant magnetic field of Mars gt
  loss of atmosphere gt loss of liquid surface
  water gt impact on potential life
• Mission abandoned NASA launcher scrapped
• AU six participating students, two spent Summer
  04 at JPL

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Mars Student Activities

• AU students _at_ JPL during summer
• Luther Richardson - 2003
• Ben Spratling and Eric Massey - 2004
• Jason Stewart - 2005
• Eric Grimes - 2006
• INSPIRATION in 2006 a robotic weather station on
  surface of Mars (11 SG students 2 from Alabama)
• Eric Grimes in charge of instruments

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Management Team

• Students from non-technical majors finance,
  business, accounting, nutrition, journalism,
  history, etc.
• No class credit in physics
• Student Program Manager
• Positions CFO, HRO, PRO, ITO
• Meetings twice a week
• Support program and tech teams

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Management Team

• Program support
• Budget, purchasing, accounting
• Fund raising visibility on campus and beyond
• Recruitment
• Contact information
• Class rolls/participation
• Wiki and website
• Certificates and awards
• Longitudinal tracking
• Socials
• SEDS

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Program history

• Program started in Fall 2001
• Immediately started both a CubeSat and a
  Ballooning program
• First balloon launch with recovery in Nov. 2001
• Added a Mars mission in Fall 2003
• Added a NanoSat project in 2006

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Program evaluation - Pros

• Over 100 students participated
• Five students to JPL Summer Programs
• One student at least with a NASA job
• Two students presently co-oping with NASA
• Six balloon launches
• A CubeSat partially designed and the structure
  built
• Tested CubeSat ejection from P-Pod in C-9
• Four HS experiments ready for balloon flight
• Learned from a large number of mistakes

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Program evaluation - Cons

• Only six balloon flights of which four were not
  found the day of launch
• No final design yet of AS-I after five years
• Non-productive AHAB teams in 2005 one year
  without a launch
• Year wasted with insufficient students for AS-I
  in Fall 2005 and Spring 2006

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Analysis

• We could not make a purely student-led program
  work
• Need to teach and implement process
• Management
• Systems Engineering
• We were not successful in getting enough students
  to commit
• Lack of support of engineering over years

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Lessons learned - 1

• Faculty mentor
• Used to work through student team manager
• Now directly involved in all activities
• Sets the tone right from the beginning
• Runs team activities as a laboratory
• Is now seen as the captain of the boat
• Student manager
• Used to run the labs
• Now helps mentor manage the lab meetings, learns
  management and takes on increasing
  responsibilities with time
• Student systems engineer
• Learns skills form mentor and experts in and
  outside labs

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Lessons learned - 2

• Process
• Used to be pointed out on an as needed basis
• Building fever kills process and produces
  failure
• Process now taught to - and immediately applied
  by -the whole team in the first weeks of the
  semester
• Recruitment
• High turn-over rates
• Learning curve
• Need to recruit top students
• Recruitment strategy that works

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Lesson learned - 3

• Student commitment
• Strong mentor leadership gt students feel more
  secure
• Responsibility matrix signed
• Make sure students have a job they can do and
  like to do
• Certificates
• Summer jobs expanded
• Participation in conferences
• NASA and AE industry contacts for jobs

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Lessons learned - 4

• Student participation
• Participate in project objectives, requirements
  and tasks definition take ownership of project
• Each student has a responsibility matrix - no
  more watching the few gung-ho students work and
  getting disconnected
• Documentation
• No lab exit before activities are documented
• Last week of semester is documentation week
• Documentation is significant part of grade

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Learning Management - 1

• Each semesters work is defined as a project
• Students are presented the status of the system
  they are to work on
• The mentor has defined the vision, mission, a few
  broad goals, milestones and deliverables for the
  semester
• The students having learned the basics of the
  system are ready to work out the objectives for
  each goal

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Learning Management - 2

• The students work out
• The objectives for each goal
• The systems operational requirements
• The subsystems requirements
• The tasks to be performed based on the objectives
  and requirements
• The tasks are organized as a Work Breakdown
  Structure (WBS)

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Learning Management - 3

• The WBS includes duration of tasks
• A network diagram reveals the order in which
  tasks are to be accomplished
• The critical path is identified
• A Gantt Chart represents the schedule
• Students do an inventory of materials
• Students make a list of needed tools and
  materials
• Students are now ready to start building

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Learning Management - 4

• Each lab session starts with
• A quick status of project
• A look at the Gantt Chart
• A comparison of the two is made and corrective
  action is defined
• The goals of the session are set
• Lab work proceeds design and/or building is
  done, tests are performed
• Results are documented before leaving the lab

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Important ingredients

• Discipline
• Flexibility
• Reviews

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Systems Engineering - 1

• Plans and guides the engineering effort
• Focuses on system as a whole
• Bridges traditional engineering disciplines
• Necessary due to specialization and complexity of
  modern systems

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Systems Engineering - 2

• Hierarchical elements of a system
• Mission Architecture gt Balloon, Rigging,
  Tracking Box, Payload, Launch Team, Ground
  Station, Tracking Teams, Path Determination,
  Outreach
• System gt Tracking Box
• Subsystems gt Structure Rigging, Primary
  Tracking, Secondary Tracking, Power, Cut-Down
• Components gt Transceivers, GPS, TNC, Cut-Down
  Board
• Parts gt batteries, cables

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System Life Cycle
Source Systems Engineering, Principles and
Practice, Alexander Kossiakoff and William N.
Sweet, Wiley-Interscience 2003
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Systems Engineering Method over Life Cycle
Source Systems Engineering, Principles and
Practice, Alexander Kossiakoff and William N.
Sweet, Wiley-Interscience 2003
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Results - 1

• Started August 24
• Extraordinary difference from past
• Student participation
• Eagerness to work
• Confidence
• Learning
• Two students spent 7 hours doing inventory!

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Results - 2

• In three weeks, both Balloon and CubeSat have
• Defined semester objectives
• Worked out requirements mission, system,
  subsystem
• Developed their WBS at work session level
• Established a schedule
• Established status of system
• Done a full inventory
• Started work on subsystems
• Ordered components

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Conclusions

• Some requirements for a successful student
  program
• Full faculty involvement with whole team
• Full student participation in project and work
  definitions
• Clearly defined process
• Students learning and applying management and
  systems engineering principles, tools and
  techniques
• Each student has responsibilities and work load
  well defined
• Fast track tech skills development
• Technical expertise provided
• Develop camaraderie between team members