Aerospace & Defense Technology - June 2022 - 4

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EXPERT Insight
How the COTS-Based Digital Backbone Will Impact Future Space Missions
A popular science fi ction TV show once characterized space as the fi nal frontier, but with the launch of the James Webb Telescope,
America's planned mission to Mars, and numerous other space products in the works, companies like Aitech are developing the technology to
turn science fi ction into science reality. In this interview, Pratish Shah, General Manager USA at Aitech, discusses how innovations like their
COTS-based digital backbone will impact the communications infrastructure needed to make deep space exploration possible.
A&DT: Can you identify some
common pain points that your
customers face, regardless of
how deep or long a space mission
lasts?
Pratish Shah: Building computers
that go into harsh environments
always has its challenges. When
you launch a rocket, you're experiencing an intense
amount of vibration and shock. Once you get into
space, you're continuously bombarded by radiation,
heavy ions, and protons, which affect computers and
systems. Radiation particles cause computer chip bits
to switch, which may result in erroneous output. More
intense effects, like single-event latch-ups, cause permanent
damage.
A&DT: Why use COTS components in space environments?
Shah: Building customized equipment takes a long time and costs
more money, so we build COTS-based systems that can perform in
space.
A&DT: We are starting to hear more about a unifi ed infrastructure
across digital technologies called the digital backbone.
Can you explain how that concept is being applied to space
applications?
Shah: It's a networking system that allows space applications to
leverage a fully interconnected system to perform complex tasks.
For example, you have satellites orbiting Earth, but soon you'll
have satellites and space stations orbiting the Moon, all capturing
pictures and imagery. You're generating a lot of content that becomes
hard to communicate to Earth because there's not enough
bandwidth. With the digital backbone architecture, imagery that's
captured can be stored through a network system on a satellite.
You can have edge computing platforms that do image and video
processing in space.
A&DT: Can you tell us about the recently launched Series 300
level of qualifi cation for components used in lower orbits and
short duration space lights?
Shah: Series 300 is a set of products that meet the requirements
for LEO satellites that don't have as much risk with respect to
radiation effects. They also tend to be shorter duration missions.
Companies launch LEO satellites because they view them as disposable.
They may launch hundreds of satellites to cover the earth,
and then every few years, these satellites get cycled out. So, Series
300 addresses a radiation profi le and cost point that's more in line
with what LEO orbit encounters.
4
Shah: There has to be some demand, some business need for it.
More access to communication capabilities and more access to imagery
and content will drive demand for more space applications,
more satellites. The benefi t of doing these things in space versus on
Earth is that it covers a greater portion of the planet, so it becomes
commercially viable in that sense.
A&DT: Deep space exploration is seeing its own growth initiatives.
What are some notable factors when building space
electronics for these types of orbits that typically have much
longer mission lengths?
Shah: When you get to what's called geosynchronous orbit, you are
getting deeper into space. Electronics for geosynchronous orbits
experience much greater radiation effects. You're farther away
from the atmosphere's shielding, so the impact of the sun, the
solar fl ares, and how that affects electronics has a greater impact.
Agencies like NASA have very strict defi nitions of how you build
digital products, how you screen components like computer chips,
and build boards and switches and routers.
A&DT: Where do you see the next big leap in space technologies?
Shah: I see space becoming an extension to where we are on earth
right now. We see the ability to build more permanent habitats
not only around the earth, but in the future around the moon
and beyond. As that becomes commonplace, the load will be on
companies like ours for better, faster, cheaper, more reliable digital
electronics.
Watch the full interview with Pratish Shah
mobilityengineeringtech.com
ADT Expert Insight Aitech 0622_Digital.indd 4
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Aerospace & Defense Technology, June 2022
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A&DT: Speaking of lower orbits, what are some of the things
you see that will make this new area of space successful from a
market growth perspective?
6/2/22 12:26 PM
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - June 2022

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