C-Sigma
Thanks
to
our
significant
experience
with
the
environmental
requirements
typical
of
aerospace
and
railway
applications,
we
have
matured
the
technical
expertise
needed
for
the
design
of
custom
controllers
for
harsh
environments.
Decades
of
experience
in
electronic
engineering
give
us
the
optimal
expertise
to
cover
all
the
phases
required
for
the
development
of
new
products: design, prototyping, testing, certification, manufacturing (by qualified sub-contractors).
Merging
a
strong
Applied
Physics
background
with
decades
of
experience
in
High
Reliability
Electronics
Design
to
benefit
the
development
of
new
products
for
rugged
Industrial,
Rail
Transit,
and
Aerospace applications.
Vision
At ease with harsh environments
Our Expertise
Rugged Electronics for Rail Transit Safety
Some of our successfully completed projects include:
•
electronic brake controllers for railway vehicles applications
•
controllers for spacecraft's on-board energy conditioning and power bus voltage regulation
•
custom electronic controllers for industrial automation applications
•
self-compensating
Hall
effect
absolute
angular
encoder
for
rotary
mechanisms
used
in
spacecrafts or in rugged terrestrial applications (railway, oil & gas)
•
credit
card
size
authentication
token
capable
of
reading
a
challenge
code
from
a
flashing
pattern displayed on a PC monitor
C-Sigma
was
founded
in
1997
by
Luca
Ghislanzoni,
an
industrial
physicist,
when
leaving
the
European
Space
Agency.
During
the
10
years
spent
with
ESA,
he
specialized
in
high
reliability
electronic
controllers
for
mission
critical
functions,
such
as
the
Electrical
Power
Bus
Voltage
Regulation
function
of
the
on-board
Energy
Conversion
and
Conditioning
System.
For
such
applications
a
failure
could
mean
the
loss
of
the
complete
spacecraft.
Thus,
critical
units
(e.g.
Battery
Discharge
Regulators,
built
out
of
many
identical,
parallel
operating,
hot
redundant
modules)
are
controlled
by
3
fully
independent
controllers,
whose
respective
output
signals
are
then
“2
out
of
3
majority
voted”
by
means
of
a
voter,
effectively
achieving
SIL4
for
the
availability
of
power
to
all
other
sub-systems
and
payloads.
Said
voter
must
be
designed
very
carefully
(design
validated
by
Worst
Case
Analysys,
Failure
Mode
Effects
Analysis,
and
last,
but
not
least,
Extensive
Testing),
in
order
to
ensure
proper
operation
even
in
case
of
a
component
failure
(Single
Point
Failure
Tolerant
Design).
More
in
general,
achieving
High
Reliability
is
a
difficult
and
multi-faceted
task,
painstakingly
built
out
of
bullet-proof
procedures,
deep
and
careful
analyses,
independent
experts
assessments,
lot
of
patience,
and
…
test,
test,
test,
and
retest
…
Finally,
after
so
many
years
in
this
industry,
here
is
my
personal
advice:
never
forget
to
give
Reliability
a
KISS
(Keep
It
Simple
Stupid
…
an
old
adage
suggests),
as
starting
with
a
simple
as
feasible subsystem approach goes a long way towards achieving Product Reliability and Safety.
C-Sigma s.r.l. 2015
Rugged Design for Space
