Spacechips to partner with Vicor to incorporate Vicor Factorized Power Architecture™ (FPA™) using high density power modules into the Spacechips AI1 Transponder Board.
Vicor Corporation is pushing the boundaries of the newest ultra deep submicron FPGAs and ASICs and their power delivery networks due to the need for smaller satellites with advanced computational capabilities and dependable and robust onboard processor systems to support the five to ten-year duration of a mission.
The challenging low-voltage, high-current power requirements of these high-performance processors are exacerbated by the difficulties of controlling radiation and heat conditions in space.
In response, Spacechips unveiled its AI1 transponder , a compact on-board processor card with an AI accelerator called ACAP (Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform). In order to support real-time, autonomous computing while guaranteeing the reliability and longevity to finish longer missions, the intelligent, reconfigurable receiver and transmitter provides up to 133 tera operations per second (TOPS) of performance, enabling new Earth-observation, in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), signals intelligence (SIGINT), intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and telecommunication applications.
New levels of processing power spawn imaginative new applications in space and on Earth
Today’s low-Earth-orbit observation spacecraft can establish direct line of sight over a specific region only about once every ten minutes.
If satellites were trained to fill those blind spots using AI algorithms, emergency management teams could make faster, better-informed decisions when direct line-of-sight communication with Earth is not possible.
Spacechips is harnessing these powerful artificial intelligence compute engines to enable in-orbit AI to address a variety of Earth-bound and space-related problems:
- Tracking space debris to avoid costly collisions
- Monitoring mission critical spacecraft system health
- Identifying severe weather patterns
- Reporting critical crop production rainfall data
Vicor Factorized Power Architecture delivers high current, low voltage
Precision power management is crucial for AI-enabled computing because of the limited operating environment in space. The growing quantity, scale, and variety of missions that call for various types of spacecraft, as well as the increasing reliance on solar power of some kind to provide sufficient power, exacerbate the demand.
This led Spacechips to partner with Vicor to incorporate Vicor Factorized Power Architecture™ (FPA™) using high density power modules into the Spacechips AI1 Transponder Board. FPA is a power delivery system design that separates the functions of DC-DC conversion into independent modules.
In Vicor’s radiation tolerant modules, the bus converter module (BCM®) provides the isolation and step down to 28V, while the pre-regulator module (PRM™) provides regulation to a voltage transformation module (VTM™) or current multiplier that performs the 28V DC transformation to 0.8V.
Bedi claims that the Vicor solution has a very small and power-dense value. This results in a higher power density and improves efficiency and flexibility by decreasing size and weight, particularly in high-performance computer applications.
Bedi is assisting telecommunications and SIGINT operators with real-time, on-board processing by implementing Vicor’s FPA power delivery system. This allows Bedi to independently modify RF frequency planning, channelization, modulation, and communication standards in response to real-time traffic demands. Additionally, Vicor power converter modules have a dual powertrain, which offers built-in redundancy for fault-intolerant space applications and enables loads to be driven at 100% on both sides of the powertrain.
Leadership Comments
“Many spacecraft operators simply don’t have sufficient bandwidth in the RF spectrum to download all of the data they’ve acquired for real-time processing,” said Dr. Rajan Bedi, CEO of Spacechips. “An alternative solution is accomplishing the processing in-orbit and simply downlink the intelligent insights.”
“Vicor FPA delivers a much more elegant, efficient solution in a very small form factor,” Bedi said. “The benefits of Vicor FPA are simply an order of magnitude superior to everything else on the market.”
Together Spacechips and Vicor have partnered to design the most power-dense, reliable processer board on orbit. The AI1 board is rad-tolerant, rugged and compact. It sets a new standard for power processing, enabling the next-generation of computing and application design for New Space.
Learn more about Spacechips new high current density transponder, CLICK HERE
