Continuing to deliver innovative silicon solutions that meet the needs of aerospace designers, Actel has introduced the industry's first radiation-tolerant, flash-based FPGAs for space-flight applications.

The reprogrammability of the new low-power RT ProASIC3 devices simplifies prototyping and eases hardware timing validation while offering critical immunity to radiation-induced configuration upsets.

This announcement, combined with the launch of the new RTAX-DSP solutions broadens Actel's industry-leading space-flight offering and gives designers the reliable, flexible solutions needed to design next-generation space-flight systems.

Based on Actel's ProASIC3 architecture, the new radiation-tolerant, flash-based 600,000-gate RT3PE600L and three million-gate RT3PE3000L support power supplies ranging from 1.2 to 1.5V, which allows designers to choose the optimum balance between power consumption and performance.

Because high power consumption requires larger, heavier power supply components, minimizing power consumption in space-flight systems is critical.

Managing heat dissipation also requires bulky and heavy mechanical infrastructure in the spacecraft. As a result, designers are motivated to carefully monitor these factors as increased size and weight contribute to higher launch costs.

Ken O'Neill, director of high-reliability marketing for Actel, said, "For aerospace designers, reprogrammable FPGAs can simplify the prototyping and permit early hardware timing validation of their complex space systems. However, not all reprogrammable space-grade devices offer immunity to radiation-induced configuration upsets, thereby increasing risk, cost, design complexity, size and weight. The availability of our reprogrammable flash-based RT ProASIC3 devices gives aerospace designers the flexibility they desire combined with freedom from the cumbersome triple-chip redundancy required by SRAM-based solutions in space."

Actel is the leading provider of FPGAs for high-reliability space applications. Over the last decade, the company's FPGAs have been onboard more than 100 launches and flown on over 300 satellites and spacecraft, including GPS, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Mars Explorer Rovers 1 and 2 (Spirit and Opportunity).