Characterization of space radiation effects performance of advanced signal processors for earth observation application and the study of single event mitigation schemes

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Over the past several decades, satellites have become more capable. New technologies have been adopted for space missions. These new technologies have significantly improved satellite performance. For remote sensing satellites, the trend is towards more complex and multi-sensor payloads that produce vast amounts of data, and towards user applications that require better information extraction and rapid delivery of results to users. However, the processing of this data is still done predominantly on the ground, creating bottlenecks, longer latencies, and reduced information quantity and quality due to the need for high levels of data compression on the spacecraft. Future remotely sensing applications will require even richer information content and faster delivery. MDA Inc. has fully acknowledged this issue and suggested that on-board processing is the key to unlock these applications. In years to come, significant on-board processing will have to be proposed in radar and optical missions in order to be competitive. However, space qualified avionics tends to lag terrestrial grade avionics by an order of magnitude in capability. This research project will select and evaluate powerful terrestrial grade processors suitable for use in space, in particular the space radiation environment, encountered by earth observation satellites. This advanced research will identify the performance of powerful terrestrial grade processors for on-board processing in the space radiation environment, which has the potential to unlock applications that will bring the power of remotely sensed information directly to end users, bypassing slow ground processing. A team of Highly Qualified Personnel will be trained during this advanced research. University of Saskatchewan researchers will perform the work in collaboration with engineers and scientists with MDA and Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics (TRIUMF). Outcome of the proposed research will not only help to accelerate current research on single event effects in space systems but also will enable space system designers in Canadian space industry to use advanced technology more effectively while ensuring more reliable systems.