NASA Uses Common CPUs for Radiation-Resistant Computers

NASA Tech Briefs, Jan 2006

Most space missions use radiation-hardened (rad-hard) computer chips to avoid glitches caused by space radiation. These chips contain extra transistors that take more energy to switch on and off, but they are also expensive, slow, and power-hungry. Using the same inexpensive Pentium and PowerPC chips found in consumer PCs would make spacecraft computers faster, but they wouldn't be rad-hard.

A NASA project called Environmentally Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Computing (EAFTC) is experimenting with ways to use consumer CPUs in space. They're interested in single-event upsets, which are glitches caused by radiation bombarding the chips.

One of the ways to utilize consumer CPUs in space is to have three times as many as you need, according to project member Raphael Some. The three CPUs perform a calculation and vote on the result. If one makes a radiation-induced error, the other two still agree, winning the vote and giving the correct answer.

EAFTC computers cannot replace rad-hard CPUs for tasks such as life support. But the system algorithms may take some of the data-processing load off of the chips, enabling greater computing power. EAFTC's first test is scheduled on a 2009 launch of the Space Technology 8 satellite, which will flight-test, new technologies such as EAFTC.

Visit http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/18nov_eaflc.htm for more information.

Next Month in NTB

In the February issue, we'll continue our 30th Anniversary coverage with a look at how Data Acquisition and Sensor technologies have evolved over the past 30 years, and where the technology is headed.