Achieving higher levels of electronic integration through system-on-chip

All aerospace vehicles have the common constraint of limited space for the electronic systems. The challenge has always been how to pack effective electronic systems into the space available. Higher levels of electronic integration can give a competitive advantage; for example, by providing extra channels in a communications satellite thereby increasing revenue to the operator. Today's deep sub-micron manufacturing processes for integrated electronics offer an opportunity for a step change for electronic functionality that can be packaged in a given space. This technology makes possible, for the first time, a true system-on-chip approach to electronic systems, which is already being exploited by the commercial sector in products such as the mobile telephone.