4.2.3 COST ENGINEERING WITHIN A MODEL-BASED DESIGN PROCESS FOR SATELLITE SYSTEMS

This paper describes a method to integrate cost analysis, cost planning, accounting and systems engineering within one integrated system model. It is called Integrated System Cost Model — ISCOM. This model has been implemented in a tool supporting the important early phase of satellite design. The tool is called MuSSat – Modelling and Simulation of Satellite Systems – provides the user with the means to easily and quickly model all aspects – and the various interdependencies between them – of a satellite system and to compare various alternative designs (Wilke, Quirmbach et al. 1999). Basis of the software tool is a modelling methodology developed at the Institute of Astronautics at the Technical University of Munich, which allows an integrated way of product, process and cost planning. MuSSat supports Target Costing process by allocating Target Costs to functions, objects and processes. Therefore it provides creation of cost tables for all kind of system elements in order to get element specific and actual cost estimation relationships. Thus MuSSat enables a company to improve its performance in the new market segment of commercial satellite applications by supporting integrated concurrent engineering. © 2000 The Authors.