Working Group on the Standardisation of Engineering Design Model Data Exchange
The Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) has recently been host to a new ECSS Working Group (WG) on the standardisation of engineering design and model data exchange for the preliminary phases of the space project life cycle.
The working group comprises representatives of national space agencies and space industry as well as ESA personnel, with the common objective to define a data model suitable to represent the design carried out in the preliminary phases of a space project.
The starting point of this data model is the one defined and used in the CDF. Several projects have already taken advantage of this data model for the exchange of design information, e.g. BepiColombo, Aurora ExoMars, EVD, MSR.
As well as the CDF at ESTEC, various space concurrent design centres exist or are being created (e.g. EADS SDO, CNES PASO CIC, Alenia CODE, ASI-CEF). A standard data model would allow more effective engineering design collaboration and iterations between these centres.
The working group will draft a Technical Memorandum that ensures best practice and common standards are employed within the Agencies and partner industries and institutes when providing analysis and design outputs for concurrent design centres and related reviews.
The working group will create a list of parameters, definitions and units and the initiation of a global perspective of the parameter sets required to cover the initial phases of a space project.
Meeting regularly, the Working Group aims to have produced the draft Technical Memorandum by mid-December 2006.