Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Rad-Hard Embedded Processing SIP
Project Description
VORAGO Technologies has created a product design and MIL-PRF-38534 qualification plan for a radiation-hardened miniaturized System-In-Package (SIP) that comprises an ARM® Cortex®-M0 microcontroller (VORAGO VA10820), a 16-channel 14-bit analog-to-digital converter (Cobham RHD5950) and a 2Mbit FRAM (Cypress CYRS15B102). All the design work and planning has been put in place to produce working packaged SIP devices and qualify them in phase II.Each of the three rad-hard die will be mounted on substrate within a hermetic 68-pin ceramic package. Individual signals from each device are routed via the substrate within the chip, which also includes decoupling capacitors and pull-up resistors in the SIP. This optimizes the number of useful pins that are available to the system designer.The SIP design optimizes the size, user simplicity and reliability of the solution. Using this SIP solution rather than three discretely packaged parts means that the area of the functionality can be reduced by approximately a factor of five and the number of pin interconnections on a PCB can be reduced by a factor of more than three.In phase II, we propose to build 85 units of the device and qualify it. In addition, we will build evaluation boards and a software board support package so that the device can be easily evaluated and used for development work by NASA engineers. Our objective is to get as many units / evaluation boards onto NASA engineers desks as possible.We have discussed this device with NASA engineers from GSFC, Ames, JPL, JSC and MSFC and have received very positive feedback that the SIP device would be useful to them and would help simplify and miniaturize their electronics designs. Comments from NASA engineers have been included in the Phase II Technical Proposal.
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Anticipated Benefits
In general, the SIP device will be a suitable solution for many NASA space-based observatories, fly-by spacecraft, orbiters, landers and robotic / sample return missions that require robust command and control capabilities. The SIP will be used in payload and C & DH functions and low speed telemetry systems. Typical applications of the SIP will be: - Low power, small form factor interface for sensors and actuators - Motor controller processor - Power supply monitor and power sequencer - Embedded control housekeeping processor - Safety monitor / watchdog device - Analog signal interface with digital serial communications output An example application for programming the SIP to become a fixed-function device would be for VORAGO to program firmware into the device to operate as a power sequencing chip that can be used to bring up multiple power supply voltage rails in the required sequence and in conformance with the start-up timing requirements of the system. This would ensure that a system using multiple supply voltages booted up correctly. There is currently no radiation hardened power sequencer chip available that can provide power sequencing of this nature for up to sixteen independent voltage rails.
We can confidently claim that there will be a lot of interest in this device from commercial space companies. We know this to be true because VORAGO have experience in selling the VA10820 microcontroller since 2015. We have had regular feedback from many sources that the addition of an analog-to-digital convertor and non-volatile memory would be very attractive to reduce the PCB size and increase functionality. The SIP device addresses this feedback squarely. There is a demand for a highly-integrated SIP like this in commercial space applications, particularly C & DH for interfacing to analog signals with digital interfaces and programmable control functionality. The benefit of this part over closest fit existing solutions is that there are no state-of-the-art (based on ARM Cortex) ?mid-range? embedded processors that are available in a small footprint with NVM and a precision analog-to-digital convertor. Commercial space system developers that would have an interest in this SIP would include Ball Aerospace, Bigelow, Blue Canyon, Boeing, Busek, Tyvak, SSL, Millenium, Lockheed Martin, Moog Northrop Grumman, Planetary Resources, UTC, and Raytheon. Other commercial non-NASA applications that could use the SIP would be in C & DH and payload applications in CubeSats and Smallsats. More »
We can confidently claim that there will be a lot of interest in this device from commercial space companies. We know this to be true because VORAGO have experience in selling the VA10820 microcontroller since 2015. We have had regular feedback from many sources that the addition of an analog-to-digital convertor and non-volatile memory would be very attractive to reduce the PCB size and increase functionality. The SIP device addresses this feedback squarely. There is a demand for a highly-integrated SIP like this in commercial space applications, particularly C & DH for interfacing to analog signals with digital interfaces and programmable control functionality. The benefit of this part over closest fit existing solutions is that there are no state-of-the-art (based on ARM Cortex) ?mid-range? embedded processors that are available in a small footprint with NVM and a precision analog-to-digital convertor. Commercial space system developers that would have an interest in this SIP would include Ball Aerospace, Bigelow, Blue Canyon, Boeing, Busek, Tyvak, SSL, Millenium, Lockheed Martin, Moog Northrop Grumman, Planetary Resources, UTC, and Raytheon. Other commercial non-NASA applications that could use the SIP would be in C & DH and payload applications in CubeSats and Smallsats. More »
Project Library
Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silicon Space Technology Corporation | Lead Organization | Industry | Austin, Texas |
Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Greenbelt, Maryland |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
Maryland
-
Texas
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