Gabriela Zawadzka
Integration & Test Engineer · Integration & Test
Gdansk, Poland
Integration & Test Engineer responsible for planning and executing environmental and functional qualification tests for aerospace assemblies. Experienced in vibration, thermal-vacuum, EMC, and functional verification campaigns. Writes test procedures, operates test equipment, and produces qualification test reports.
Expertise
- environmental qualification testing (vibration, thermal-vacuum, EMC)
- functional test procedure writing and execution
- test data acquisition and analysis
- test bench design and checkout
- qualification and acceptance test reporting
- test anomaly investigation
Technologies
Work History
2024-10
Investigated test anomaly during EMC conducted emissions test — unit exceeded limit at 150 kHz. Led fault investigation: traced root cause to switching frequency of DC-DC converter coupling onto power line.
Challenge: Reproducing the anomaly required exact test setup replication — EMC test results are highly sensitive to cable routing and grounding. Second test reproduced the issue. Third test with ferrite bead added to power line confirmed the fix.
Learned: EMC anomalies are reproducibility nightmares. Document the exact test setup (cable lengths, grounding points, equipment positions) with photos before any change. Changing one thing at a time is the only way to isolate root cause.
2024-05
Designed automated functional test bench for thruster electronics unit using NI TestStand. Reduced test execution time from 8 hours (manual) to 90 minutes (automated) per unit.
Challenge: Synchronizing test sequences with hardware state transitions required careful timing — some unit responses were slower than the original manual test assumed. Added configurable timeout parameters to each test step.
Learned: Automated test systems must handle hardware variability. Hardcoded timing in automated tests leads to false failures when hardware response times vary across units.
2023-08
Executed thermal-vacuum test campaign for onboard computer unit: thermal cycling (-40°C to +70°C, 12 cycles), vacuum level 10⁻⁵ mbar, functional tests at hot and cold extremes.
Challenge: On cycle 7, a component on the PCB showed intermittent failure at cold temperature. Took 4 hours of debug to identify a solder joint crack visible only under thermal stress. Required redesign of that component pad geometry.
Learned: Thermal cycling is excellent at finding latent solder joint defects that visual inspection misses. Finding this in qualification rather than in orbit saved the program.
2023-02
Wrote and executed vibration qualification test procedure for satellite structure: sine sweep, random vibration (Grms levels per ECSS-E-ST-10-03), and shock test. Unit passed all levels.
Challenge: During random vibration at flight level, a connector on the harness worked loose due to improper strain relief — not a design failure but a test setup error. Stopped the test, re-dressed the harness, and restarted from the last completed axis.
Learned: Test setup quality is as important as test execution. A pre-test hardware inspection checklist prevents common anomalies like loose connectors that waste test time and require root cause investigation.