Development of a radiation resistant communication node for satellite sub-systems

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Within a complex electronic system, sub-system communication forms the backbone of thefunctionality of any satellite. It allows multiple processors to run simultaneously and datato be shared amongst them. Without it, a single processor would have to control the entiresatellite. Not only would such a design then be overly complicated, but the processor wouldalso not have sufficient capacity to service all the components efficiently.Furthermore the detrimental effects that radiation have on integrated circuits are well documentedand can be anything from a single bit flip to a complete integrated circuit failure.If not repaired, a failure on a sub-system communication bus could lead to the loss of theentire satellite.Die goal is to create more radiation resistant Controller-Area-Network (CAN) node. Since afull triple modular redundant design will have a large footprint and high power consumption,a combination of techniques will be applied and tested. The goal is to achieve improvedfootprint utilisation over triple modular redundancy, while still maintaining good resistanceto Single Event Upsets (SEU).By applying simulation, it was sufficiently proven that the implementation of the individualtechniques used functioned according to expectations. These techniques included error detectionand correction using Hamming Codes, single event transient filter and triple modularredundancy. Having applied these mitigation techniques, the footprint of the CAN controllerincreased by only 116%. Simulation showed that the Error Detection and Correction andTriple Modular Redundancy worked effectively with the CAN controller, and that the CANcontroller could function as originally intended. Using radiation testing, the design provedto be more resistant to SEUs than the unmitigated CAN controller.It was thus shown that through using a combination of mitigation techniques, it is possibleto develop an optimal design with a high level of resistance against Single Event Upsets,utilizing a smaller footprint than implementing Triple Modular Redundancy.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University