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Development Plan of Harness model for Small

Satellites

Conference Paper · September 2016

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 Development Plan of Harness model for Small
Satellites

Muhammad Fahad Hasan Muhammad Atif M. Atta-ur-Rehman Mazhar Saeed

Space and Upper Atmosphere Space and Upper Atmosphere Space and Upper Atmosphere Space and Upper Atmosphere
Research Commission Research Commission Research Commission Research Commission
(SUPARCO), Pakistan. (SUPARCO), Pakistan. (SUPARCO), Pakistan. (SUPARCO), Pakistan.
fahadned@hotmail.com muhhdatif-1@yahoo.com matta@gmail.com msw370@hotmail.com

Abstract—This paper deals with electrical interface issues II. ELECTRICAL INTERFACE ROADMAP
and discusses guidelines to avoid common pitfalls. From Small Indentifying interface is the first step towards satellite
satellite’s perspective where the mass of the satellite is a major harnessing activity. Defining interfaces among units require
concern of control, a less weight and optimized mass of proper communication among design engineers so that
interconnects will save the space as well as weight of the
interfaces are complied at both ends. For interfacing on
satellite. Identifying interfaces in early development stage of
satellite design not only avoids delays, cost overrun but also CAD, authors have devised scheme for effective
helps to ensure compatibility among all interfaces. In addition communication among all interface engineers. Required
discussing interface and harness guidelines to mitigate fields for interface engineers include following details
EMI/EMC and protocol compatibility issues, this paper required at each end.
addresses necessary steps required to develop harness CAD  Unit name
model.  Connector type
Keywords— Small Satellite, Electrical Interfaces, Harness
 Connector name
model  Connector pin number
 Connector description
I. INTRODUCTION  Connector ID
LEO satellites are mainly classified on the basis of mass.  Signal ID
Satellites having mass less than 1000kg [1] lies in small  Signal name
satellite category. Under Small category there are various  Signal type
levels which are listed in table 1.  Signal Description
TABLE 1VARIOUS SMALL CATEGORY SATELLITES  Signal Category
S. No. Type Value Unit A. Signal categories
1. Mini-satellite (minisat) 500 kg Electrical interfaces are the interconnection between
units. In small satellite interconnections are divided into
2. Micro-satellite (microsat) 100 kg
four main categories.
3. Nano-satellite (nanosat) 10 kg
4. Pico-satellite (picosat) 1 kg 1) Data Signals
Data signals includes digital data, differential signals,
5. Femto-satellite (femtosat) 100 gm
low voltage signals, telemetry and telecommand Signals,
Pulse signals, clock and low voltage analog signals.
Strict mass requirements derived from the launcher, a
small satellite needs very careful measures so that the 2) Power
satellite may remain under the mass budget requirements. Power category includes power signals from main
Optimized harness route with all its routing standards while distribution to respective modules. It is considered as
maintaining harness mass under required limit is the main primary power for the module.
agenda of this paper.
In addition, interface and their categorizations for 3) RF – Radio Frequency
harnessing keeping in view the grounding and shielding RF signal category includes may contain modulated data
requirements are also included in this paper. in terms of modulated carrier or sine wave format.

4) EED – Electro Explosive device

 Electro explosive device signal category are the signal
which are normally used one time, they may contain signals
of pyro-cutter, solar panel deployment thermal knife and
propulsion tanks commands signals.

5) Master Communication Bus

Master Communication bus is needed for testing the
satellites from electrical ground support equipments (EGSE).
Discussion of EGSE interface is beyond the scope of this
paper.
III. DEVELOPMENT PLAN OF ELECTRICAL INTERFACE IN
CAD
Harness model development plan on the CAD software first
requires implementation of interface model. We have used
Zuken to implement electrical interface among all units of Fig. 2. Harness E3 Form Board view
satellite falls under the category of small satellites. Below
paragraph discusses electrical interface implementation in
3)E3 3D Routing Bridge
Zuken. E3 3D routing bridge is used to transfer component
A. Zuken information from E3 series to SolidWorks .It generates xml
Zuken E3 series is used for design of wiring, harnesses, file which includes connector, pins, cable, color, AWG,
and cable assemblies of harness model. CAD work on bend radius information. After routing using this file in
Zuken has been divided into following sub-tasks SolidWorks individual wire lengths can be transferred back
1)E3 Cable to E3 series.
E3 Cable is used for designing of electrical
interface diagram of harness model. E3 cable supports block
functionality, blocks represent units of small satellite,
individual connectors are added to units and cables and their
relevant properties are assigned to individual electrical
interface. It gives ability to generate bill of material, device
table, cable table etc. for documentation.

