OHB System AG, one of the three leading aerospace companies in Europe, has opted for the support of Aucotec in designing its satellite wiring harnesses. The platform Engineering Base (EB) is the perfect platform for defining and calculating all electrical system connections in a centralized manner according to OHB.
The company belongs to the listed high-tech group OHB SE with around 2000 specialists at its sites in Bremen and Oberpfaffenhofen. OHB is specialized in high-tech solutions for aerospace, science and industry, and looks at more than three decades of experience. Low earth orbit and geostationary satellites constitute its core business. The Galileo navigation satellites, weather, environmental and telecommunications satellites are, among other things, as much part of its portfolio as the collaboration with the International Space Station (ISS).
Reliable data
OHB System AGThe premise that led to the decision in favour of EB came from the Management Board of OHB System AG: the company needed absolutely reliable and consistent data at all times for each user. According to the OHB Management Board, the EB platform, which is used exclusively in the entire harness area, offers the best prerequisites for this purpose with its central database.
All wiring harness details of a satellite project, whether airworthy or test cable, are stored in EB's data model. In multi-user mode, it is possible to work at various points in the process in the same project; users see their colleagues' results immediately, regardless of where they work. This avoids discussions, multiple entries and errors.
Even wider use
Mass data – an everyday challenge with 15,000-20,000 pin-to-pin connections to several 100-pin connectors per satellite – can be easily managed using purely alphanumerical editable Excel-like spreadsheets. The results are immediately displayed automatically in the corresponding graphics also. According to OHB, EB is characterised as much by automated test runs as well as easy exchange with subcontractors or downstream applications, for example, 3D and PLM, as by the Windows-like approach, which makes the system easy to learn.
Initial projects have already been implemented at the two OHB sites in Bremen and Munich. Aucotec very competently assisted in the adaptation of EB to specific OHB requirements for these projects. Later the scope of application of the platform shall expand according to the Management Board. Furthermore, there is already a plan to harmonize the engineering processes of OHB and the company which was integrated some time ago, Kayser Threde.
