A SIMULATION-BASED CONCURRENT ENGINEERING APPROACH FOR ASSEMBLY SYSTEM DESIGN

Raytheon Electronic Systems, Air/Missile Defense Systems (A/MDS) is in the midst of developing an advanced ground-based radar for a missile defense application. Three developmental systems will be built over the next five years, funded by the U.S. government. One of the critical components of the system is the antenna subassembly. This is the microwave “front-end” of the radar system, in which the radar waves are guided, transmitted, and received. With almost 3200 of them in each radar system, this assembly is one of few relatively high-volume components. The high-tech nature of world-class defense systems, as well as the inherent precision necessary for radio frequency (RF) products, render the antenna subassembly a critical design and manufacturing issue for the radar system as a whole.