Microsemi's Space Forum Russia was held November 21, 2013 at the Novotel Moscow City Hotel, in Moscow, Russia. This event addressed various topics related to Microsemi's latest and most innovative space capabilities, technology roadmaps and solutions to combat the effects of radiation and more. In addition, application engineers discussed system-level challenges and potential solutions.
The following archived content is available in the agenda and presentations tabs:
For more information, contact spaceforum@microsemi.com
The current Microsemi SoC Products Group portfolio of spaceflight FPGAs will be reviewed in detail, covering architecture, features, benefits, radiation and reliability. Recent developments in qualification and processing flows will be discussed. The presentation also provides updates on the newer spaceflight parts—RTAX™-DSP, providing embedded high speed digital signal processing capabilities and RT ProASIC®3, providing reprogrammability with immunity to radiation-induced configuration upsets.
Minh Nguyen joined Actel, now Microsemi in 2006 as an applications engineer. In this role she provided technical support and created application notes to support various space customers before taking on her current role. Nguyen holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in electrical engineering from University of California, Berkeley.
In this presentation we focus on Microsemi's next-generation FPGAs for space and other high-reliability applications. Details of product features, performance, radiation effects and packaging are included. Additionally we cover plans to offer radiation-hardened by design memory devices for space applications, and finally we review plans for radiation-hardened digitally-controlled telemetry and current drive products.
Ken O'Neill joined Actel, now Microsemi, in 1990 as a product marketing engineer and served the company in a variety of product marketing positions before taking on his current role. Prior to joining, Ken was a design engineer with Hewlett-Packard, and prior to that a design engineer for Racal-Comsec Ltd. He holds a Bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Reading, England.
Alexander possesses over 30 years of experience in systems engineering and computer-aided design, and has worked as a software engineer and research fellow in the Academy of Sciences of Russia and Moscow Institute of Electronics Engineering. Co-founder and MD of Streamline Design Solutions Gmbh, Alexander partners closely with leading EDA/IP companies such as Aldec, Arasan, ARM and others. Alexander graduated from the Moscow Institutes (State Universities) of Physical Engineering - MIPHI, MSCS/BSEE Computer Science, and of Electronics Engineering - MIEE, post graduate, Computer-Aided Design.
Feodor Merkelov is an Applications Consultant at Synopsys responsible for support of FPGA synthesis tools in Russia. Prior to joining Synopsys he worked as an Applications Engineer at Alternative Solutions providing support and design services to Russian users of Synopsys ASIC frontend/backend synthesis tools. He also worked as a design engineer at Research Center "Module". Feodor Merkolov holds an MSEE degree from Linköpings University, Sweden.
The fault tolerant LEON3 processor in combination with the radiation tolerant RTAX-S/SL/DSP and RT ProASIC3 FPGAs presents a competitive alternative to the processors currently used by the space industry. The presentation will cover the standard product configurations and corresponding performances as well as SpaceWire, Mil-Std-1553B and PCI implementations. The SpaceWire router standard product which is also based on the aforementioned FPGAs will be presented, as well as the extended companion chip concept covering such as CCSDS/ECSS telemetry and telecommand.
Sandi Habinc brings 25 of years' experience in the space sector to Aeroflex Gaisler and has been working with virtually all Microsemi FPGAs that are suitable for space flight. He is currently responsible for LEON based system-on-a-chip projects ranging from FPGAs to ASICs. Habinc holds a Master of Science degree in computer engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
In spacecraft applications, sensors and command interfaces are encountered that are incompatible for direct interfacing to an FPGA. These interfaces require signal conditioning that has traditionally been implemented with discrete semiconductors and simple single function ICs that meet the cold sparing, fault isolation and radiation-tolerance of the space environment. Using suitable IC processes, a higher level of device integration can be enabled to implement these spacecraft interfaces. The programmability of the FPGA can be exploited to configure these analog and power functions increasing their versatility.
Technical Specialties, Expertise, and Interests: My recent experience in high reliability is for spacecraft motor driver and telemetry products. At Microsemi, Bruce has architected power management ASICs, battery chargers, LED drivers, light sensors and hold a number of patents in these areas. Prior to Microsemi, he designed sonar and radar display and signal conversion components at Hughes Aircraft Co. Education: BSEE, 1982, University of Washington; MBA, 1992, UCI.
