s. ABSTRACT PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY OF DEVELOPING CASSINI GC TELEMETRY DICTIONARY.pdf

s . to appmr in Procccdings SPACEOPS’94 PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY OF DEVELOPING CASSINI GC TELEMETRY DICTIONARY Edwin P. Kan Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, Ca 91109 ABSTRACT While the Cassini spacecraft telemetry design had taken on the new approach of “packetized telemetry”, the AACS (Attitude and Articulation Subsystem) had further extended into the design of “mini-packets” in its telemetry system. Such telemetry packet and mini-packet design produced the AACS Telemetry Dictionary, iterations of the latter in turn provided changes to the former. The ultimate goals were to achieve maximum telemetry packing density, optimize the “freshness” of more time-critical data, and to effectuate flexibility, i.e. multiple AACS data collection schemes without needing to change the overall spacecraft telemetry mode. This paper describes such a systematic process and methodology, evidenced by various design products related to, or as part of, the AACS Telemetry Dictionary. INTRODUCTION An efficient ground data system and effective telemetry data processing / analysis system stem from good engineering design with respect to timeliness, frequency, accuracy, and sufficiency of the data contents in the telemetry stream. The human interaction with the data, thence consumption of the data, can also be enhanced by human-engineered telemetry displays and systematic organization of the telemetry measurements. Such objectives can be achieved, in part, by an up front design of a flexible and efficient telemetry handling system on board the spacecraft, and of an equally efficient ground data analysis system. A common thread between the flight and ground systems is the Telemetry Dictionary. In the present context, the Telemetry Dictionary is more than just a collection of telemetry measurements with their descriptions, arranged in some alphabetical ordering. The development process of the Dictionary is intertwined and iterative w