SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a very high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network technology specifically designed to meet the needs of space applications. It provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). SpaceFibre has been in use in at least two operational missions since 2021, with more missions in both Europe and the USA currently designing or planning to use SpaceFibre.
STAR-Dundee has developed a complete family of SpaceFibre IP cores fully compliant with the SpaceFibre standard. This family is composed of four different IPs: Single-Lane Interface, Multi-Lane Interface, Single-Lane Routing Switch and Multi-Lane Routing Switch.
A new generation of radiation-tolerant FPGAs is emerging to cope with the ever-growing processing power required by newer missions. Microchip has released the PolarFire RTPF500, Xilinx the Versal XQRVC1902, and NanoXplore the BRAVE NG-Ultra. SpaceFibre operation requires serial transceivers, which are already inbuilt in modern FPGAs. The IPs have been adapted to take advantage of the specific transceivers and memory blocks offered by these new FPGAs.
In this work we analyse in detail the performance of STAR-Dundee SpaceFibre IP cores on this new generation of FPGAs considering several performance metrics such as maximum lane speed, resource usage, etc. We also compare the performance of the IPs with current state-of-the-art space-grade FPGAs, Microchip’s RTG4 and Xilinx’s Kintex UltraScale XQRKU060. This analysis can also be used as a representative benchmark to compare the performances of the different FPGAs available for space applications.

SpaceFibre is a high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network technology designed for spaceflight and other demanding applications. A SpaceFibre routing switch forms the heart of a SpaceFibre network, interconnecting instruments and payload data-handling equipment. This paper introduces SpaceFibre and then describes the STAR-Tiger SpaceFibre routing switch.

SpaceFibre is an on-board network technology for spaceflight applications capable of running at multi Gbit/s and which runs over electrical or fibre-optic cables.
Using multiple lanes, SpaceFibre can scale up the link signalling rate and corresponding data rate. For example, a quad-lane SpaceFibre link running at a lane signalling rate of 6.25 Gbit/s has a link signalling rate of 25 Gbit/s. SpaceFibre currently uses 8b/10b encoding and there is additionally an approximate 4% protocol overhead for unidirectional traffic and 7% protocol overhead for bidirectional traffic. For a 25 Gbit/s link signalling rate, this results in approximately 19.2 Gbit/s unidirectional data rate or 18.6 Gbit/s bidirectional data rate.
The objective of the system described in this paper is to utilise the high data rates provided by SpaceFibre as much as possible in embedded systems with minimal Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilisation. This objective is achieved using a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) based SpaceFibre Endpoint to minimise the amount of work performed by the CPU and provide a low-cost path between user-space software applications and the physical SpaceFibre network.
This paper provides background on the SpaceFibre Endpoint research and development, describes how RDMA is used over SpaceFibre, presents the SpaceFibre Endpoint test system, then provides performance results for the SpaceFibre Endpoint test system.

SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a very high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network technology specifically designed to meet the needs of space applications. It provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). SpaceFibre has been designed as a replacement of SpaceWire (ECSS-E-ST-50-12C)—it is backwards compatible with SpaceWire at the packet level—for next-generation space missions where very high throughput is required, providing up to 6.25 Gbit/s per lane, with multi-lane allowing to reach up to 16 times the speed of a single lane. NORBY and OPS-SAT technology demonstrators have already flown SpaceFibre, with more missions in both Europe and the USA currently designing or planning to use SpaceFibre.
STAR-Dundee has developed a complete family of SpaceFibre IP cores fully compliant with the SpaceFibre standard. This family is composed of four different IPs: Single-Lane Interface, Multi-Lane Interface, Single-Lane Routing Switch and Multi-Lane Routing Switch.
A new generation of radiation-tolerant FPGAs is emerging to cope with the ever-growing processing power required by newer missions. Microchip has released the PolarFire RTPF500, Xilinx the Versal XQRVC1902, and NanoXplore the BRAVE NG-Ultra. SpaceFibre operation requires serial transceivers, which are already inbuilt in modern FPGAs. The IPs have been adapted to take advantage of the specific transceivers and memory blocks offered by these new FPGAs.
In this work we analyse in detail the performance of STAR-Dundee SpaceFibre IP cores on this new generation of FPGAs considering several performance metrics, e.g. maximum lane speed, resource usage, etc. We also compare the performance of the IPs with current state-of-the-art space-grade FPGAs, i.e. Microchip RTG4 and Xilinx Kintex UltraScale XQRKU060. This analysis can also be used as a representative benchmark to compare the performances of the different FPGAs available for space.

SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a very high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network technology specifically designed to meet the needs of space applications. It provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). SpaceFibre has been designed as a replacement of SpaceWire (ECSS-E-ST-50-12C) – it is backwards compatible with SpaceWire at the packet level – for next-generation space missions where very high throughput is required. SpaceFibre provides up to 6.25 Gbit/s per lane, with multi-lane allowing to reach up to 16 times the speed of a single lane.
In this work we present the SpaceFibre Multi-Lane Routing Switch IP Core developed by STAR-Dundee and its subsidiary STAR-Barcelona. This IP provides a highly flexible router comprising a number of ports and a fully configurable, non blocking, high performance, routing switch matrix. The internal ports use AXI4-Stream protocol, and the external ports can implement SpaceFibre or SpaceWire interfaces. The SpaceWire ports include additional bridging logic for efficient interconnection between SpaceWire and SpaceFibre equipment. The core logic of the IP is technology independent but has been optimised to be easily implemented in radiation tolerant FPGAs.
The routing switch is fully compliant with all layers of the SpaceFibre standard, supporting up to 64 virtual networks and 256 broadcast channels. Among other features, it implements network time synchronisation, packet time-outs, and automatic translation between SpaceFibre broadcast messages and SpaceWire broadcast codes (SpaceWire Time-Codes or Interrupts). With up to 8 lanes per SpaceFibre interface, raw link rates of 50Gbps per port can be achieved.
The multi-lane routing Switch Ip Core is implemented in the STAR-Tiger Routing Switch of the Hi-SIDE project.

The Hi-SIDE project is a European Union project carried out by several leading aerospace organisations from across Europe. It aims to develop satellite data-chain technologies for future Earth observation and Telecommunication systems. Hi-SIDE has made substantial advances in the major elements of the data chain including networking, processing, compression, and downlink transmission to support the next generation of data intensive missions. The data chain elements are interconnected via a SpaceFibre network . This paper introduces SpaceFibre and the Hi-SIDE project and then describes the STAR-Tiger SpaceFibre routing switch which forms the heart of the SpaceFibre network.

The aim of the Hi-SIDE project was to develop and demonstrate technologies that enable future high-speed on-board data-handling systems. The Hi-SIDE demonstration system consisted of several elements including a SpaceFibre Camera and an instrument simulator generating high data-rate payload data; two processing elements providing compression and encryption; a PC-Based Mass-Memory providing onboard storage and playback functions; two downlink systems providing Radio Frequency (RF) and optical links; a File-Protection Scheme (FPS) to protect against errors or outages in the optical downlink; and a Control Computer used to monitor and control the other elements. Each of the Hi-SIDE instruments, processing, storage, and downlink elements were interconnected via SpaceFibre using the STAR-Tiger SpaceFibre Routing Switch; and monitored, configured and controlled by the Control Computer. As part of the Hi-SIDE project, software was designed and developed by STAR-Dundee to monitor and control the other elements. In addition, to demonstrate the high data-rate capabilities of the processing and downlink elements in the Hi-SIDE system, software was designed and developed by STAR-Dundee to support the transmission, storage, and playback of files encoded in Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Space Packet Protocol (SPP) and Transfer Frame (TF) packets at data rates of over 10 Gbit/s. This paper describes the monitoring, control and test software that was developed by STAR-Dundee within the Hi-SIDE project and provides performance results.

SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a technology specifically designed for use on-board spacecraft that provides point to point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with SpaceWire (ECSS-E-ST-50-12C), allowing existing SpaceWire equipment to be incorporated into a SpaceFibre network without modifications at the packet level. As part of its worldwide adoption by the aerospace industry, experiments are being developed to demonstrate the capabilities and performance of SpaceFibre in space.
This article presents the results of two collaborations of STAR-Dundee, one with the European Space Agency (ESA) OPS-SAT team and one with Thales Alenia Space (TAS) to develop SpaceFibre technology demonstrators. These consist of an implementation of the STAR-Dundee SpaceFibre Interface IP core as part of the spacecraft payload. The aim of these collaborations was to increase the technology readiness level (TRL) of SpaceFibre by demonstrating an operational SpaceFibre link in orbit, providing examples of flying heritage for the technology.
The first collaboration is an implementation of a SpaceFibre link in a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) device hosted in the OPS-SAT spacecraft developed by ESA. The entire SpaceFibre was implemented in the FPGA (Intel Cyclone V) and it was controlled and monitored from a CPU. The experiment generates and sends data in loopback using different virtual channels in the link, and the received data is subsequently checked for errors. During the activity SpaceFibre is continuously being monitored looking for issues in the link.
The second collaboration was with TAS in the NORBY mission. In this activity SpaceFibre is also implemented in a commercial FPGA, and the monitoring and control of the link is done by a LEON3 processor. Similarly, this activity also uses data generators to send data in loopback and the received data is checked for errors.
The results of both activities were successful. All the data transmitted were received with no errors, showing that SpaceFibre links implemented even in commercial FPGAs can reliably operate in space.

