SENSORS Sensors in Space


A range of sensors with rugged construction for harsh environments is meeting the needs of the space industry as well as aerospace and defence.


S


ensor technology has for a long time not been confined to the familiar environment of the earth’s surface and manufacturers of all varieties of sensors are increasingly needing to make variants that are capable


of withstanding the harshest of environments – industrial, nuclear, submarine, high altitude and of course space. USA based OSI Optoelectronics is one such manufacturer and it has been showing off its range of sensors and advanced electronics assemblies for the space industry, most recently at the Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany. The company supplies space sensors and electronics for navigation, communication, scientific instrumentation and surface mapping.


SUN SENSORS Currently operating in more than 200 spacecraft orbiting the earth, the company’s high reliability, radiation-hardened sun sensors meet all the European Union space and US Military environmental standards. Satellites and other spacecraft need such sensors


for a variety of functions including navigation and solar panel positioning. Coarse and fine variants of the sensors are available which can detect the presence of the sun’s rays and can calculate precise sun positioning in relation to the sensor, respectively. Coarse sensors provide some positional data that can be used by the spacecraft’s attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS) but for more precise positioning control, fine sensors are required. Apart from the deployment of solar panels, such fine positioning is required by earth-pointing satellites to maintain their position. These sensors need to be extremely robust to be able to cope with and adjust for extreme temperature excursions and high levels of radiation. Sun detection and positioning sensors are gaining


❱ ❱ Space grade sun sensors are able to detect the presence of the sun’s rays as well as measure precise positioning of the sun in relation to the spacecraft for navigation and solar panel deployment


increasing demand with the increase in the use of unmanned autonomous systems (UAS), particularly those that fly at high altitude. With the majority of such devices being in military hands, the sensor range available from OSI has been tested for compliance with relevant military standards both in the USA and Europe. With its experience in the space industry, OSI has now expanded its range to other related sensing tasks and is providing sensors for use in ring laser gyros (RLGs) and fibre optics gyros (FOGs) as well as particle, ion and X-ray detection. It also has a new range of high-gain, high-speed


avalanche photodiodes (APDs) used for Time-of- Flight (ToF) tasks, including LiDAR for surface mapping, laser rangefinders and high-speed communication applications.


CERTIFICATION


OSI has gained ISO AS9100-2004 Aerospace certification and ITAR compliance, assuring its manufacturing capabilities for both prototype manufacturing and volume production. With a focus on aerospace and military applications,


full certification to the relevant standards is an important aspect of the sensor manufacturer’s operations. To achieve this it has extensive in-house environmental, functional and reliability testing and screening capabilities. It has MIL-I-45208 Department of Defence Certification as well as MIL- PRF-19500 Quality System Compliance and MIL- STD-883 and MIL-STD-750 Compliance to Electro- Optical and Environmental Test requirements. Similar to its sun sensors, OSI is experiencing increased demand for other sensors for the defence industry in relation to missile guidance, early warning systems, friend or foe (FOF) detection systems, laser guidance, satellites, range finding, smoke & fire detection, weapon simulation and radiation detection.


Aerospace Test & Validation Vol 2 No. 2 /// 19


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