Radiation-tolerant Ethernet transceiver for space uses like rockets and satellites offered by Microchip

Jan. 24, 2020
COTS parts have enhanced levels of radiation performance, high reliability, come in plastic and ceramic packages, and have identical pin-outs.

CHANDLER, Ariz. – Microchip Technology Inc. in Chandler, Ariz., is introducing the VSC8541RT radiation-tolerant and space-qualified Ethernet transceiver for applications ranging from launch vehicles to satellite constellations and space stations.

Microchip also has received final qualification for the SAM3X8ERT radiation-tolerant microcontroller, an Arm Cortex-M3 core processor and embedded Ethernet controller.

Both devices are commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts with enhanced characterized levels of radiation performance and high reliability. The parts are available in plastic and ceramic packages, and share the same pin-out distribution.

The VSC8541RT Ethernet transceiver is one-port Gigabit Ethernet copper PHY with GMII, RGMII, MII and RMII interfaces, and is latch-up immune to 78 Mev; TID has been tested to 100 Krad.

Related: Radiation-hardened board optical transceivers for satellite applications introduced by Reflex Photonics

The SAM3X8ERT radiation-tolerant MCU implements a system on chip (SoC) with the Arm Cortex-M3 core processor, delivering 100 DMIPS benefits from the same ecosystem as the industrial variant.

The SAM3X8ERT microcontroller embeds as much as 512 kilobytes of dual bank Flash, 100 kilobits SRAM, A/D and D/A conversion, and dual CAN controller on top of Ethernet capability.

Developers can use the Arduino Due commercial kit for the SAM3X8ERT along with the VSC8541EV evaluation boards for the VSC8541RT. The SAM3X8ERT device is supported by Atmel Studio Integrated Development Environment for developing, debugging and software libraries.

For more information contact Microchip Technology online at www.microchip.com.

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