SpaceFibre (ECSS-E-ST-50-11C) is a very high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network technology specifically designed to meet the needs of space applications. It requires serial transceivers for implementation. The Microchip RTG4™ FPGA is equipped with 24 serial transceivers, each capable of supporting rates up to 3.125 Gbit/s. STAR-Dundee provides SpaceFibre communication IPs optimized for deployment on RTG4 FPGAs. Multiple lanes can be grouped to achieve aggregate bandwidths up to 25 Gbit/s. In this paper we present the results of radiation tests examining heavy-ion single event effect behavior of the serial transceivers used on the RTG4 FPGA while implementing SpaceFibre data links. We study both the native upset rates of the RTG4 transceivers and the resulting SpaceFibre link error rates. Results show that the use of SpaceFibre mitigates the effects of radiation allowing to create reliable links in harsh conditions.

SpaceFibre is a very high performance, high reliability and high availability network for spaceflight applications. Test equipment is necessary which can operate at many Gbit/s, and which can present the various layers of SpaceFibre is an intuitive manner to support equipment debugging and system integration. This paper will describe the latest test equipment designed by STAR-Dundee for SpaceFibre and how it can be used to accelerate development of next generation payload processing systems.

The SpaceFibre standard was published in May 2019 and it is being designed into systems in Europe, the USA and elsewhere in the World. This paper describes the latest advances in SpaceFibre technology for spaceflight applications including IP cores for chip designs and units for space application.

SpaceFibre is a very high-performance, high-reliability and high-availability network for spaceflight applications. The latest advances in SpaceFibre IP cores for use in radiation-tolerant FPGAs are described. In addition, the results of the radiation campaign implementing SpaceFibre in the Microchip RTG4 FPGA are also presented. The goal of the campaign was to assess the impact of radiation in the performance of the in-built SerDes blocks and SpaceFibre. As expected, the SerDes blocks are sensitive to radiation. However, results also show that the use of SpaceFibre vastly mitigates the effects of radiation allowing to create reliable links even in these extreme conditions.

SpaceFibre is a very high performance, high reliability and high availability network for spaceflight applications. The latest advances in SpaceFibre technology for spaceflight applications are described, including IP cores for use in radiation tolerant FPGAs and SpaceFibre test equipment that can be used to accelerate the development of next generation payload processing systems.

SpaceFibre is the next generation of the widely used SpaceWire onboard network technology. It supports data rates of many Gbit/s, operates over electrical and fibre optic cables, provides quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR). This paper describes SpaceFibre interface and routing switch IP cores.

SpaceFibre is a technology specifically designed for use in spaceflight applications that provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery. SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with SpaceWire, allowing existing SpaceWire equipment to be incorporated into a SpaceFibre network without modifications at packet level.
In this work we present the SpaceFibre Routing Switch IP Core developed by STAR-Dundee and its subsidiary STAR-Barcelona. This IP Core is fully compliant with the SpaceFibre standard – including the Network ayer – thus providing a cornerstone technology necessary for future on-board data-handling systems. We also describe the capabilities and performance of the Routing Switch design. The design provides a highly flexible router comprising a number of ports and a fully configurable, non-blocking, high performance, routing switch. Finally, the implementation results of this Routing Switch IP in radiation-tolerant FPGAs re summarized and discussed. The Routing Switch IP has been carefully implemented to optimise its performance and minimise its footprint on radiation-tolerant FPGAs (e.g. RTG4, Virtex-5QV or KU060) and ASICs.
The SpaceFibre Routing Switch completes the set of essential SpaceFibre technology, providing a missing building block for the next generation of on-board data-handling systems.

SpaceFibre is the next generation of SpaceWire network technology for spacecraft on-board data-handling. It runs over electrical or fibre-optic cables, operates at very high data rates, and provides in-built quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities. Its high data rate per lane coupled with novel multi-lane technology enables SpaceFibre to achieve very high performance: in excess of 10 Gbit/s with current space qualified FPGAs and much higher in the near future. Its in-built error detection, isolation and recovery mechanisms enable rapid recovery from transient errors, without loss of data, providing high-availability. Its multi-lane hot and cold redundancy features support high reliability. These capabilities are built into the hardware of each SpaceFibre interface. This paper will outline the quintessential characteristics of SpaceFibre that make it ideal as an interconnect in spaceflight applications. It will then explore how SpaceFibre can be used as a payload data-handling system network.

SpaceFibre is the next generation of SpaceWire network technology for spacecraft on-board data-handling. It runs over electrical or fibre-optic cables, operates at very high data rates, and provides in-built quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities, providing high-reliability and high-availability. This paper provides an introduction to SpaceFibre and then describes how SpaceFibre can be used as an instrument interface, as the interface and memory interconnection network in a mass-
memory unit, as the interface to a downlink transmitter and as the backplane for a payload processing unit. The paper also describes an overall payload processing architecture based on SpaceFibre and explains how existing SpaceWire equipment can be readily integrated into a SpaceFibre network.

SpaceFibre is a technology specifically designed for use onboard spacecraft that provides point to point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with SpaceWire, allowing existing SpaceWire equipment to be incorporated into a SpaceFibre network without modifications at packet level.

