Feature: Space electronics


broad foundation for advanced computing with seamless CPU and GPU integration. ROCm is the first hyperscale open-source platform for accelerated computing that is also independent of any programming language. It applies the UNIX philosophy, minimalism and modular soſtware development for CPU computing. Application developers are free to choose the tools and the language runtime, or even develop their own – as Unibap did. In addition,the ROCm ecosystem encompasses a wide range


Figure 2: D-Orbit’s ION satellite carrier ION SCV-003


Radiation-resistant Despite the harsh environment it will be in, the Unibap solution uses standard components, including AMD’s Ryzen Embedded processors. To qualify for use in orbit, Unibap had to prove its solution was fit for operation in extremely harsh environments with the lowest possible power consumption. Te stresses caused by acceleration and vibration, pressure, heat fluctuations and cosmic radiation are so high that, in the past, only components developed specifically for space application qualified. Our engineers conducted tests on standard processors from


different manufacturers and found that AMD embedded technology is inherently resistant to cosmic radiation. Unlike sunlight, cosmic rays are not electromagnetic radiation, but a stream of highly-energetic particles, such as protons, electrons and ionised atoms. Tese particles can generate so-called single event effects (SEE) in semiconductor components, causing interference, data loss and destruction of transistors through single-event latch- ups (SELs). In aerospace applications, where data integrity is a top priority,


every single computation and every autonomous decision must be error-free for reliability and safety. Tis makes it extremely important to protect data stored in RAM from error and to ensure that CPU and GPU computations follow the code strictly. AMD SoCs therefore provide additional error correction memories, an important feature that helps to correct the data errors in memory triggered by SEEs.


Untapped potential In addition to its resistance to cosmic rays, Unibap also chose AMD processor technology for another reason – the integration of CPU and GPU, highly suitable for heterogeneous vision and AI computing applications. Te soſtware ecosystem for deep learning is also comprehensive


and mature. Open standards such as OpenCV (Open-Source Computer Vision) and OpenCL (Open Computing Language), as well as the AMD ROCm open soſtware platform, provide a


Figure 3: ION satellite carrier with Unibap’s SpaceCloud on board


of freely available technologies – from frameworks (Tensorflow/ PyTorch), libraries (MIOpen/Blas/RCCL) and programming models (HIP), to support interconnected (OCD) and forward- compatible Linux kernel distributions – and the platform is constantly optimised for performance and extensibility. Te tools, guidance and insights are openly shared in the ROCm GitHub community and related forums. SpaceCloud uses several products from the AMD Embedded


portfolio, including the AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 processor family, which combines the performance of the AMD Zen CPU and Vega GPU architectures in a SoC. Te iTemp variant of the rugged AMD Ryzen operates at temperatures as low as -40°C. AMD Secure Run technology encrypts data in main memory and provides cryptographic isolation from virtual machines, clients and even the hypervisor itself, making it suitable for small-edge clouds in applications where multi-vendor solutions are to be unified. Unibap is currently testing the next evolutionary step, with the


AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 series, where core count as well as performance per watt have doubled compared to the previous generation. Since the radiation behaviour is unique for each processing node, dedicated testing is required for each new product, to verify its suitability for space applications. For the V2000 series, AMD plans product availability to ten years, giving engineers an assurance of long support. Unibap believes that since intelligent vision solutions used


in autonomous driving have the same system requirements as satellites, our application in orbit could quite possibly also be used in autonomous vehicles.


www.electronicsworld.co.uk March 2022 33


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