Building on the successful introduction of CCGA (ceramic column grid array in A1 wire bond) for Space Application, Microsemi is working to introduce Flip Chip CCGA for the next generation RT devices for Space. The presentation will cover package construction for both non-hermetic and hermetic, qualification plans. Input from attendees on their requirements for high pin count packages (especially for Flip Chip ceramic CCGA) for mission critical space application would be welcome. Also our High-Reliability packaging roadmap will be presented.
Raymond Kuang joined Actel, now Microsemi in 1997 and brings 17 years of experience in the semiconductor industry to Microsemi. For the past 12 years, he has focused on Microsemi's FPGA packaging technology. Prior to joining Actel/Microsemi, Kuang was employed at LSI Logic in the assembly manufacturing division. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Davis.
The RT ProASIC3 FPGAs have been tested extensively to show data retention of the Flash cells in harsh space environments. This presentation will cover an experiment where RT ProASIC3 FPGAs were exposed to gamma ray radiation for Total Ionizing Dose (TID) effects followed by high temperature operating life testing. Some of these devices went through more than 1000 hours of testing under high temperature. The results assure the reliability of the Flash cells and the overall RT ProASIC3 FPGA family in radiation environment.
Ken O'Neill joined Actel, now Microsemi, in 1990 as a product marketing engineer and served the company in a variety of product marketing positions before taking on his current role. Prior to joining, Ken was a design engineer with Hewlett-Packard, and prior to that a design engineer for Racal-Comsec Ltd. He holds a Bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Reading, England.
This session will present all the different types of qualification tests that are performed on the Space FPGAs. These reliability tests are performed on programmed FPGAs using designs that maximize utilization of the device features. A list of programming software that is qualified using the above designs and reliability experiments will be presented.
This session will introduce design techniques to maximize performance and minimize power consumption for designs targeting Microsemi's Space Qualified FPGAs. Topics will include efficient use of internal resources and design flows that minimize the time to achieve timing closure and promote design re-use.
Luca Cattaneo joined Actel, now Microsemi, in October 2000 as high level design specialist and promoted in the current role in 2001. Luca brings over 18 years' experience in HW architectures & design, ASIC/FPGA, and standards in several market sectors Consumer, Industrial, Military, Space. Prior to joining, Luca was a senior member in the R&D department of Lucent Technologies & Bell Labs, and prior to that design engineer within R&D at Siemens-Italtel. Luca has several granted patents and holds a Master's of science in electronics engineering from Polytechnic of Milan, Italy.
Digital systems are evolving to demand lower bias voltages and higher operating current levels. Traditional centralized power solutions require downstream Point-of-Load regulators to meet more stringent static and dynamic regulation requirements. This presentation showcases Microsemi's product plan to address these requirements and discusses various related application issues.
Brian Wilkinson is the strategic applications manager for Microsemi's High-Reliability Group as of 2012. Wilkinson was an FAE supporting products from AMSG, HRG, RFIS and PPG with a special focus on power devices since joining Microsemi in 2007. Prior to that, he worked on missile systems at British Aerospace and was associated with a number of other semiconductor companies. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in semiconductor devices from the University of Bradford, Bradford, England.
Microsemi HRG continues to be the leader in the supply of high reliability discrete semiconductors to the space market. This presentation will review Microsemi HRG's continued support for the DLA Land and Maritime's certification program and discuss key technical aspects of Microsemi discrete semiconductor offering.
Ronan Dillon is Director of Technology and PLM for Hermetic Products with Microsemi Hi-Rel Group. He has over 20 years' experience in the assembly, test and screening of high reliability discrete semiconductor components. Ronan graduated from the University of Limerick in 1988 with a bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and with a Master's Degree of Business Administration in 1998. In January, 2011 Ronan became Director of Applications Engineering for the Hi-Rel Group of Microsemi Corporation. He then became Director of Technology for the Hi-Rel Group in January 2012 and added Product Line Management responsibility for Hermetic products in October 2012.
This session will discuss changes and new products that are planned for Microsemi's Hi-Rel group. Product lines discussed will include: Rad- Hard MOSFET's, Rad- Hard Bipolar transistors, Rad-Tolerant Hybrid products & Gallium Nitride products that are currently in development. The Hi-Rel group is focused on developing high efficiency RH/ RT power conversion products for the military & commercial space industry.
