PACISM: A Design Aid for the Development of the Petite Amateur Navy Satellite

In this work, we describe the features and use of PACISM, a simulation model used to support satellite design decisions during the construction of PANSAT, the Petite Amateur Navy Satellite, at the Naval Postgraduate School. The model features communications modeling at the packet level, an accurate portrayal of the store-and-forward mechanism the satellite employs, satellite footprint movement over the earths surface, and bit error generation, detection, and correction. We describe the object-oriented design of the model, as well as how it is being used by engineers to support decisions about the equipment used in the satellite, the way the equipment will be employed, the way we control the user population, and methods to keep control of the satellite.