Speaker
Description
The AMD Versal radiation-tolerant FPGA family represents a cutting-edge platform for high-performance applications. Versal offers unparalleled capabilities on space-qualified devices, featuring integrated GTY transceivers that support lane speeds of up to 25 Gbit/s. These attributes make them ideal for implementing advanced spacecraft communication protocols such as SpaceFibre (SpFi).
SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a spacecraft on-board data-handling network technology, building on its predecessor, SpaceWire, to deliver significantly higher data rates. SpFi integrates critical reliability features, including Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR). Designed for scalability and interoperability, SpFi supports multi-lane configurations, enabling seamless communication over both copper and fibre-optic cables. Its low-latency and high-throughput capabilities ensure robust performance, meeting the demands of modern spacecraft operations. STAR-Dundee SpFi IP cores have achieved TRL-9, having been deployed in at least six operational missions since 2021, with adoption planned for over 60 additional spacecraft.
Recent heavy-ion radiation testing conducted at GANIL (France) validated the resilience of the Versal FPGA platform and the SpFi IP cores. The campaign employed high LET levels, exceeding 40 MeV·cm²/mg, to evaluate susceptibility to Single Event Effects (SEEs).
This work presents the cross-section values measured for the Versal transceivers, including a detailed analysis of the effects on internal transceiver components, such as the TXPLL and data path, as well as SpFi fabric logic. SpFi demonstrated robust error recovery against SEEs affecting the transceiver, with transient errors self-recovering in under 4 µs and persistent errors automatically recovering in 2 ms. No data errors were observed due to SEEs in the transceiver. For SEEs affecting the FPGA fabric, when no Distributed Triple Modular Redundancy (DTMR) was used, the inbuilt XilSEM scrubbing mechanism ensured automatic recovery within tens of milliseconds, although with potential data loss. Applying DTMR to the SpFi IP achieved exceptional reliability, effectively eliminating data errors due to SEEs in the fabric.
Additionally, the campaign successfully demonstrated a 100 Gbit/s SpaceFibre link operating under radiation. This was achieved using a quad-lane configuration, with each lane operating at 25 Gbit/s. This represents a significant milestone, as it will be the first published result for the radiation testing of a 100 Gbit/s communication link.
The results underscore the potential of AMD Versal FPGAs and SpFi IP cores as a highly reliable solution for spacecraft data-handling systems, paving the way for next-generation high-throughput, radiation-tolerant communication architectures.
Affiliation of author(s)
STAR-Barcelona S.L.
STAR-Dundee Ltd.
| Track | Fault Tolerance Methodologies and Tools |
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