Printed Circuit Board Design Methodology for Embedded Systems Targeting Space Applications

This paper presents an overview of the theory and main aspects involved in designing reliable printed circuit boards (PCB) for embedded systems to be used in space applications. To that end, the design and layout process of a satellite-oriented hardware architecture is described, along with an introductory text on PCB design theory, including high-speed signals, impedance control, and general good practices. As a case study, we present a board layout which follows the European Space Agency (ESA) design rules for printed circuit boards (ECSS-Q-ST-70-12C) with signal integrity analysis and a layered structure that mitigates electromagnetic interference effects. In this context, all components were selected to withstand wide temperature variation, the vacuum, and some even can tolerate radiation – as a microcontroller with ferroelectric program memory and a novel European radiation-hardened Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Simulations results are presented in order to demonstrate the PCB signal integrity performance.