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STAR-Dundee Press Coverage May 2017

02 June 2017

STAR-Dundee Press Coverage May 2017

While STAR-Dundee has been very busy out and about at SEE/MAPLD, DASIA and UK Space Conference we have been in the local and national press.

As part of The University of Dundee 50 year celebrations STAR-Dundee was featured in The Courier on the 19th of May 2017.

The article written by Dundee University staff, Roddy Isles and Michael Alexander stated: ‘Dundee has become an unlikely centre for space technology research and development – many of the satellites and shuttles launched into orbit have operate with SpaceWire circuitry designed and built here, the work of Professor Stephen Parkes and colleagues now commercialised in the shape of STAR-Dundee, a Courier Business of the Year.’ In 2013 we were awarded Courier Business of the year.

Find out more about which space missions are using SpaceWire here: https://www.star-dundee.com/knowledge-base/missions-using-spacewire 

On the same day we were highlighted as part of a feature on The University of Dundee Research and Innovation services within Herald Business HQ Innovation & IP Special Report.

The article on page 14 mentioned STAR-Dundee alongside fellow University of Dundee spin-out Exscientia:

‘Kelly (Dr Orla Kelly) points to two of the most successful university spinouts; STAR-Dundee which was the commercialisation vehicle for the universities work on the SpaceWire Standard and Exscientia, a company specialising in artificial intelligence drug design.’

‘STAR-Dundee markets networks based on the SpaceWire Standard. This is a highly specified network that is designed specifically for the high data-throughput rates found on spacecraft. It is a network designed to connect together processing units, sensors, memory devices and telemetry/telecommand sub-systems.It offers numerous advantages to organisations like NASA and the European Space Agency, both of which are STAR-Dundee clients.

For a start, it reduces development costs by making it easy to integrate different sub-components into a total system, and it helps these agencies to slot individual components into different mission promoting reuse of systems.’

Find out what STAR-Dundee has to offer on our products page: https://www.star-dundee.com/products

[Photo used with permission from The University of Dundee Research and Innovation services]

STAR-Dundee at DASIA and UK Space Conference 2017

29 May 2017

STAR-Dundee at UK Space Conference

This week STAR-Dundee will be attending Data Systems in Aerospace (DASIA), Gothenburg and the UK Space Conference, Manchester. 

STAR-Dundee at DASIA

STAR-Dundee are attending DASIA from the 30th May to the 1st June, where we will be demonstrating the SpaceFibre Multi-Lane interface implemented in the radiation-tolerant Microsemi RTG4 FPGA as well as the SpaceFibre Router PXI card. We’ll also be demonstrating the new STAR Fire Mk3 hardware and SpaceFibre link analysis software.

Our CEO Steve Parkes will present on SpaceFibre: Capabilities, Components and Kit on Wednesday the 31st of May at 10:30 (CEST) in room B.

For the full programme please visit: http://eurospace.org/dasia-2017.aspx

STAR-Dundee at the UK Space Conference 

STAR-Dundee are attending the UK Space Conference 2017 from the 30th May to the 1st June, where we will be available at booth B15 in the exhibition area. From here we will be demonstrating our SpaceWire and SpaceFibre equipment including our new STAR Fire Mk3 unit. 

The STAR Fire Mk3 can transmit and receive SpaceWire and SpaceFibre traffic and is also a SpaceFibre Link Analyser. SpaceFibre traffic can be transmitted and received either from a host PC or using built-in advanced data generators and checkers. Powerful software allows SpaceFibre traffic captured by the STAR Fire Mk3 to be displayed in multiple views with varying levels of detail. As SpaceFibre is compatible with SpaceWire at the network level, the STAR Fire Mk3 can also be used to transmit and receive SpaceWire traffic over a SpaceFibre link.

More information on the UK Space Conference 2017 is available here: www.ukspace.org/event/uk-space-conference-2017

PANGU at GNC 2017

The University of Dundee will be exhibiting PANGU – Planet and Asteroid Natural Scene Generation Utility at the 10th International ESA Conference on Guidance, Navigation & Control Systems between 29th May to the 2nd June 2017 in Salzburg, Austria.