Fig. 3. Zuken E3 3DRouting Bridge

IV. HARNESS ROADMAP

Fig. 1. Harness E3 Cable view
2)E3 Form board
E3 form board is used for the creation of two dimension
1:1 scale nail board manufacturing drawing documentation
scale nail board manufacturing drawing documentation
required for the rapid development of wiring harnesses.
After finalizing interfaces and developing CAD model for all
interfaces, harnessing activity is carried out that require
digging deeper and identifying shortest possible routes to
avoid signal loss while optimizing overall harness mass.
Required harness components for CAD are described below
[4].
1) Routing
 The harness wires usually arrange in large bundles,
therefore the current de-rating factor for bundle of 15 or
more conductors commonly applied.
 To minimize EMI, power cables, signal cables, RF cables
and cables carrying EED signals are bundled separately
 and routed either orthogonal or at least 2 inches away 3) Connectors
from each other.  The power and signal should not share the same
 All the harness is routed on the main structure of satellite connectors to minimize EMI issues.
with base cable mount as a supportive structure.  Harness (power/data and RF) fed through the structure to
 Bending radius are properly provided according to outside space environment of satellite are potential
standard defined in the following table. sources of EMI signals to the antennas. Filtered
TABLE 2 RF CABLE BENDING RADIUS [7]
connectors should be considered on these harnesses.[5]
 Connector pins current carrying capability is greater than
S. the wire current rating.
Wire Type Optimum Bending Radius Minimum
No.  Power and return line pins within connectors are
separated by at least one pin.
1. Individual coaxial cable. 10 x OD 6 x OD
 If single connector is used for both power and signal,
2. Polyimide (Kapton) insulated 15 x OD 10 x OD their contacts are separated as far as possible.
3.
Overall harness (with coaxial cable or
10 x OD 6 x OD
 Connector savers shall be used during integration and test
AWG size 8 or larger). to minimize wear on connector contacts.
Overall harness (with AWG size 10 or
4.
smaller without coaxial cable).
10 x OD 3 x OD  Connector mate/de-mate logs shall be used to record
mates and de-mates.
5. Overall harness 15 x OD 10 x OD
*OD: Outer diameter 4) Accessibility
Harnesses should be designed with accessibility and
 EM coupling constitutes of inductive coupling and manufacturability in mind [6]
capacitive coupling. Inductive coupling occurs due to  Connectors are placed in such a way to allow visual
mutual inductance between the wires while capacitive inspection and ease of access for proper mating and de-
coupling occurs due to mutual capacitance between the mating during AIT and system level testing.
wires and ground. Twisting of wires in bundle will  Unit connectors should be placed in such a way that easy
reduce the inductive coupling while shielding of wires access of harness connector with EMI back shells is
will reduce the capacitive coupling. possible through extraction tool.
 If there are one or more connectors facing the other Units
2) Wires then it should be spaced 6 inches (15 cm) from a panel or
Voltage drop on power lines shall meet the following [6] structure mounting strut.
o 28Vdc supply, 2V drop  Units should be spaced 9 inches (23 cm) apart when both
o 5Vdc supply, 100mV drop units have connectors that face each other.
 Wire redundancy should be maintained for Power and its  Wires having tin coated outer body should not be used
return signals to guard against single open/broken wire for flight because of the possibility of tin whisker
failure. development which may cause a short circuit. Silver is
 Digital systems, e.g. LVDS, RS-422 require impedance preferred if coating is needed.
matched harness for the differential signals it contains  Harness ties should be used for gathering harness bundle
therefore special attentions should be given to such type in order to get better accessibility to each unit of satellite.
of signals. Following table will be used for reference.
 22-AWG should be the minimum wire size for power
TABLE 4 HARNESS DIAMETER AND TIE DISTANCES [7]
and heaters [7].
 24-AWG should be the minimum wire size for signals S. Harness Diameter mm Maximum Distance Between Harness
No. Ties mm
[7]. 1. 6.4 or less 19.1
 Wire splices and soldering within the harness is only used 2. 12.7 38.1
for data buses interface. 3. 25.4 50.8
 Following cable types are suggested for Signals to 4. Larger than 25.4 76.2
minimize EMI\EMC issues
 Harness ties position with reference to harness bundle
TABLE 3 SUGGESTED CABLE AND SIGNAL TYPES
size and connector should comply following table
S. No. Signals Cable Type
TABLE 5 HARNESS BUNDLE DIAMETER AND TIE PLACEMENT [7]
1. DC raw power Twisted pair
2. Digital , analog low frequency Twisted pair or N tupple S. Harness- Bundle Distance from connector or connector
twisted wire No. Diameter mm accessory to start of first tie mm
3. Analog, low level Shielded twisted pair 1. Less than 12.7 25.4-50.8
4. Digital, high frequency Coaxial 2. 12.7 to 25.4 50.8 – 76.2
5. RF signals Coaxial 3. 25.4 or larger 76.2 – 101.6
6. Electro-explosive device Double shielded twisted pair 5) Harness Shielding
(EED) signals
Harness shields should be terminated with the connector SystemConfiguration&Interface Data
back shell at both ends of harness [6] Collection
 All shields should be grounded to the spacecraft
structure.
 Shield termination pig-tails should be bonded to the
connector back shell. Interface Finalization Harness JigPreparation

