2018.B.1.1. Radiation-hardened solutions for CubeSats

Author(s)

Ross Bannatyne (1)

VORAGO Technologies, United States of America

Session

B.1

Keywords

OBC, rad-hard MCU, CubeSat

Abstract

This paper discusses radiation-hardened CMOS-based microcontroller solutions and selectively hardened board level solutions for CubeSat On-Board-Computers (OBCs). It is possible to increase the likelihood of CubeSat mission success by using radiation-hardened components strategically in the design. CubeSat development budgets are typically challenging and the mission assurance profile should be consistent with the budget, however, it is possible to selectively use certain radiation hardened key components at reasonable cost to reduce risks of radiation effects resulting in system failure. Radiation effects and mitigation techniques on microcontrollers will be covered along with a summary of an OBC reference design that was created to provide a cost-effective rad-hard OBC subsystem.