DESK-TOP COMPUTER BASED TEST AUTOMATION FOR SATELLITE ACTUATOR.

To test and evaluate actuators such as the momentum or the reaction wheel used in controlling the attitude and orbit of satellites, a rigorous and comprehensive test process is called for. To optimally meet the test requirements, test automation was attempted using a low cost and flexible automated test system. The computer aided test (CAT) set-up was based on a desk-top computer and a few intelligent equipments and could be easily adapted to test a number of diverse avionics packages. The adoption of CAT could considerably improve the accuracy and repeatability of the tests, while substantially reducing the time taken for the conduction of the tests. Better and neat type of presentation of the test results, elimination of fatigue induced human errors, etc. were the other benefits of test automation. This paper deals with the test automation of the momentum wheel assembly (MnA) for the stretched Rohni satellite series (SROSS).