Product category: Programmable Logic Devices
News Release from: Actel Europe | Subject: FPGAs
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 17 July 2002
Radiation tolerant FPGAs
power infra-red satellite
Actel FPGAs have been chosen by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) for its BIRD bispectral infra-red detection satellite
Actel FPGAs have been chosen by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) for its BIRD bispectral infra-red detection satellite, the world's first satellite that uses infra-red sensor technology to detect and investigate high-temperature events on Earth, such as forest fires, volcanic activities, burning oil wells and coal seams.
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More than 20 Actel high-reliability FPGAs are used in many mission-critical functions on the satellite, including payload data handling, memory management, interfacing and control and coprocessing as well as sensor control in the infra-red camera.
"The BIRD satellite design specifications required devices that offered high performance, radiation tolerance and low power consumption.
Actel's FPGAs easily met these needs and enabled us to also satisfy our stringent requirements for single-event upset performance and immunity to destructive heavy ion-induced, single-event latchup effects", said Bernd Kirchner, spokesman of the BIRD mission.
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"Further, with Actel's devices, we were able to integrate many mission-critical functions into fewer solutions, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of components, total weight and board space required for the satellite design".
"Actel continues to be a key player in the technology behind major breakthroughs occurring in space and we plan to continue to push forward with our involvement in and development of high-reliability programmable logic technology for radiation-intensive environments", said Jon Ewald, director of product marketing at Actel.
"Actel is proud to play an integral part in the historic BIRD satellite mission, which will supply scientists around the world with data that until now has not been available".
About BIRD The DLR BIRD satellite is a technology demonstrator for new infra-red push-broom sensors that were especially developed for the recognition and quantitative estimation of thermal processes on the Earth's surface like bush fires and volcanic eruptions.
BIRD was launched in October 2001 with the Indian rocket PSLV-C3 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) in a circle-shaped orbit with a diameter of 572km in height.
At present, the satellite is in its commissioning phase.
First, all the satellite's components are put to work, their operational parameters are collected, and the redundancy circuits are tested.
Then, the payload complex of the satellite is tested and the system for processing the ground data is put to work.
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