Find out more about PANGU here: https://www.star-dundee.com/products/pangu-planet-and-asteroid-natural-scene-generation-utility

 

STAR-Dundee demonstration at SEE/MAPLD

22 May 2017

STAR-Dundee demonstration at SEE/MAPLD

This week STAR-Dundee are attending the 26th annual Single Event Effects (SEE) coupled with Military and Aerospace Programmable Logic Devices (MAPLD) workshop in San Diego.

We are demonstrating the latest designs using SpaceFibre and SpaceWire technology, including the capabilities of the SpaceFibre Multi-Lane interface, the STAR Fire Mk3 and the SpaceFibre 9-port router.

You can also hear from our CEO Steve Parkes at two sessions:

A Versatile SpaceWire and SpaceFibre Development Board for the Microsemi RTG4 FPGA
Wednesday 24th of May at 14:30 (all times in PST)

&

A SpaceVPX-Lite Demonstration System Using SpaceFibre as the Data and Control Plane
Thursday the 25th of May at 14:30 (all times in PST)

For the event agenda please visit: www.seemapld.org/agenda.php

Space Forum 2017: SpaceWire and SpaceFibre for the Microsemi RTG4

15 May 2017

Filming STAR-Dundee, behind the scenes

STAR-Dundee has partnered with Microsemi for this year’s Microsemi Space Forum. Space Forum 2017 starts this Thursday (18th of May) with a North American online event. As a partner of the Space Forum, STAR-Dundee have created a video demonstrating SpaceWire and SpaceFibre for the Microsemi RTG4. This will be premiered on Thursday as part of the online event.

Microsemi Space Forum partner videos including STAR-Dundee’s will be aired between 9:30-10:00, 11:15-12:15, and 14:00-14:30. All times are PST.
For more information and the agenda of the event please see Microsemi’s website: https://www.microsemi.com/spaceforum/space-forum#agenda 

Register for this free event here: www.microsemi.com/spaceforum/space-forum

STAR-Dundee will also be exhibiting at Microsemi Space Forum, Europe in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on the 20th of June and Microsemi Space Forum, India at The Leela Palace, Bangalore on the 25th of July and Courtyard Marriott Ahmedabad, India on the 27th of July.

Check out all the 2017 events we will be attending on our home page.

SpaceFibre Multi-Lane and Single-Lane Demonstration at IEEE Aerospace 2017

09 March 2017

STAR-Dundee's IEEE Aerospace 2017 Demonstration

STAR-Dundee once again attended the IEEE Aerospace in Big Sky (Montana). There we presented the latest designs using SpaceFibre and SpaceWire technology, including the capabilities of theSpaceFibre Multi-Lane interface and the SpaceFibre 9-port router. Shown in the photograph are two radiation-tolerant Microsemi RTG4 FPGAs, each implementing a different flavour of our SpaceFibre IP (Single-Lane and Multi-Lane).

STAR-Dundee Sponsors FSW 16

13 December 2016

Flight Software Workshop 2016 Demo

STAR-Dundee is delighted to once again sponsor the 2016 Flight Software Workshop being held on the Caltech Campus in Pasadena, California.  As well as presenting the latest SpaceFibre developments, we are also demonstrating the latest SpaceFibre and SpaceWire technology at our exhibition stand.

If you’re unable to attend, you can follow the workshop on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSWWorkshop.  Our CEO’s SpaceFIbre presentation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWyZNSJnaEU, and starts 3 minutes in to the video.

2016 International SpaceWire Conference in Yokohama, Japan

21 October 2016

2016 International SpaceWire Conference

STAR-Dundee enjoyed exhibiting at the 2016 International SpaceWire Conference held from 25th to 27th of October 2016 in Yokohama, Japan.  On our exhibition stand we demonstrated our latest SpaceWire and SpaceFibre products, including a demonstration of SpaceFibre multi-laning.  We also presented papers on various topics including SpaceFibre networks and multi-laning, SpaceFibre link analysis and test and development equipment, SpaceFibre flight equipment, SpaceWire-D and the new SpaceWire PXI devices.  Prior to the conference, some of the STAR-Dundee team presented tutorials on SpaceFibre and SpaceWire-D.

