Design and implementation of on-board high reliability FPGA on-orbit reconfiguration

The electronic system of the multi-chip combined control architecture satellites often requires an on-orbit reconfiguration capability for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The purpose is to provide program backup and rapid on-orbit reconfiguration of the FPGA once suffering single particle event. Spacecrafts in low Earth orbit (LEO) are subject to the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), while deep space spacecrafts operate in an environment constrained by high levels of particles and radiation, intermittent communications, and limited resources, which together pose a significant challenge to the reliable operation of spacecraft electronics. Multi-chip flash process control is an effective solution to this challenge. In this work, we propose and implement a design for the GTM payload onboard the deep space DRO-A satellite, using an MCU, an FPGA, and flash memory, where the MCU is used to communicate with external data, write the FPGA bitstream frames to the flash, and serves as the control core for the data interaction between the off-chip flash memory and the FPGA via SPI. This configuration ensures the independence of the data interaction since the FPGA is not physically connected to the flash. The software uses a three-mode redundancy system, file CRC checksums, and data sending/receiving checksums to increase reliability. Prior to the launch of the DRO-A satellite, the program was comprehensively tested on the GTM payload. This design is important for extending the spacecraft and payload operational life under extremely harsh conditions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Measurement and Control
Published
2025-03-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/00202940251323416
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Radiation Effects in Electronics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.46

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Design and implementation of on-board high reliability FPGA on-orbit reconfiguration

Xinqiao Li, Zhigang Lü, Xilei Sun, S. L. Xiong et al.
2 citations
Measurement and Control
Radiation Effects in Electronics
1.46
article

Design and implementation of on-board high reliability FPGA on-orbit reconfiguration

Xinqiao Li, Zhigang Lü, Xilei Sun, S. L. Xiong, Chao Zheng, Longkun Yu, Jinglong Wang, Jiarong Yan, Chenxing Zhang, Min Gao, Zhiqiang Ding, Peiyi Feng, Ke Gong, Y. Z. Li, Peng Zhang, Li Chen, Fan Zhang, Hui Wang, Yanqiu Zhang, Chenwei Wang, Yaqing Liu, Shuai Yang, Dali Zhang, Zhenghua An, Yan-Bing Xu, Jinzhou Wang, Xiao‐Yun Zhao, Xiaojing Liu, Jia-Cong Liu, Xiang-Yang Wen
article en
2 citations

Abstract

The electronic system of the multi-chip combined control architecture satellites often requires an on-orbit reconfiguration capability for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The purpose is to provide program backup and rapid on-orbit reconfiguration of the FPGA once suffering single particle event. Spacecrafts in low Earth orbit (LEO) are subject to the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), while deep space spacecrafts operate in an environment constrained by high levels of particles and radiation, intermittent communications, and limited resources, which together pose a significant challenge to the reliable operation of spacecraft electronics. Multi-chip flash process control is an effective solution to this challenge. In this work, we propose and implement a design for the GTM payload onboard the deep space DRO-A satellite, using an MCU, an FPGA, and flash memory, where the MCU is used to communicate with external data, write the FPGA bitstream frames to the flash, and serves as the control core for the data interaction between the off-chip flash memory and the FPGA via SPI. This configuration ensures the independence of the data interaction since the FPGA is not physically connected to the flash. The software uses a three-mode redundancy system, file CRC checksums, and data sending/receiving checksums to increase reliability. Prior to the launch of the DRO-A satellite, the program was comprehensively tested on the GTM payload. This design is important for extending the spacecraft and payload operational life under extremely harsh conditions.

Measurement and ControlVol. 59(3)
Tongji University (CN), Nanchang University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Chengdu University of Technology (CN), Institute of High Energy Physics (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Radiation Effects in Electronics
1.46
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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