In this work we present the family of SpaceFibre IP Cores developed by STAR-Dundee. It is composed of three different IPs: the Single-Lane Interface, the Multi-Lane Interface and the Routing Switch. The IP Cores are fully compliant with the SpaceFibre standard and have been carefully implemented to optimise their performance and minimise their footprint on radiation-tolerant FPGAs (e.g. RTAX, RTG4, BRAVE or Virtex-5QV) and ASICs. They have also been validated on commercial FPGAs (e.g. Igloo2, Spartan, Virtex, Kintex, etc.).

The Single-Lane Interface IP offers in a compact design (~3% of the RTG4/Virtex-5QV) the maximum possible line rates provided by embedded or external transceivers (i.e. 3.125 Gbps in RTG4, 4.25 Gbps in Virtex-5QV and 2.5 Gbps in RTAX using the TLK2711-SP transceiver). The Multi-Lane Interface IP allows much higher data rates and adds all the advantages of combining multiple lanes without multiplying the resources required (e.g. ~5-6% for 3 lanes in RTG4/Virtex-5QV). The SpaceFibre Routing Switch IP Core is a scalable, fully configurable non-blocking router, allowing to select the number of virtual channels and ports. This routing switch implements path and logical addressing, group adaptive routing, virtual networks, time distribution and message broadcast. A router of 4 ports each with 4 virtual channels typically requires less than 20% of an RTG4, including the SpFi interfaces.

The IP Cores presented in this article provide the building blocks for creating the next generation of onboard networks with in-built QoS and FDIR mechanisms, and are currently being implemented in several missions and products all over the world. We analyse the performance and capabilities of the different IP Cores, and discuss the resources required depending on several parameters such as the number lanes, ports, virtual channels and virtual networks.

SpaceFibre is a high performance, high availability technology for space flight and other demanding applications. The recent generation of image sensors are capable of data rates of several Gbps. SpaceFibre is ideal as an interface to such an image sensor. STAR-Dundee has designed a complete camera, which incorporates a radiation tolerant FPGA for sensor interfacing and control, and image signal processing. This paper introduces SpaceFibre, the Microsemi RTG4 FPGA, the CMV4000 image sensor and describes the complete SpaceFibre camera.

SpaceVPX (VITA 78.0) is built on the ruggedized VPX standard. It addresses the need for redundancy in spaceflight systems and focusses on conduction cooled racks. SpaceVPX replaces the VMEbus control-plane of VPX with SpaceWire, while retaining the versatility of a user defined data plane serial interconnect. SpaceVPX-Lite (VITA 78.1) reduces the size and complexity of SpaceVPX. This paper describes a SpaceVPX-Lite board which uses SpaceWire and/or SpaceFibre for its backplane connections. The architecture of board is described along with its configuration options. An example application of the board as a wideband spectrometer is then described.

Thorough testing is required for successful SpaceFibre equipment and system development. This helps identify defects and provides assurance equipment operates as expected. The STAR Fire Mk3 can transmit and receive SpaceFibre traffic to stimulate and emulate SpaceFibre equipment for test purposes. In addition, it can capture and display SpaceFibre traffic, aiding debug and validation efforts. The SpaceFibre Recorder increases capture functionality further, recording significantly larger quantities of traffic over multiple SpaceFibre lanes. This paper considers how the hardware and software capabilities provided by these units may be used to test SpaceFibre equipment and systems.

SpaceVPX is a backplane standard for demanding, high-reliability applications. Reliability is enhanced in SpaceVPX compared to VPX, by the provision for redundant payload, system controller and power supply modules. Critical signals are run in a point-to-point manner, “radially” out from the nominal and redundant system controller modules to the several payload modules. Communication functions are isolated from one another using several planes: data plane, control plane, management plane and utility plane. SpaceFibre is a high-availability, high-reliability, high-performance serial communication standard, which provides multiple virtual channels over each communication link. These virtual channels are isolated from one another and each has configurable quality of service (QoS). SpaceFibre provides multi-lane communication with graceful degradation in performance if a lane fails. Hot and cold redundancy can be provided within a multi-lane link with very fast (2 µs) detection and recovery from failures. The full paper introduces SpaceVPX and SpaceVPX-Lite and then outlines the key features of SpaceFibre. It then explains how a single communications plane can replace the data, control and management plane in SpaceVPX to advantage: reducing power consumption, reducing complexity, increasing availability and enhancing reliability.

The latest and next generations of spacecraft synthetic aperture radar and high-resolution image instruments will provide very high data-rates on-board a spacecraft, in excess of 10 Gbps. SpaceFibre is the next generation of SpaceWire network technology for spacecraft on-board data-handling. It runs over electrical or fibre-optic cables, operates at very high data rates, and provides in-built quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities. This paper describes three SpaceFibre based units: an image sensor, an FPGA based processor and a many-core DSP processor. Equipped with SpaceFibre interfaces they demonstrate the ease with which SpaceFibre can be deployed on future space missions.

