NASA Tech Briefs - Radiation-Tolerant Dual Data Bus

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Radiation-Tolerant Dual Data Bus

Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama

Jul 31 2007

Page 1 of 2

Dedicated hardware and software would detect radiation induced upsets on either of two buses.

An architecture, and a method of utilizing the architecture, have been proposed to enable error-free operation of a data bus that includes, and is connected to, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) circuits and components that are inherently susceptible to single-event upsets [SEUs (bit flips caused by impinging high-energy particles and photons)]. The architecture and method are applicable, more specifically, to data-bus circuitry based on the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394b standard for a high-speed serial bus.

Two IEEE 1394b Buses would nominally carry identical data signals. The network interface circumventioncircuits, with the help of the microcontrollers, would detect radiation-induced upsets on eitherbus.

The architecture and method call for the use of two IEEE 1394b buses that nominally carry identical data signals. It is assumed that at all times, at least one of the buses is “good” in the sense that it carries complete and correct data signals. Electronic hardware and software operating at each receiving location (node) along the bus would select the data arriving on the “good” bus while ignoring possibly corrupted data arriving on the other bus, which could be operating under latchup or an SEU including, possibly, a single-event functional interrupt (SEFI, an SEU that changes a control logic level, causing the affected circuit to enter an erroneous operational mode or logic state, the recovery from which must be effected through a power reset or other specified procedure).

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