 Shielding should not be daisy-chained from one another.

Each harness shielding wire should be connected to the
ground point directly.
Harness Worksheet Preparation
 Outer shields should not be tied to unit connector pins or
wires harness bundle.
 Pig-tail inner-shield lengths to ground should be Parts, Cable, Connector and
minimized as possible and better if not exceed 5 cm. Tools Selection
 Extended pig-tails are vulnerable to EMI noise because of
its high resistances wires.
 EMI back shells should be used for all harness One End Cable Termination
connectors.
 External harnesses should be shielded with outer bundle
and terminated with 360° outer shield bond to the back Continuity Check
shell.
 Aluminum tape of at least 1 mil thickness should be
Branches / Sub-Harness
wrapped with an overlap of fifty percent on each 360o Preparation
wrap over the previous wrap.
 In order to avoid deep dielectric charging all external
End Termination and final
harnesses should have additional shielding that will Continuity Check
protect it.

6) Harness material Wire Protection

Low out gassing materials are recommended for space
missions. Harness materials that usually required are
mentioned in the following table
Shield Termination and finishing
TABLE 6 HARNESS MATERIAL PROPERTIES
S.
Property Material
No.
1. Wires insulation Kapton, ETFE, PTFE,PVDF,PEF Testing of Harness

De-Sub, Connector contacts, back shells, SMA.

2. Connector
Hermetically sealed
3. Heat Shrink PVF2, ETFE , PTFE,PVDF Integrated SystemTests
4. Lacing thread Nylon/dacron (MIL-T-713)

