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Related NASA press release (I think): https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-next-generation-spaceflight-computing-processor-contract https://www.nasa.g
by Someone 4y ago
Related NASA press release (I think): https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-next-generation-spaceflight-computing-processor-contract https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-next-generati....
That seems to say it’s for a radiation-hardened design:
“In 2021, NASA solicited proposals for a trade study for an advanced radiation-hardened computing chip with the intention of selecting one vendor for development. This contract is part of NASA’s High-Performance Space Computing project”
They also say:
“The processor will enable spacecraft computers to perform calculations up to 100 times faster than today’s state-of-the-art space computers”
and
“Our current spaceflight computers were developed almost 30 years ago,”
That, for me, also points towards a radiation-hardened design. If it isn’t, 100 times faster than 30 years ago is an incredibly low hurdle to clear.
Also, it’s a $50 million firm-fixed-price contract. I have no idea whether that’s a sharp price for this, so can’t judge how much risk SiFive takes on with this.
- lizknope 4y agoNASA currently uses the RAD750 which is based on a PowerPC 750 that was new in Macs in 1997. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD750 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD750
- UltraViolence 4y agoThe newer designs aren't actually RAD-hardened, but fault tolerant. It's physically impossible to produce RAD-hard semiconductors at the small scale we're currently producing high-end CPU's with. I read this in an article somewhere but don't have the link.
- magicalhippo 4y agoSeems it's not quite as dire as one might imagine, for example the DAHLIA project is using ST's 28nm FDSOI process[1]. In any case, I found this[2] article interesting and illuminating, which goes into different aspects of radiation hardening, including how the "old = safe" isn't strictly true. [1]: https://dahlia-h2020.eu/about-project/ https://dahlia-h2020.eu/about-project/ [2]: https://habr.com/en/post/518366/ https://habr.com/en/post/518366/
- sheepybloke 4y agoYou are correct, since chips designed at around 5-7 nm are much more likely to be hit with radiation. However, by scaling up the chip, you can be a lot more tolerant to it. Because of this, most chips are fabbed at around 28 nm. Generally, you want a mix of both things. You can harden a chip by shielding it, but that doesn't stop everything, so you add some fault tolerance.
- justahuman74 4y agoI don't think SiFive is directly the contract holder, it'd be microchip who deals with nasa who obtained a cpu core from sifive
- snvzz 4y ago>100 times faster than 30 years ago is an incredibly low hurdle to clear. "today’s state-of-the-art space computers" is not the same computer as "Our current spaceflight computers were developed almost 30 years ago".
- jabl 4y agoPer https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/nasas_spaceflight_computer_risc_v/?td=rt-3a https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/06/nasas_spaceflight_com... this was developed for the HPSC program whose goal was to develop a replacement for the RAD750, and the "100 times performance" requirement is wrt that.