Call for Participation: New Materials Committee on Standards (CoS) Written 5 May 2015

AIAA has created a new committee on Materials (Materials CoS) that will develop industry-wide standards for component, subsystem, and system test with respect to RF breakdown risk mitigation in RF/microwave components.  This includes multipactor and ionization breakdown.  An industry-wide committee of experts in RF/microwave breakdown in spacecraft components is required to review and maintain standards.  These draft standards have been created as Aerospace Technical Operating Reports (TORs) and require a governing body to adopt and maintain them.  Stakeholders include industry, government academia, satellite customers and operators, satellite manufacturers, satellite component suppliers, satellite component test facilities, and government space organizations.

The first document the Materials CoS will develop is Multipactor Breakdown Prevention in Spacecraft Components.  This document is intended to serve as a standard and handbook for the prevention of multipactor and ionization breakdown in spacecraft components and systems. The document provides minimum requirements for risk definition, system analysis, and component analysis and test. Supporting documentation describes proper design, analysis, and test guidelines while also providing the requirements for defining the proper system engineering to identify RF breakdown risks within susceptible components. The document framework is based on defining worst-case parameters as general inputs to analysis or test criteria for all components within the RF system. Using hardware-specific values, these worst-case parameters are defined separately from margin requirements.

With properly defined worst-case conditions, the document addresses required margins for analysis and test for multiple devices categories. Subsequent sections provide minimum verification requirements to demonstrate the margin recommendations for both analysis and test.

Multiple appendices based on state-of-the-art industry best practices are also provided as guidelines to aid manufacturers and contractors. Typical approaches including examples for both design and test are provided. A reference geometry is described along with corresponding analysis and test data. This information can be used as a benchmark standard, such that component vendors and manufacturers can have a standard example for RF breakdown.

Incorporating this document and its improved process into the development and test cycles of an RF component will reduce the risks associated with RF breakdown failure. The document goal is to concurrently reduce program risk as well as elevated cost of excessive margin requirements. This document shall serve as a baseline and minimum set of criteria for low-risk development and verification of RF spacecraft components.

Participation on the Materials CoS will be by teleconference on an as-needed basis.  The basic document has developed by the team already and is currently an Aerospace Technical Operating Report (TOR). 

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Materials CoS please contact Hillary Woehrle hillaryw@aiaa.org.