Weapons-based space engineering models make it possible to design and validate space projects

     Teledyne e2v has released an engineering model of the LX2160-Space 16-core Arm Cortex a72 SoC processor. These models allow for early project design, hardware, and software validation for space-demanding applications. An engineering model has the same fit/form/function as a flight model (FMs). LX2160-Space will be divided into several space classes, from New Space to NASA 1.

     These models can be used for many heavy-duty computing applications in space, from Earth observation satellites to early warning systems and telecommunications, including data processing in 5G NTN satellite communications. With its 200k DMIPS capability, the processor can handle compute-intensive data and image processing tasks. Its extensive peripherals and high energy efficiency and power consumption of approximately 2W per core provide embedded engineers with unmatched performance with minimal form factor and optimized power envelope.

     The device benefits from the company's more than 40 years of experience and track record in digital processing solutions in high-reliability environments, first on PowerPC processors and now on Arm. Today, the company offers the arm processor as a fully defense-compliant device. Its LX2160-Space project is currently under development. Analysis of the characteristics of the radiation is ongoing and some reports have been made available to customers. The company proposes to have a range of radiation-resistant space classes that reach NASA Level 1 by the second half of 2025.

     Thomas Guillemain, Marketing and Business Development Manager for Data Processing Systems, said: "We are very proud to have achieved this milestone in the availability of the lx2160 space engineering model, as we have seen tremendous interest in the device. In fact, with telecommunications satellites having to process more packets at higher speeds, Earth observation satellites dealing with greater sensor resolution and higher frame rate requirements, and increased data volumes to perform on-board autonomous decisions, including running artificial intelligence algorithms, LX2160-Space is the right processing chipset for space applications."