5. Cable ties PTFE,ETFE,PEEK Fig. 4. Harness Procedure flow diagram [2]

6. Tapes Kapton Tape, Sintered, non-adhesive
1) Wire Selection and Identification
7. Shielding tape Adhesive Aluminum/ copper tape
In parts selection and interface connection, only parts are
identified at pin level. For the wire specification of each
V. HARNESS PROCEDURES interface wire selection and identification is performed in the
Harness procedure represents complete flow of harness wires are selected depending on the type of signal flowing
development from selection of various components to and its de-rating factor. Afterwards insulation of wire is
finalized tested product. The selection carried out in such a determined. Harness engineer then allocate it appropriate ID
way that meets the design considerations. After the selection so that no duplication occurs for the same type of wire [3].
procedures, harness development and testing represents
harness route map. Typical harness flow is given in Fig. 4. 2) Connector Selection and Identification
Connector selection is also dependent on the type of
signal flowing through it and the number of similar
connections in each unit. Connector current de-rating is also
considered while selection. The connector selected must
have capability to bear twice of the current that is flowing
through it. In addition connector mating cycles is another
key criterion for connector selection.
3) Harness accessories
A harness accessories includes cable ties, cable mounts
kapton tapes, EMI\EMC shielding tapes and tools which
assist during harnessing. Tools may also include tag printer,
heat gun, soldering iron/ wire, SMA toolkit and crimp tool
kits and wire twisting machines. Heat sleeves are also
included in the harness accessories of different diameter.
4) End Termination and Continuity
One end of the wire bundle is terminated with connector
and fixed to the concerned unit connector. After connection
end to end connectivity is tested before routing of the cable
bundle.
5) Harness wire protection
Protection of wire bundle is done through shielding
sleeve, selected for each wire bundle. Shielding would be
braided or thermoplastic heat sleeves. Shrink diameter of
sleeve is key factor of selection. Braided shielding serves
fine wire protection while metal braiding immensely help in
reduction of Electromagnetic interference.
6) Shielding Termination
Shielding termination is an important feature of harness
design. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) due to other
nearby signals eliminated through shielding termination of
cables with satellite unit housing.
7) Testing
Testing of harness is final step while harnessing. In
testing of harness continuity and physical check is done. End
to End connectivity of wires is checked after shielding.
Material insulation of wires is checked with another wire in
order to diagnose any shortage if any due to bruises in wires.
Integrated system will be test after harnessing in order to
validate proper function of the system.
VI. HARNESS CONFIGURATIONS
Harness configuration would be finalized in this model
depending upon the satellite configuration. In general flower
configuration is preferred for small satellite. This harness
configuration involves harnessing on each panel in such a
way that all panels can be opened and access individually
without depending on each other like petals in sunflower
accessed individually. The advantage of this configuration is
that it is easy to assemble and allow less time for harness
rework if required.
A. Computer Aided Design (CAD) Harness Model
Harness model firstly developed on CAD Engineering
Software’s. Electrical interfaces among all units are
implemented in Zuken. SolidWorks software used to
generate an optimized 3-D harness layout.
B. Mockup Model
After developing harness model on CAD a mock up
model is developed for hand on experience for the model
developed on CAD. A mock up harness model is the model
which is usually built-up on the 1:1 scale so that the bends
and lengths of the harness wires becomes an exact fit to the
flight model. The advantage of developing the mock-up
gives confidence to the assembly integration team for the
flight model. Mock up harness model identify some loop
holes and common pitfalls that may create hurdles for
harnessing team. These may normally include accessibility
and rework which cannot be identified without hands-on
experience.
VII. DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR HARNESS IN CAD
Harness model development plan on the CAD software’s
are defined under following sections.
A. SolidWorks
SolidWorks electrical is a MCAD tool used to make
harnessing layout and cable length estimation of harness
model. Harness MCAD model is imported in SolidWorks
and routing xml file of E3 series is imported in it, the
imported data is complete with model of connectors, wire
name, wire colors, wire diameter and minimum bend radius
then cables are routed to comply minimum bend radius.
When the cables are routed routing data pack is exported
back to E3 series along with cables length and then transfers
the data to E3 form board to begin the process of laying out
the wiring harness.
Fig. 5. CAD Harness Model
VIII. RESULTS
Harness model of satellite determines the routing paths
for the harness wires and cables. In this model length for
each electrical interface are finalized along with their
 connectors. Development plan of complete harness from part
selection to CAD routing implementation is been discussed
by the author. The harness model on CAD results in a
concrete model before implementation it on mockup model.
This would help the design engineers to realize initial
problems that may arise during mock up model stage. The
harness design model will be more refined after mock model
implementation. In addition harness material and interface
identifications steps would help an initial level designer to
follow a process flow that leads to typical road map for
implementation of harness in small satellites.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Initial harness design of small satellite on software has
been done on this stage with its entire requirement analysis.
Mockup model harness implementation would be done in
future.
REFERENCES
[1]. Gottfried Koneleny, Institute Small satellite –A tool for
earth observation? Photogrammetry and Geo Information,
University of Hannover.
[2]. K.S.DAyashankara, V.K.Hariharan, M.N.Ra0,
G.V.C.Rajan, A.A.Bokil, “EMC Considerations in
spacecraft harness design”, Bangalore.
[3]. John Ashour “Wiring harness. An Introductory guide for
Engineers“.
[4]. “General handbook for space vehicle wiring harness
design and testing”, MIL-HDBK-83575, SEP 1992.
[5]. Space Station Cable/Wire Design and Control
Requirements for Electromagnetic Compatibility. SSP
30242 Revision F. July 2002
[6]. NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Engineering
Directorate - Electrical Harness Working Group “design
and manufacturing standard for electrical harnesses”,
GSFC-733-HARN-01 Rev C, July 2003.
[7]. Approved: 1998-02-09, Revalidation Date: 2008-07-25,
Change 6 approved: 2011-03-29 “crimping,
interconnecting cables, harnesses, and wiring” NASA-
STD 8739.4.

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