Automated Design of Spacecraft Telecommunication Subsystems Using Evolutionary Computational Techniques

This paper discusses the application of evolutionary computing to a dynamic space vehicle telecommunication subsystem resource and performance simulation in a parallel processing environment. Our objective is to demonstrate the feasibility, application and advantage of using evolutionary computation techniques for the early design search and optimization of space systems. With this approach, engineers specify several sets of conditional subsystem performance criteria to trade off subsystem goals of mass, cost, performance and risk. Once specified, the integrated evolutionary/simulation software will then automatically generate a design option for each criteria, selecting and sizing telecom elements based on the space system´s anticipated performance in the simulated environment. Initial activity plans from an actual JPL mission, Deep Impact (DI) are used to test the software. Our results have shown human-competitive advantages by generating credible design concepts much faster than humans are able to and without the need for expert initial designs.