Designed by SHREC students, the SHREC Space Processor (SSP) is a higher-performance alternative to the CHREC Space Processor (CSP). SSP is one of the first computers containing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and radiation-hardened components to provide a radiation-tolerant yet powerful computing system for space. SSP leverages a Xilinx Zynq-7045 system-on-chip containing a Kintex-7 FPGA fabric and a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. Higher-performance features of the SSP include support for multi-gigabit transceivers and dedicated programmable logic DDR memory.

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This commercial FPGA SoC system-on-module (SoM), designed by Conclusive Engineering, is one of the processing elements using a novel approach to hybrid (commercial + radiation-hardened) computing. The SoM is mounted to a custom SHREC-developed carrier card, containing radiation-hardened supporting circuitry such as watchdog timers and non-volatile memory. This commercial SoM and radiation-tolerant carrier combination is one of the first systems to push the boundaries of performant and reliable commercial computing in space. This system leverages a Microchip PolarFire SoC, which contains four 64-bit RISC-V processing cores, as well as a PolarFire FPGA fabric.

For more information about the PolarFire SoC SoM, visit the Conclusive Engineering website.

This commercial GPU system-on-module (SoM), developed by NVIDIA, enables VANTAGE to accelerate computations that can benefit from massively-paralell architectures. The architectural approach for this module is very similar to the

This commercial GPU system-on-module (SoM), designed by NVIDIA, is another processing element that uses SHREC’s novel hybrid (commercial + radiation-hardened) computing approach. This SoM is paired with a custom SHREC-developed carrier card, leveraging the same novel approach used with the PolarFire SoC SoM. The custom carrier contains radiation-hardened supporting circuitry, such as watchdog timers and non-volatile memory, to maximize system performance and dependability at minimal cost. This system contains 1,024 NVIDIA Ampere cores and 32 Tensor cores.

For more information, visit the NVIDIA website.

Neuromorphic sensors are asynchronous event-based sensors modeled after the human eye. The sensor’s biomimetic model ignores any redundant, static background information in its field of view, passing only moving events measured by luminosity changes. This method of capture provides a very high dynamic range (>120 dB) and a low temporal resolution-on the order of microseconds. Designed and built through a collaboration between Prophesee and Sony, the IMX636 neuromorphic sensor onboard VANTAGE supports high-definition data capture. The VANTAGE neuromorphic sensor is paired with high-magnification catadioptric lenses to enable low ground-resolved-distance (GRD) event data capture.

For more information, visit the Prophesee website.

Designed and built by Sony, the XCL-SG1240C is an industrial RGB camera system with a 12.4 global shutter CMOS sensor. VANTAGE is the first SHREC mission to have RGB data available directly from the sensor, without the need for post-processing. The VANTAGE visual sensor is paired with high-magnification catadioptric lenses to enable low ground-resolved-distance (GRD) capture.

For more information, visit the Sony Image Sensing Solutions website.

Designed and built by Kenko Tokina in Tokyo, Japan, the SZ line of lenses used on VANTAGE are catadioptric systems: both refraction and reflection occur within the assemblies. Lenses designed with this approach are extremely compact and lightweight, while also providing telephoto focal lengths similar to larger and heavier conventional lenses. Both the Sony camera and the Prophesee neuromorphic sensor are attached to their own dedicated lens assemblies, enabling low-GRD data capture.

For more information, visit the Kenko Tokina website.