Dynamics Control Analysis
Analysis to show Spacecraft Avionics Works
Single Task
An independent Dynamics Control Analysis (DCA) consultant can provide services limited to a single task. Program management writes a focused Statement Of Work (SOW).
This is the shortest duration contract limited to a single task, usually less than 1 year. Often called Freelancing.
General Program Support
Here an independent DCA consultant would become a team member in an existing team of employees and other consultants. Program management writes a general SOW.
Typically, general program support would be for 1 or more years. Often called Staff Augmentation.
Subcontract Support
Independent consultants can also support a program indirectly through a subcontract. In this case, the SOW would be written by the direct contractor instead of the satellite company receiving the services. This can be a convenient way to add DCA support without increasing the number of contractor companies.
In each case, Dynamics Control Analysis provides services to the client on an as needed basis. No need for career development or other employee related overhead. After the task is completed, a new SOW can be arranged to continue low-level support to answer questions and remain aware of the program state. We move in, help out, move on, stay available. Client pays no tax or benefits in addition to the consulting fee. At the end of the year, the client submits a NEC-1099 form to report the payments.
TODAY’S TIP
Document Using LaTeX:
The choice of documentation software is important. We recommend using LaTeX for dynamics and control analysis. Unlike Microsoft Word, another popular choice, LaTeX is a true typesetting language in plain text. This is ideal for version control and collaborative editing. Most importantly, LaTeX was developed by mathematicians for documenting mathematics, making it ideal for our equation and algorithm intensive documents. While LaTeX might require more effort to get started, once templates are created, analysts actually spend less time preparing documents more of the time on the content.
LaTeX is free, open source, and supported by an active and supportive community. This means that it is available on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and is not subject to the whims of a single company.
We recommend using the article document class for most documents, which can be combined into a book or report class. This is especially useful for software algorithm description documents which can be combined into a single Algorithm Description Document (ADD) for delivery. Collaborative editing can be done using GitHub or GitLab.
For more information, see https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/benefits-of-latex/.