A high-performance FFT processor for spectrometer applications in space has been designed, implemented and tested. The wideband spectrometer five (WBS V) implements a 1 k-point FFT in a Microsemi RTG4. Operating with dual 2.4 Gsamples/s ADCs it provides 2 GHz bandwidth with a FFT bin size of 2.4 MHz. The architecture, implementation and results of this spectrometer are described.

SpaceFibre is the next generation of the widely used SpaceWire technology for spacecraft on-board data-handling applications. SpaceFibre provides much higher performance, has integrated quality of service and fault detection, isolation and recovery capabilities. It runs over electrical or fibre optic media and is able to operate over distances of up to 5 m over electrical cables and 100 m over fibre optic cables. The SpaceFibre network layer uses the same packet format and routing concepts as SpaceWire, enhancing them with the concept of independent, parallel virtual networks, each of which operates like an independent SpaceWire network running over a single physical network. An essential component in a SpaceFibre network is the routing switch. STAR-Dundee has designed, built and tested a SpaceFibre routing switch in a commercial FPGA, using it to support the testing and validation of the network layer concepts developed for SpaceFibre. The architecture of the SUNRISE router is described and current work transferring this design to radiation tolerant technology is outlined.

SpaceVPX (VITA78.0) is a new development in the area of standard backplanes for spacecraft applications, which addresses the key issue of fault tolerance. SpaceVPXLite (VITA78.1) is a derivative of SpaceVPX which is aimed at small size. SpaceFibre is the next generation of the widely used SpaceWire on-board network technology. SpaceFibre runs at multi-Gbits/s over both electrical and fibre-optic cables. SpaceFibre is capable of fulfilling a wide range of spacecraft on-board communications applications because of its inbuilt quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities. SpaceFibre is being incorporated in the SpaceVPXLite standard as a protocol for sending information over a backplane. STAR-Dundee is developing a demonstration system of SpaceFibre in SpaceVPXLite, using the Microsemi RTG4 radiation tolerant FPGA. This demonstration system is being used as the engineering model of a UK THz radiometer instrument processing unit.

SpaceFibre is the next generation of SpaceWire network technology for spacecraft on-board data-handling. It runs over electrical or fibre-optic cables, operates at very high data rates, provide in-built quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities. This paper introduces SpaceFibre, describes its position as a state-of-the-art network technology for space applications, details it principal capabilities, introduces some of the SpaceFibre components that are available now or will be in the near future, and describes the SpaceFibre test and development equipment available from STAR-Dundee.

SpaceFibre is a multi-Gbits/s, on-board network technology for spaceflight applications, which runs over electrical or fiber-optic cables. SpaceFibre supports multi-lane, thus allowing data to be sent over several individual physical lanes to enhance throughput and robustness. This is required by new generation payloads, such as SAR and multi-spectral imaging instruments. This paper describes the development of the multi-lane capabilities of SpaceFibre and its successful hardware implementation on space-qualified devices. The protocol has been designed to work with an arbitrary number of bidirectional or unidirectional lanes. In the event of a lane failing, SpaceFibre multi-lane mechanism supports hot redundancy and graceful degradation by automatically spreading traffic over the remaining working lanes. User data transfer is resumed in just a few microseconds without any data loss. These advanced capabilities are not provided in other high-speed link protocols available for space applications.

SpaceFibre is a new technology for use onboard spacecraft that provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with in-built Quality of Service and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery. The SpaceFibre standard is virtually finished, with the ECSS standardisation activity to be ended this year. There is a need for equipment to support the development and testing of applications of the entire protocol stack. This paper describes the new generation of SpaceFibre equipment designed for this purpose. They provide users with several options for platforms and connectors, such as FMC, USB 3.0, cPCI, PXI, PXIe and SpaceVPX. The number of platforms supported and the flexibility of the equipment provides the end user with a broad range of options to include SpaceFibre in their current system design. This helps to promote the adoption of SpaceFibre technology. A number of designs using the equipment here described is currently available or under development. They include the SUNRISE SpaceFibre Router and the Multilane SpaceFibre interface, among others. When combined, these new boards and designs offer a powerful and rich set of tools to help with SpaceFibre designs.

SpaceFibre [1][2][3] is the next generation of SpaceWire [4] on-board data-handling network technology for spaceflight operations, which runs over both electrical and fibre optic media. SpaceFibre has many benefits compared to SpaceWire, including much higher data-rates, integrated quality of service, fault recovery capabilities, multi-laning with graceful degradation and hot and cold redundancy, and low-latency broadcast messages that can carry 8-bytes of user information. Importantly SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with SpaceWire at the network level, allowing existing SpaceWire equipment to be incorporated into a SpaceFibre network without modification. SpaceFibre networks have been defined by the University of Dundee and STAR-Dundee, and incorporated in the network layer definition of the current draft SpaceFibre standard. STAR-Dundee has designed a SpaceFibre routing switch to evaluate various routing concepts, validate the standard specification and demonstrate a complete SpaceFibre network. A demonstration system has been built and key parts of the SpaceFibre network technology have been demonstrated.