This session will cover an update to the legacy SG product line including the new radiation-hardened versions of our SGR product line. We will also look at the new product development roadmap focusing on system level solutions – the space system manager – for satellites. Finally an overview of AMSG High-Reliability's custom ASIC solutions for space customers.
Dorian Johnson is a Senior Product Marketing Engineer for Hi-Reliability ICs with Microsemi's Analog Mixed Signal Group. She brings over 30 years of experience in product engineering and marketing in the semiconductor industry. Dorian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The SA50 series of 50W DC - DC converters, launched last year, has found a broad application in new space programs. Several of these projects have capitalized on the unique capability of this product to be rapidly customized to particular requirements.Our SB30 series of Isolated Triple Output, POL DC - DC Converters is now available to optimize power distribution for digital processors.We present both of these products in the context of their system application.
Patrick Franks is the Director of Engineering for Microsemi's Power Management Group in La Mirada, California. Mr Franks has 31 years of electronics design and development experience overall, including 25 years specialized in power electronics. His work has included sonar system designs for the British Royal Navy, mine-hunting sonar development, power supply design, and directing the Military Engineering group in COTS module and custom power product development at Martek Power. Pat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electronics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and a Masters in business administration from Chapman University, CA.
This session will discuss changes and new products that are planned for Microsemi's Hi-Rel group. Product lines discussed will include: Rad- Hard MOSFET's, Rad- Hard Bipolar transistors, Rad-Tolerant Hybrid products & Gallium Nitride products that are currently in development. The Hi-Rel group is focused on developing high efficiency RH/ RT power conversion products for the military & commercial space industry.
Telecommunication satellites carry an array of Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) driving microwave transmissions back to earth. These amplifiers typically require triple, low noise supply potentials to drive and bias RF power stages. High efficiency, low mass and competitive pricing drive the design of power supplies for this application. We present our Standard SSPA power supply which is customizable for particular SSPA applications. We also present an overview of our line of Electromechanical Relays for space applications.
Dorian Johnson is a Senior Product Marketing Engineer for Hi-Reliability ICs with Microsemi's Analog Mixed Signal Group. She brings over 30 years of experience in product engineering and marketing in the semiconductor industry. Dorian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Digital systems are evolving to demand lower bias voltages and higher operating current levels. Traditional centralized power solutions require downstream Point-of-Load regulators to meet more stringent static and dynamic regulation requirements. This presentation showcases Microsemi's product plan to address these requirements and discusses various related application issues.
Brian Wilkinson is the strategic applications manager for Microsemi's High-Reliability Group as of 2012. Wilkinson was an FAE supporting products from AMSG, HRG, RFIS and PPG with a special focus on power devices since joining Microsemi in 2007. Prior to that, he worked on missile systems at British Aerospace and was associated with a number of other semiconductor companies. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in semiconductor devices from the University of Bradford, Bradford, England.
In spacecraft applications, sensors and command interfaces are encountered that are incompatible for direct interfacing to an FPGA. These interfaces require signal conditioning that has traditionally been implemented with discrete semiconductors and simple single function ICs that meet the cold sparing, fault isolation and radiation-tolerance of the space environment. Using suitable IC processes, a higher level of device integration can be enabled to implement these spacecraft interfaces. The programmability of the FPGA can be exploited to configure these analog and power functions increasing their versatility.
Technical Specialties, Expertise, and Interests: My recent experience in high reliability is for spacecraft motor driver and telemetry products. At Microsemi, Bruce has architected power management ASICs, battery chargers, LED drivers, light sensors and hold a number of patents in these areas. Prior to Microsemi, he designed sonar and radar display and signal conversion components at Hughes Aircraft Co. Education: BSEE, 1982, University of Washington; MBA, 1992, UCI.
Gallium Nitride is still a new technology with exciting potential for high efficiency applications of POL's & DC-DC Converters. This talk will explain some of the application testing that has been accomplished with our DC-DC converters and how we plan to move forward with this new technology.
Dorian Johnson is a Senior Product Marketing Engineer for Hi-Reliability ICs with Microsemi's Analog Mixed Signal Group. She brings over 30 years of experience in product engineering and marketing in the semiconductor industry. Dorian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.