FPGAs used in space missions

Spirit and Discovery missions utilize XQVR1000 and XQR4062XLs from Xilinx. The XQR4062XLs were used during the descent and landing of the rovers on the surface of Mars, while XQVR1000s were used to control all of the brushed DC and stepper motors for the wheels, steering, antennas, camera, and other instruments on the rovers themselves.

1. MARS Missions

The mechanism controller board (MCB) of the two OSIRIS optical cameras also has two FPGAs to implement the digital control circuits. Data gathering, packaging, transmission and command decoding are performed within the FPGAs (Actel RH1280). In this case, FPGAs have made significant advances, allowing the reduction of mass and making the design simpler. In fact. the motor controller FPGA makes an a dco controller optimized for this instrument with different and very specific functionalities.

2. OSIRIS-REx

Rosetta is a robotic space probe built and launched by the European Space Agency. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta is performing a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P).The GIADA instrument of the Rosetta mission is a grain impact analyzer and dust accumulator experiment. It uses one FPGA to control the data obtained from the proximity electronics. This makes possible the use of an Intel 8086 processor, because there are tasks done by the FPGA, leaving the processor free to do other operations. All the FPGAs used in GIADA are Actel, RH1280. The use of Actel RH1280 allows significant reduction of power consumption and also makes the design simpler, because one chip implements the same function as a microcontroller with all the peripheries.

3. Rossetta Mission

Other future projects include:1. The SOPHI experiment which willl be onboard the solar orbiter

mission. It is a polarimetric helyospheric image magnetograph for studying the sun.

2. The SODA experiment which will be onboard the Solar Orbiter mission also. It is an instrument devoted to study cosmic dust.

3. BELA is a Laser Altimeter going onboard the Bepi-Colombo mission. In all these missions FPGAs will play a relevant role making the system electronics simple and of high reliability at the same time.

4. Other Missions

Conclusion• Design for space environment is complicated due to the very high

requirements. Factors such as weight, power and size must be taken into account. Among all of these, the most important requirement is reliability and one of the most important problems is the effect of radiation.

• In the past, devices were more primitive. Therefore, FPGAs were used as glue logic. To use them, designers utilized schematic as a popular design technique. Nowadays, configurable devices can be employed as many complex systems on just one chip.

• Codesign techniques could be applied to split the different tasks in such a way that algorithm and scheduling tasks are implemented in the processor while low level controlling tasks are developed using the device logic gates.

• FPGAs play a relevant role in space missions, and it is reasonable to believe that in the future the use of these devices will be even more extensive.