Aitech Rad-tolerant PMC Provides Gigabit Ethernet Data Transport to CPU

With on-board memory and key function redundancy implemented in a rad-hard FPGA, the new PMC is specifically designed for harsh space environments including low earth orbit (LEO), Mars terrestrial and geostationary earth orbit (GEO). .The S750 features up to four 100/1000BaseT, full duplex Ethernet ports and one emulated virtual network port for network access to the single board computer (SBC) network stack via the local PCI bus. 1000Base-X is available as an option.



Because the PMC operates on Aitech’s premier PowerPC-based 3U CompactPCI S950 SBC, the hallmark of space-flown SBCs, the user can initiate managed switch functions, such as, statically and dynamically configurable GbE packet transfers, port

management and multiple power-saving options, depending on various and unique application requirements to match many types of mission profiles. In tandem with the S750 TMR (triple modular redundancy) FPGA architecture, the S950 also delivers on-board Flash and SDRAM memory redundancy to ensure low latency Ethernet transfers and outstanding data integrity.



Enabled immediately at power-up, the S750/S950 mated pair allows the space-rated SBC to quickly manage GbE switch ports and data via the SBC’s RS422 UART console port and the virtual port. The switch configuration can be stored in the S950 non-volatile user flash memory so it can be reloaded across power cycles to reduce management complexity.



Dynamically-learned host MAC (media access control) addresses of devices connected to the S750 PMC are stored in the MAC forwarding and translation table with at least 16 entries, enabling high-speed, multipoint data distribution of the addresses. The PMC can transmit and receive IPv4 UDP (user datagram protocol), TCP (transmission control protocol) and raw data packets.



The S750 uses direct memory-mapped access to provide local switch management and operational status of both the switch functions as well as to enable or disable individual port operation or MAC address translation via the local 32-bit PCI bus.



The minimum unshielded total ionizing dose (TID) of the new PMC is more than 10 krad (Si), with higher radiation hardness levels available if needed. The low single event upset (SEU) rate and low power consumption of less than 8 W provide added system reliability.



The S750 PMC features an 8 MB no-overhead, direct memory addressable buffer allocated in the SBC SDRAM with an Aitech proprietary, real-time, no wait-state triple voting algorithm for added redundancy and data integrity as well as standard rear I/O ports through the SBC PMC interface to a 32-bit cPCI backplane.