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AFAICT[1] the latest generation of SpaceX Starlink satellites use AMD Versal XQR SoCs, which are built on a 7nm process with components like the main processor
by wahern 5mo ago
AFAICT[1] the latest generation of SpaceX Starlink satellites use AMD Versal XQR SoCs, which are built on a 7nm process with components like the main processor (dual-core ARM Cortex A-72) and memory (DDR4) clocked in the gigahertz, not megahertz, range.[2] At least some of these SoCs models (presumably the lower-clocked ones) are certified for geosynchronous orbits, not just low-earth orbits.
[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/amd-chips-are-powering-newest-starlink-satellites https://www.pcmag.com/news/amd-chips-are-powering-newest-sta...
[2] https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/ds955-xqr-versal-ai-edge/General-Description https://docs.amd.com/r/en-US/ds955-xqr-versal-ai-edge/Genera...
- Neywiny 5mo agoJust to put in my 2 cents as someone tangential and sometimes a little too close for comfort for the field: with FPGAs (aka the half of this SoC doing the real work) there's often a lot of work that goes into radiation tolerance and hardening which are different things. It's not like you can just put the chip in space and be done. You have to do things like scrubbing the "bitstream" regularly for errors, triple-module-redundancy (aka cut yourself to 1/3rd of the chip's capacity), and other stuff.
- rbanffy 5mo agoWhat is the designed lifespan of a Starlink satellite?
- stingraycharles 5mo ago5 years. https://starlink.com/public-files/Starlink_Approach_to_Satellite_Demisability.pdf https://starlink.com/public-files/Starlink_Approach_to_Satel...
- rbanffy 5mo agoI don’t think the flash storage would keep data integrity for that long without a lot of redundancy. Also, processing capacity would be limited as well. Is there a problem that can be solved with a LEO server that can’t be better solved with the same amount of money sitting in a datacenter somewhere?