Radiation Mitigation Methods for Reprogrammable FPGA, Phase I

One of the needs of NASA is the development of avionic systems and components that have the capability to operate in extreme radiation and temperature environments found in deep space, as well as the lunar and Martian surfaces. As a result, spacecraft electronics will be required to be hardened against radiation environment and temperature cycling. In fact, they should withstand a total ionizing dose (TID) of at least 100 krads (Si) and provide single-event latchup (SEL) immunity of at least 100 MeV cm2/mg. As part of these needs, NASA is interested in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology with reliable reprogrammability and a degree of radiation hardness. We intend to answer NASA's need for FPGA technologies suitable for future exploration systems. In Phase I, we plan to focus on the integration of radiation hardening technologies involving both the structure of the FPGA and its sub-components, as well as use of an advanced foundry process and specialized circuits to mitigate radiation.

Potential NASA Commercial Applications: The same technology would also have applicability with the DoD. Example applications could include satellites, high attitude UAVs and aircraft, nuclear power plants (i.e. ship or submarine), or basically any electronic circuits requiring radiation hardness. This technology could also be applied in several DOE focused areas. The first and most obvious application would be the support electronics in a nuclear reactor. Another, potential area would be in support of electronics of a particle collider. There are also multiple places in industry where radiation hardened integrated circuits are needed. Some are not obvious as others. Certain medical equipment does require a degree of radiation tolerance. Apparently, some communication equipment and servers used in the banking industry have radiation mitigation requirements.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.