3 ms·

I'm very curious if any analysis on this can be done and published, though I imagine it's difficult without access to the actual equipment.

dr_orpheus 3y ago
Goddard does do a lot of radiation testing on commercial chips. I believe they usually publish the results and should be able to look it up. Edit: database here, but I haven't looked for data on the chip: https://radhome.gsfc.nasa.gov/radhome/raddatabase/raddatabase.html https://radhome.gsfc.nasa.gov/radhome/raddatabase/raddatabas...
- mattlondon 3y ago
  Interesting data - I couldn't find the Snapdragon 801 ... but they have tested a nVidia Geforce 1050 (https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/29573/NEPP-TR-2018-Wyrwas-TR-17-039-GTX1050-2018May-TN58471.pdf https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/29573/NEPP-TR-2018-Wyrwas-TR-17-...) I wonder why they are testing GPUs? I would imagine there are at least some people somewhere writing papers about sending GPUs on rovers etc for better on-device AI/ML (e.g. image processing) Also: brief mention of raspberry pi (no dedicated wreite-up like the GPU): https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/27888/NEPP-CP-2015-Campola-Paper-DW-NSREC-TN24941.pdf https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/27888/NEPP-CP-2015-Campola-Paper...
  - dr_orpheus 3y ago
    Yeah I didn't find it there either, but there is an IEEE paper with testing [0]. Looks like they only did single event effect testing (SEE) and not total ionizing dose (TID) as well. The SEE is for looking and effects for individual memory upsets, latchup, gate rupture, etc. You can still do a lot with a chip if you are only getting the non-destrucrive effects with memory scrubbing and resets (as long as you're not mission critical). But the destructive effects (like gate rupture) are the ones that could make this totally infeasible depending on the limit. Not surprised that they didn't do TID as it was only supposed to be a 90 day demo mission so not terribly long. And TID can be a costly test because it can take so long. As to the GPUs, yeah the main application is some processing when you are comm bandwidth constrained. Then you can send down processed products or snapshots from something that is collecting a lot of data (like large imager or high bandwidth SDR) [0] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8906649 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8906649
  - GlenTheMachine 3y ago
    Primarily for machine vision applications, both for robotic satellite servicing and for e.g. processing earth imagery data onboard to reduce downlink requirements. Goddard does quite a lot of work on camera-based RPO (rendezvous and proximity operations) which require cameras and lidars to image a client spacecraft and calculate relative pose. This is the single most computationally taxing operation for robotic satellite servicing missions.

dr_orpheus 3y ago

Goddard does do a lot of radiation testing on commercial chips. I believe they usually publish the results and should be able to look it up. Edit: database here, but I haven't looked for data on the chip: https://radhome.gsfc.nasa.gov/radhome/raddatabase/raddatabase.html https://radhome.gsfc.nasa.gov/radhome/raddatabase/raddatabas...

mattlondon 3y ago
Interesting data - I couldn't find the Snapdragon 801 ... but they have tested a nVidia Geforce 1050 (https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/29573/NEPP-TR-2018-Wyrwas-TR-17-039-GTX1050-2018May-TN58471.pdf https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/29573/NEPP-TR-2018-Wyrwas-TR-17-...) I wonder why they are testing GPUs? I would imagine there are at least some people somewhere writing papers about sending GPUs on rovers etc for better on-device AI/ML (e.g. image processing) Also: brief mention of raspberry pi (no dedicated wreite-up like the GPU): https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/27888/NEPP-CP-2015-Campola-Paper-DW-NSREC-TN24941.pdf https://nepp.nasa.gov/files/27888/NEPP-CP-2015-Campola-Paper...
- dr_orpheus 3y ago
  Yeah I didn't find it there either, but there is an IEEE paper with testing [0]. Looks like they only did single event effect testing (SEE) and not total ionizing dose (TID) as well. The SEE is for looking and effects for individual memory upsets, latchup, gate rupture, etc. You can still do a lot with a chip if you are only getting the non-destrucrive effects with memory scrubbing and resets (as long as you're not mission critical). But the destructive effects (like gate rupture) are the ones that could make this totally infeasible depending on the limit. Not surprised that they didn't do TID as it was only supposed to be a 90 day demo mission so not terribly long. And TID can be a costly test because it can take so long. As to the GPUs, yeah the main application is some processing when you are comm bandwidth constrained. Then you can send down processed products or snapshots from something that is collecting a lot of data (like large imager or high bandwidth SDR) [0] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8906649 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8906649
- GlenTheMachine 3y ago
  Primarily for machine vision applications, both for robotic satellite servicing and for e.g. processing earth imagery data onboard to reduce downlink requirements. Goddard does quite a lot of work on camera-based RPO (rendezvous and proximity operations) which require cameras and lidars to image a client spacecraft and calculate relative pose. This is the single most computationally taxing operation for robotic satellite servicing missions.