STAR-Dundee Exhibiting at 30th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites

09 August 2016

Small Satellite Conference 2016 Demo

STAR-Dundee is once again exhibiting at the Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah, USA.  Visit us at Booth Space 31 on the second floor to see our latest SpaceWire and SpaceFibre products.  On one side of the booth we are demonstrating our new SpaceFibre router PXI cards.  These are connected to Microsemi RTG4 devices through an FMC SpaceWire/SpaceFibre Board hosting both SpaceWire and SpaceFibre IP.  On the other side of the booth we are demonstrating the powerful triggering capabilities of the Brick Mk3.

SpaceFibre Routing Demonstrated at SEE/MAPLD and Space Tech Expo

20 May 2016

SEE/MAPLD and Space Tech Expo logos

STAR-Dundee exhibited at two events in California in the week beginning 23rd of May.  From the 24th until the 25th we were at the 25th Annual Single Event Effects (SEE) Symposium coupled with the Military and Aerospace Programmable Logic Devices (MAPLD) Workshop in La Jolla, San Diego.  In parallel, from the 24th to the 26th we were also in Pasadena at Space Tech Expo 2016.

At both events we had some of our SpaceWire and SpaceFibre products on display, including a demonstration of the SpaceFibre protocol running on the Microsemi RTG4 FPGA connected to our FMC SpaceWire/SpaceFibre Board.  We also demonstrated our new SpaceFibre Routers at SEE/MAPLD on the 24th and at Space Tech Expo on the 25th and 26th.  This demonstration highlights the features of SpaceFibre which make it ideal for many space applications:

  • High data rates – 2.5 Gbits/s links, plus multi-laning support.
  • SpaceWire compatibility – STAR Fire units are used to interconnect SpaceWire and SpaceFibre.
  • Low cable mass – Both flight and lab cables are used in the demonstration.
  • Quality of service – Multiple traffic streams are multiplexed over a single SpaceFibre link, with each stream assigned a percentage of the bandwidth.
  • Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery – Cables can be removed and the retry mechanism ensures the destination encounters no errors.

SpaceFibre Multi-Laning Premiered at DASIA 2016

13 May 2016

Demonstration of multi-laning at DASIA 2016

STAR-Dundee has demonstrated the advanced multi-laning capabilities of the SpaceFibre protocol. This allows several lanes to operate in parallel to provide enhanced throughput. For example, with four lanes running at 2.5 Gbits/s each and aggregate throughput of 10 Gbits/s is achieved. SpaceFibre multi-laning can operate with any number of lanes, from 1 to 16. Each lane is normally bi-directional, but to support spaceflight instruments with very high-data rate in one direction and to save mass and power, it is possible to have some uni-directional lanes in a multi-lane link, provided that at least one lane is bi-directional. SpaceFibre multi-laning also supports graceful degradation in the event of a lane failure. If a lane fails, the multi-lane link will rapidly reconfigure to use the remaining lanes so that important (high priority) information can still get through. It takes a couple of microseconds for this reconfiguration to occur, which happens without loss of information. Clearly, with reduced bandwidth some information will not be sent over the link, but this will be less important, low priority, information. If a redundant lane is available in the link, it can be enabled and full capacity operation will resume. SpaceFibre IP cores and test equipment are available from STAR-Dundee. The SpaceFibre ECSS standard is due to be published by the end of 2016.

The photograph shows multi-laning capability of SpaceFibre being demonstrated to spacecraft engineers at the DASIA 2016 conference held in May in Tallinn, Estonia. A four lane link was demonstrated with low priority high bandwidth traffic flowing over some virtual channels and high priority video data over another virtual channel. Lanes were unplugged with corresponding loss in bandwidth, but the link continued to operate sending the “critical” video data without interruption. Only when all four lanes were unplugged, did the video data stream cease. As soon as any of the four lanes were plugged back in, the video stream continued once more.