SpaceFibre is a new standard for spacecraft on-board data-handling networks, which runs over both electrical and fibre optic media. It provides high bandwidth, low latency, fault recovery and novel QoS that combines priority, bandwidth reservation and scheduling. SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with SpaceWire at the network level, allowing existing SpaceWire equipment to be incorporated into a SpaceFibre network without modification. SpaceFibre is now being designed into its first spaceflight missions. This paper describes SpaceFibre flight equipment being designed by STAR-Dundee for space flight applications. This includes a range of SpaceFibre IP cores targeted at radiation tolerant FPGAs and the SpaceFibre interfaces in a radiation tolerant many core DSP processor.

For those responsible for the design and implementation of a SpaceFibre network it is essential to be able to capture and view the traffic on a SpaceFibre link in order to help validate the link is operating as expected and debug the link should any unexpected behaviour be observed. STAR-Dundee Ltd have developed hardware independent SpaceFibre Link Analyser software for this purpose. This paper describes how the software views, combined with the traffic capture capabilities of the STAR Fire unit, can be used to perform SpaceFibre link analysis.

SpaceWire is a spacecraft on-board data-handling network which connects instruments to the mass-memory, data processors and control processors, which is already in orbit or being designed into more than 100 spacecraft. SpaceFibre is a new, multi-Gbits/s, on-board network technology, which runs over both electrical and fibre-optic cables. SpaceFibre is capable of fulfilling a wide range of spacecraft on-board communications applications because of its inbuilt quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities.

The Microsemi RTG4 is a new generation radiation tolerant FPGA. It has extensive logic, memory, DSP blocks, and IO capabilities and is inherently radiation tolerant, having triple mode redundancy built in. The RTG4 has a flash configuration memory built into the device. In addition the FPGA incorporates 16 SpaceWire clock-data recovery circuits and 24 multi-Gbits/s SerDes lanes to support high-speed serial protocols like SpaceFibre.

STAR-Dundee has implemented SpaceWire and SpaceFibre IP cores using the Microsemi RTG4 Development Kit. The flight proven SpaceWire IP core was initially run at over 200 Mbits/s and the SpaceFibre IP core at 2.5 Gbits/s. With a little more work it is expected to reach 300 Mbits/s and 3.125 Mbits/s respectively. The SpaceWire IP core takes around 1% of the FPGA and the SpaceFibre IP core around 3-5% depending on the number of virtual channels supported. The use of the RTG4 with the SpaceWire and SpaceFibre IP cores provides a powerful platform for future spacecraft on-board instrument control, data-handling, and data processing. Furthermore the advanced QoS and FDIR capabilities of SpaceFibre make it suitable for a wider range of spacecraft onboard applications including integrated payload data-handling and attitude and orbit control networks and launcher applications where deterministic data delivery is required.

This paper reports on the implementation and testing of the SpaceWire and SpaceFibre IP cores in the Microsemi RTG4 FPGA.

SpaceFibre is a new standard for spacecraft on-board data-handling networks, initially designed to deliver multi-Gbit/s data rates for synthetic aperture radar and high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging instruments, The addition of quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities to SpaceFibre has resulted in a unified network technology. SpaceFibre provides high bandwidth, low latency, fault isolation and recovery suitable for space applications, and novel QoS that combines priority, bandwidth reservation and scheduling and which provides babbling node protection. SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with the widely used SpaceWire standard at the network level allowing simple interconnection of existing SpaceWire equipment to a SpaceFibre link or network.

Developed by STAR-Dundee and the University of Dundee for the European Space Agency (ESA) SpaceFibre is able to operate over fibre-optic and electrical cable. A single lane of SpaceFibre comprises four signals (TX+/- and RX+/-) and supports data rates of 2 Gbits/s (2.5 Gbits/s data signalling rate) with data rates up to 5 Gbits/s already planned.

Several lanes can operate together to provide a multilane link. Multi-laning increases the data-rate to well over 20 Gbits/s.

This paper details the current state of SpaceFibre which is now in the process of formal standardisation by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). The multi-lane layer of SpaceFibre is then described.

SpaceFibre is a new generation of SpaceWire technology which is able to support the very high datarates required by sensors like SAR and multi-spectral imagers. Data rates of between 1 and 16 Gbits/s are required to support several sensors currently being planned. In addition a mass-memory unit requires high performance networking to interconnect many memory modules. SpaceFibre runs over both electrical and fibre-optic media and provides and adds quality of service and fault detection, isolation and recovery technology to the network. SpaceFibre is compatible with the widely used SpaceWire protocol at the network level allowing existing SpaceWire devices to be readily incorporated into a SpaceFibre network. SpaceFibre provides 2 to 5 Gbits/s links (2.5 to 6.25 Gbits/s data signalling rate) which can be operated in parallel (multi-laning) to give higher data rates. STAR-Dundee with University of Dundee has designed and tested several SpaceFibre interface devices.

