1998 - Draper Laboratory

Draper Laboratory continues to engineers are noted for their versatility and enthusiasticbuild on its mastery of guidance willingness to take on formidable new tasks. Theyand navigation technology, which participate regularly in professional training programs tohas evolved over decades of maintain their design and analysis skills and to becomeleadership in developing space and adept in emerging technologies.strategic systems to meet the challenges of the newWe are responsible for the design, development, andmillennium. Electronics is an enabling technology in thesemaintainability of the electronic subsystems and sensorsapplications, where increasing performance andthat implement navigation for all generations of the U.S.functionality will be delivered in smaller packages, at aFleet Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM). Welower cost, and with reduced power consumption.retain much of the Navy’s corporate memory for theElectronic Design and Sensor Development has already functional requirements and the current design solutionssatisfied a wide array of design challenges that point the that are embodied in this critical national asset. Ourway to future applications: developing electronics that will engineers are the first to be called to diagnose the causes ofsurvive for years in outer space; designing custom mixedsignaland digital Application-Specific Integrated Circuits operational missiles installed in the fleet and toany observed failures of the electronics subsystems in(ASICs) to meet aggressive miniaturization requirements, recommend corrective actions to prevent their recurrence.and building customized computers that operate reliably, We are an integral part of the Navy’s program to provideeven when one or more subsystems have failed. One future system upgrades that may be needed to meetgroup has perfected breakthrough technologies to enhance Congressional mandates to extend the lifetime of thesethe sensitivity of photon detectors, while another group systems well into the 21st century.has conceived and is delivering implantable prostheses toOur experience in these Fleet Support programs hasrestore hearing to individuals whose nerves are damagedmotivated us to invest in the future of “virtual design”and speech to those whose larynx is no longer functional.technology. We are developing the most highly integratedOur success is based on fundamental insight into the suite of electronic, mechanical, thermal, and software“physics” of the design problem; each design we deliver design tools in the world. This will provide a simulationand support is the culmination of a process that begins capability that can support a reliable evaluation of designwith a system-level analysis of requirements and alternatives without having to commit to the traditionallyconstraints from which we develop the design concept that expensive and time-consuming cycles of hardwarebest satisfies our customer’s objectives within cost, risk, prototyping and rework for the validation of deliveredand performance specifications.products. This capability will provide the core designautomation tools for all our future design work.Electronic Design and Sensor Development comprisesabout 90 individuals with degrees in electronics, Our future lies in advanced communication and navigationmechanical design, physics, or mathematics. They are applications, with emphasis on:supported by associate engineers and technicians, students• Design miniaturization.from a number of prominent colleges in the surrounding• Electro-optics.communities, and residents from industry. Most of our• Spacecraft avionics.tasks are handled by small teams of fewer than five• Medical instrumentation.engineers. Our staff usually work on no more than twoprojects at a time, thus, each project receives the dedicated The following article displays a sample of our system-levelsupport required to deliver custom solutions. OurIntroductionthinking applied to a difficult instrumentation process.