Space programs including planetary exploration, orbiter missions and space research require innovative spacecraft system technologies to provide connectivity and processing capabilities. To enable system designers to better integrate and improve performance while reducing development costs and time to market, commercial off-the-shelf technology (COTS) and scalable solutions are increasingly being used in space applications. Microchip today announced the certification of its Arm®-based SAMRH71 microprocessor (MPU) and the availability of the SAMRH707 microcontroller (MCU). Both products feature Arm Cortex®-M7-based system-on-chip (SoC) radiation-hardened technology.
Microchip’s SAMRH71 and SAMRH707 devices were developed with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the French space agency National Space Research (CNES) for further research and space missions.
David Dangla, VLSI component expert at CNES, said: “The introduction of Arm technology in space applications opens up new horizons for us to use well-established ecosystems in the consumer and industrial sectors. SAMRH71 is the current market The first radiation-hardened microprocessor based on Arm Cortex-M7, giving developers the simplicity of a single-core processor and the performance of an advanced architecture without having to perform onerous mitigation techniques like non-aerospace-grade components.”
Kostas Marinis, Airborne Computer Engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA), said: “Integrating digital-to-analog converters and analog-to-digital converters with powerful processor cores is a key requirement for addressing new challenges in aerospace applications. Microchip’s SAMRH707 It enables a cost-effective, radiation-hardened microcontroller with easy-to-use features.”
Based on the standard Arm Cortex-M7 architecture and the same peripherals as automotive and industrial processors, the SAMRH71 and SAMRH707 leverage standard hardware and software tools for consumer devices, enabling system development cost and schedule optimization.
The SAMRH71 is a radiation-hardened version of Microchip’s COTS automotive SoC technology, offering both a spatial connectivity interface and a high-performance architecture with over 200 DMIPS. The Arm Cortex-M7 core of the SAMRH71 is designed for high radiation environments, extreme temperatures and high reliability, and is equipped with high bandwidth communication interfaces such as SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553 and CAN FD as well as IEEE1588 Generic Precision Time Protocol (gPTP) ) capable Ethernet. Supported by the French National Centre for Space Research (CNES), the SAMRH71 is fully ESCC certified and meets the MIL standard V and Q high reliability ratings, enabling the system to meet stringent compliance requirements.
The SAMRH707 device expands Microchip’s lineup of radiation-hardened Arm Cortex-M7-based microcontrollers, providing analog functionality on a processor unit with digital signal processing (DSP) capabilities and a DMIPS >100, combined with a spatial connectivity interface in a small footprint, designed for Designed for high radiation environments, extreme temperatures and high reliability. The SAMRH707 achieves a high level of integration, embedding static random access memory (SRAM) and flash memory, high bandwidth communication interfaces (including SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553, and CANFD), and analog functions such as 12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) ) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
Microchip’s microcontrollers, microprocessors and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) designed for space applications provide key elements for the development of new systems. Microchip’s total system solutions cover aerospace-compliant, radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant power, timing and clocking devices, as well as connectivity and memory solutions.
development tools
To speed up system design, developers can use the SAMRH71F20-EK and SAMRH707F18-EK evaluation boards. Microchip’s complete ecosystem supports the SAMRH707 and SAMRH71 space processors and includes the MPLAB® Harmony toolkit and third-party software services for space applications, both of Microchip’s devices are supported by the company’s integrated development environment (IDE), including development, Debugging and software library support. Both devices support MPLAB Harmony version 3.0.
supply
The SAMRH71 ceramic packaged device is now in volume production and has the same level of compliance as QMLQ (SAMRH71F20C-7GB-MQ) and QMLV (SAMRH71F20C-7GB-SV). For applications requiring high volume and cost-optimized structures, the SAMRH71 is available as a printed circuit board design in a Ball Grid Array (BGA) plastic package or as an evaluation SAMRH71 product. Samples of the SAMRH707 (SAMRH707F18A-DRB-E) in the CQFP164 ceramic package are available.
About Microchip Technology Inc.
Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions. Its easy-to-use development tools and broad product portfolio enable customers to create optimal designs that reduce risk while reducing total system cost and time to market. Microchip’s solutions serve more than 120,000 customers in the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip provides outstanding technical support, reliable product delivery and exceptional quality.
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