1. When several loads combine
Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm returns as the recalled work because the integrated system test is the point where several ordinary loads combine to produce something more demanding than any single test. High compute load, a thermal soak, a cell swap, and a ground-link loss are each survivable on their own. Together they may expose a coupling that no single-domain test predicted.
This entry defines the integrated system test matrix for the desktop.
2. Test setup
The test uses a flight-representative rack with multiple cells, real or high-fidelity simulated payloads, and a thermal-vacuum or equivalent environment. The platform runs its operational software, and ground commands are injected through a realistic link simulator.
3. The test matrix
| Case | Scenario | Conditions | Expected outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nominal operations | All cells active, moderate load | Platform maintains compute, storage, communications, and thermal stability. |
| 2 | Peak compute load | Maximum CPU and memory load across cells | Power and thermal budgets remain within limits; no throttling beyond policy. |
| 3 | Peak data throughput | Maximum network and storage traffic | Latency and error rates remain within spec; storage healing keeps up. |
| 4 | Thermal soak | Hot case with reduced radiator view | Temperatures remain within limits; thermal protection does not false-trip. |
| 5 | Thermal transient | Rapid transition from hot to cold case | Control loops remain stable; no cell reboots or data loss. |
| 6 | Power bus stress | Load steps and converter switching | Bus voltage stays within tolerance; protection circuits behave correctly. |
| 7 | Cell swap under load | Replace a cell while compute load runs | Remaining cells absorb load; new cell is admitted and takes share. |
| 8 | Ground-link loss | Long eclipse or communication outage | Autonomous operations continue; data queues safely. |
| 9 | Combined stress | Several of the above at once | Platform degrades gracefully; no loss of critical functions. |
4. What is measured
For each case the test records:
- Power bus voltage, current, and ripple at multiple points.
- Cell temperatures and thermal gradients.
- Compute and storage performance metrics.
- Network latency, packet loss, and reconfiguration events.
- Whether any protection circuit trips.
- Whether any cell reboots, crashes, or drops out of the federation.
5. What this changes
- The integrated system test has a concrete matrix.
- The matrix links back to the thermal, power, network, storage, and autonomous swap arcs.
- The next entry will define pass and fail criteria.