The SUNRISE project is a UK Space Agency, Centre for Earth Observation and Space Technology (CEOIST) project in which STAR-Dundee and University of Dundee will design and prototype critical SpaceFibre router technology necessary for future on-board data-handling systems. This will lay a vital foundation for future very high data-rate sensor and telecommunications systems.

This paper give a brief introduction to SpaceFibre, explains the operation of a SpaceFibre network, and then describes the SUNRISE SpaceFibre Router. The initial results of the SUNRISE project are described.

SpaceFibre is a spacecraft onboard data link and network technology being developed by University of Dundee for the European Space Agency (ESA), which runs over both copper and fibre optic cables. Initially targeted at very high data rate payloads such as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and multi-spectral imaging instruments, SpaceFibre is capable of fulfilling a wider set of spacecraft onboard communications applications because of its inbuilt QoS and FDIR capabilities and its backwards compatibility with the ubiquitous SpaceWire technology. SpaceFibre operates at 2.5 Gbits/s providing 12 times the throughput of a SpaceWire link with current flight qualified technology and allowing data from multiple SpaceWire devices to be concentrated over a single SpaceFibre link. This substantially reduces cable harness mass and simplifies redundancy strategies. The innovative QoS mechanism in SpaceFibre provides concurrent bandwidth reservation, priority and scheduled QoS. This simplifies spacecraft system engineering through integrated quality of service (QoS), which reduces system engineering costs and streamlines integration and test. Novel integrated FDIR support provides galvanic isolation, transparent recovery from transient errors, error containment in virtual channels and frames, and “Babbling Idiot” protection. SpaceFibre enhances onboard network robustness through its inherent FDIR and graceful degradation techniques incorporated in the network hardware. This simplifies system FDIR software, reducing development and system validation time and cost. SpaceFibre includes low latency event signalling and time distribution with broadcast messages. This enables a single network to be used for several functions including: transporting very high data rate payload data, carrying SpaceWire traffic, deterministic delivery of command/control information, time distribution and event signalling. SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with existing SpaceWire equipment at the packet level allowing simple interconnection of SpaceWire devices into a SpaceFibre network and enabling that equipment to take advantage of the QoS and FDIR capabilities of SpaceFibre.

SpaceFibre is the next generation data link and network technology being developed by University of Dundee for the European Space Agency. This high-speed technology runs over both copper and fibre optic cables and is backwards compatible with the ubiquitous SpaceWire technology. SpaceFibre provides 12 times the throughput of a SpW link (2.5 Gbps) with current flight qualified technology together with inbuilt QoS and FDIR capabilities.
This paper details the first implementation of SpaceFibre in a radiation tolerant device in the frame of the VHiSSI project. The functionality of this ASIC chip is explained and the results of the functional and Total Ionising Dose and Single Event Effect radiation testing are detailed.

SpaceFibre is an emerging new standard for spacecraft on-board data-handling networks. Initially targeted to deliver multi-Gbit/s data rates for synthetic aperture radar and high-resolution, multi-spectral imaging instruments, SpaceFibre has developed into a unified network technology that integrates high bandwidth, with low latency, quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR). Furthermore SpaceFibre is backwards compatible with the widely used SpaceWire standard at the network level allowing simple interconnection of existing SpaceWire equipment to a SpaceFibre link or network.
Developed by the University of Dundee for the European Space Agency (ESA) SpaceFibre is able to operate over fibre-optic and electrical cable and supports data rates of 2 Gbit/s in the near future and up to 5 Gbit/s long-term. Multi-laning improves the data-rate further to well over 20 Gbits/s.
This paper details the current state of SpaceFibre which is now in the process of formal standardisation by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). It describes the SpaceFibre IP core being developed for ESA along with the design of an experimental SpaceFibre ASIC. The design of a SpaceFibre demonstration board is introduced and available SpaceFibre test and development equipment is described. The way in which several SpaceWire links can be concentrated over a single SpaceFibre link will be explained.

The SpaceFibre Codec IP (beta version) was released by STAR-Dundee at the end of 2013. The SpaceFibre standard and the codec IP are designed in the way that it shall work with TI TLK2711-SP - a space qualified SERDES device [1]. This paper presents the work where the Codec IP and the TLK2711 are used to implement a SpaceFibre link. Firstly the SpaceFibre Codec and the TLK2711 device are introduced, especially the power-on reset and signal detection operations of the TLK2711 for they are fundamental for the SpaceFibre link. Experiments on link initialisation are presented with results and analysis.

SpaceFibre is a multi-gigabit/s data link and network technology for use onboard spacecraft. Compatible with SpaceWire at the packet level, SpaceFibre runs over electrical and optical media. It provides extensive quality of service (QoS) and fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) capabilities that are designed specifically for spacecraft applications. This paper provides a short introduction to SpaceFibre and then describes how SpaceFibre is being implemented. It introduces some SpaceFibre test equipment and explains how SpaceFibre has been validated. SpaceFibre is designed to support high data rate payload data-handling like synthetic aperture radar (SAR), multi-spectral imaging systems and fast mass memory. It is an ideal candidate for the next generation of spacecraft interconnect, being an open standard designed specifically for spacecraft applications.

