Synspective- Senior AOCS Engineer
Job description
We are looking for a talented and motivated new colleague to join Synspective's Onboard Software Team. Our team is responsible for the design, development, testing and maintenance of the embedded software running inside Synspective’s satellites. We are a small team where control engineers and embedded software engineers work closely together.
The Onboard Software Team is part of the Satellite System Development Dept. No1, which is responsible for the development of the satellite system.
Responsibility:
Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) design, analysis, implementation, testing and maintenance.
Details of work:
- Design, implement, test, and validate algorithms used in the AOCS of Synspective's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, such as: sensor data filtering, orbit and attitude estimation, attitude controller, reaction wheels and magnetorquer control, operation modes control, failsafe mechanisms, etc.
- Work closely with the embedded software engineers to integrate the AOCS into the rest of the flight software.
- Validate the design through unit testing, Model In the Loop Simulation (MILS), Hardware In the Loop Simulation (HILS), and tests on the physical satellite.
- Assist the testing and validation of the AOCS components during the satellite Assembly Integration and Testing (AIT) process.
- Model sensors, actuators, and other physical components in MATLAB/Simulink/Simscape and fit the component model using test data.
- Take part in the launch campaign: prepare the necessary items for launch operation, monitor the behavior during the critical phase, and provide technical support to the satellite operation team.
- Participate in weekly meetings and design reviews.
- Perform design studies for the development of our next generation of satellites.
- Review and validate designs and test results.
- Mentor more junior members.
Selling points of the role:
- Great opportunity for growth as an engineer.
- See the complete lifecycle of a satellite, from the early design to the launch and in-orbit operation.
- Work in an international team.
Scope of change: Inside the Within the Satellite Development 1
Job requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Control Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Robotics Engineering. We will consider an equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience.
- At least 8 years of hands-on experience in the design and validation of control systems, preferably on autonomous systems (satellite, launch vehicle, drone, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), self-driving car, robot, etc.).
- Thorough understanding of multibody dynamics: coordinate transformation between reference frames, kinematics, conservation of energy and momentum, etc.
- Strong analytical and communication skills.
- Strong experience with MATLAB/Simulink.
- Experience working with physical sensors and actuators.
- Willingness to travel to Synspective's factory (Yamato-city) on business trips several times a year.
Preferred qualifications:
- Knowledge of orbital mechanics and satellite dynamics.
- Experience in the design, implementation and testing of spacecraft attitude and orbit control algorithms.
- Experience in modeling physical components such as sensors and actuators in MATLAB/Simulink.
- Experience in control law design, beyond classical techniques: non-linear design, optimal design.
- Experience in state estimation using Kalman filtering and anomaly detection algorithms.
- Experience in model identification.
- Knowledge of GNC hardware components such as: reaction wheels, magnetorquers, GPS receivers, gyroscopes, star trackers.
- Experience in modeling finite state machines in Stateflow.
- Experience programming in C/C++.
- Experience in generating C/C++ code from Simulink.
Scope of change: Locations designated by the company (including remote work locations)