Radiation-Tolerant Dual Data Bus

The hardware at each node would include network-interface circuits plus special-purpose circuits denoted circumvention circuits. Among the circumvention circuits would be bus-management circuits and watchdog timers that would algomonitor the network interface chips. Use of software would examine the outputs of these circumvention monitoring circuits to detect SEUs (including SEFIs). Latchups in radiation-sensitive IEEE 1394b bus components would be detected by current-sensing circumvention circuits. Upon detection of an SEU (including an SEFI) or latchup, other circumvention circuits would restore correct operation by turning off, then turning back on, then reinitializing the affected bus circuitry, all within a predetermined, acceptably short time.

The software would reside in a dedicated radiation-hard microcontroller or shared radiation-hard single-board computer (SBC).

This work was done by Gary A. Kinstler of The Boeing Co. for Marshall Space Flight Center. Title to this invention has been waived under the provisions of the National Aeronautics and Space Act {42 U.S.C. 2457(f)} to The Boeing Co. Inquiries concerning licenses for its commercial development should be addressed to: The Boeing Co. 5301 Bolsa Ave. Huntington Beach, CA 92647-2099 Refer to MFS-32132, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.