A low-power, radiation-hardened Single Event Effect rate detection System on a Chip for Real Time Monitoring of Single Event Effects on Low Earth Orbit satellites

During Space Weather events, Single Event Effects (SEEs) caused by energetic ions on spacecraft electronics can severely damage satellites in space. At geostationary orbit (GEO), Space Weather events are continuously monitored, and spacecraft launched to GEO are equipped with radiation hardened electronics that undergo rigorous radiation testing. In the present NewSpace era of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) megaconstellations, tens of thousands of planned spacecraft are shifting usage of space to LEO, however, unlike GEO, Space Weather prediction and monitoring at LEO is still inadequate. At the same time, most LEO spacecraft have minimal radiation hardness requirements so as to minimize size and cost, making them vulnerable to Space Weather effects, which are underestimated but ever-present at LEO. Furthermore, modern semiconductor-based devices keep shrinking in size, which makes them vulnerable to ionizing particles of even lower energies than in the past. As part of the ReTiMo satellite mission concept, a novel, low power, radiation-hardened SEE detection system is designed for real-time reporting of SEE rates. In this paper we will present the concept of a System on Chip (SoC) for the on-board, calibrated SEE rate detection and reporting that can be used for spacecraft housekeeping and operations. This SoC consists of a radiation-hardened memory controller and memory data evaluator and of a bank of Single Event Upset (SEU) sensitive memories with programmable Linear Energy Transfer (LET) onset. In addition, the SoC can interface to external memories and analog components in order to further measure SEUs, Single Event Transients (SETs) and Single Event Latch Ups (SELs).