Space chips
NASA interested in Chen design

April 24, 2009

The electronic systems and devices designed by Li Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, can withstand such harsh radiation and weather conditions that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is looking at his designs for future missions to outer space.

Chen explained that the radiation in space can affect the memory, logic value and performance of computer systems, but his new process for producing these tiny systems means they can actually withstand the ravages of the environment.

Chen said the method, known as radiation hardening by design, or “rad-hard” manufacturing, relies on circuit design techniques to mitigate the effects of space radiation.

“We have a good collaboration with NASA and they are very excited to work with us,” said Chen, who will meet with partners from the Johnson Space Centre in Houston about the future of this technology.

Currently, space agencies like NASA rely heavily on military technology to come up with computer systems for use on their missions. The cost associated with this kind of research is exponential, Chen stated, but “our approach greatly reduces the cost of these systems.”

Not only will these new chips withstand the radiation and high-energy particles that wreak havoc on computer systems in space, and cost significantly less than military designed technology, but they also use far less power to accommodate the low-battery solar cells used on spacecraft.

After some testing and refinement of the process, Chen hopes his inventions will open a commercial opportunity to develop computer systems not only for space missions, but also for aircraft and other high-energy technology.

The Canadian Foundation for Innovation is providing financial support of $60,000 for Chen to develop a space simulation chamber to test his systems. Although some tests have already been done using lasers to simulate high-energy particles, the chamber can better simulate the conditions of outer space, he said.

Chen is confident his inventions will withstand the simulation chamber, especially with some of his devices already in use in synchrotron experiments.

The Geneva—based European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, uses computer systems designed by Chen in the experiment known as ATLAS, which was designed to shed new light on theories of particle physics using a particle accelerator.

“We designed the front end chips and electronics for the high-energy physics experiment,” said Chen, who explained that the computer systems are located right next to the collision centre where the dose of radiation is far greater than what the computer systems would be exposed to in space. It is so much like space that some people were worried the ATLAS experiment could create a black hole from colliding particles, but, he said laughing, “it could never happen.”