SpaceFibre is a very high-speed serial data-link being developed by the University of Dundee for the
European Space Agency (ESA) which is intended for use in data-handling networks for high data-rate
payloads. SpaceFibre is able to operate over fibre-optic and electrical cable and supports data rates of 2 Gbit/s
in the near future and up to 5 Gbit/s long-term. It aims to complement the capabilities of the widely used
SpaceWire onboard networking standard: improving the data rate by a factor of 12.5, reducing the cable
mass and providing galvanic isolation. Multi-laning improves the data-rate further to well over 20 Gbits/s.

This paper provides an introduction to SpaceFibre and then describes the work being done by various
organisations to simulate, implement, test and validate SpaceFibre.

SpaceFibre is a high-speed data-link technology being developed by the University of Dundee for ESA to support spacecraft onboard data-handling applications. SpaceFibre operates at 2.5 Gbits/s, can run over fibre optic or electrical media, provides galvanic isolation, includes Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) support, and provides low-latency signalling. It operates over distances of 5m with copper cable and 100 m or more with fibre optic cable. SpaceFibre supports multiple virtual channels running over a single physical link. QoS capabilities built into the SpaceFibre hardware allow the bandwidth and priority of each virtual channel to be specified. Traffic flow over each virtual channel then adapts automatically taking into account virtual channels that have data ready to send and available buffer space at the far end of the link, along with link bandwidth and priority allocation. The novel QoS mechanism is simple but powerful and also allows the automatic detection of “babbling idiots” and virtual channels that are sending much less data than expected. After a brief introduction the SpaceFibre QoS and FDIR capabilities are explained. The approach taken in validating the SpaceFibre protocols and current status of the SpaceFibre development activities are then described.

SpaceFibre is a new technology for use onboard spacecraft that provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with Quality of Service. SpaceFibre carries SpaceWire packets over virtual channels and provides a broadcast capability similar to SpaceWire time-codes. In order to assist with the development, testing and validation of the first SpaceFibre system a SpaceFibre diagnostic interface and analyser unit, called STAR Fire, was built by STAR-Dundee.
This paper describes STAR Fire, the first complete test and development solution available for SpaceFibre. STAR Fire has two independent SpaceFibre interfaces compliant with the SpaceFibre standard, each one with an embedded link analyser and multiple very high data rate hardware data generators and checkers. The unit can be configured in interface or sniffer mode. The sniffer mode is used to monitor protocol and user data produced by an external unit passing in both directions along a SpaceFibre link, similar to the STAR-Dundee SpaceWire Link Analyser. The STAR Fire unit can also be used as a bridge between SpaceWire and SpaceFibre links, using an embedded router that interconnects some SpaceFibre virtual channels with the two SpaceWire ports provided.
These and other functionalities are easily configured using a Graphical User Interface software in the host PC. The user can supervise the status of the unit and set the parameters of each link, broadcast channel, virtual channel data rate, Quality of Service and error injection. The link analyser module decodes and shows the SpaceFibre protocol and user data stream which can be analysed at character, word or frame level.
STAR Fire has been designed to support the rapid and painless adoption of the SpaceFibre technology within the SpaceWire community.

The Very High-Speed Serial Interface (VHiSSI) device aims to provide a versatile SpaceFibre interface device in a small package. The device can act as a parallel interface device providing several modes of operation, or it can act as a SpaceWire to SpaceFibre bridge.
This paper describes the VHiSSI chip in detail, outlines the applications it can be used for, and summarises the status of the VHiSSi project.

SpaceFibre is a very high-speed serial link designed specifically for use onboard spacecraft. It carries SpaceWire packets over virtual channels and provides a broadcast capability similar to SpaceWire time-codes but offering much more capability. SpaceFibre operates at 10 times the data-rate of SpaceWire, can run over fibre optic or electrical media, provides galvanic isolation, includes coherence Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) support, and provides low-latency signalling. SpaceFibre can run over distances of 5m with copper cable and 100 m or more with fibre optic cable. SpaceFibre is compatible with the packet level of the SpaceWire standard (ECSS-E-ST-50-12) and is therefore able to run the SpaceWire protocols defined in ECSS-E-ST-50-51C, 52C and 53C. This means that applications developed for SpaceWire can be readily transferred to SpaceFibre.
The aim of SpaceFibre is to provide point-to-point and networked interconnections for very high data-rate instruments, mass-memory units, processors and other equipment, on board a spacecraft.
This paper introduces SpaceFibre, describes the SpaceFibre QoS, FDIR and network level operation of SpaceFibre.

SpaceFibre Overview and Development Status delivered at SpaceTech Expo in Longbeach, CA, USA in May 2013.