Software Design

When designing Ensto One, special attention was paid to creating a product that was of high quality and easy to use, yet very reasonable in terms of cost. This would not have been possible to achieve without cooperation with Huld’s experts”, says Atte Mäittälä, who leads Product Development at Ensto.

In 2016, Airbus Defence and Space Germany selected Huld as the Independent Software Verification and Validation (ISVV) contractor to ensure the quality of the Sentinel-6 satellite’s software. After four years, the satellite will be launched on November 21, 2020. The mission is the first NASA-ESA (the European Space Agency) joint effort in an Earth science satellite mission, where Airbus is prime contractor to ESA.

“When it comes to software providers, we appreciate agility, high quality, fast service, and especially cost-effectiveness combined with the ability to produce the functions we ask for. All the above must also be done regarding security aspects, without exceptions. In the case of Pikatiedote, our paper list of hopes-and-dreams was quickly converted into a software in production use,” says IT Service Manager Mikko Rautio.

Huld is involved in developing ground processing software for the programme, including data output simulators for each instrument in each satellite type, as well as performance analysis tools for the data produced by the satellites.

A need to have a mean to keep the mission alive even in case when the software nominally running on the Rover fails has opened the door to Huld as a known provider of highly critical software.

Huld responsibilities in the project have three phases: System Engineering, Software Development, and Maintenance.