Single event test methodology and test results of commercial gigabit per second Fiber Channel hardware

This article presents a detailed description of the single event test methods used to evaluate two different component sets conforming to the Fiber Channel (FC) commercial high-speed serial bus standard. The devices tested perform the hierarchically low-level functions such as transmission coding and actual electrical or optical linking. Pertinent portions of the FC specification, and details of the test setup and methods are presented prior to description of the observed error types, correlation of error types to source circuitry, and radiation test results. The authors conclude that one of these COTS device sets may be suitable for space use with the use of additional circuit hardening, and that the other (also a COTS device set) is not suitable for space use. The test methods and descriptions of error types should prove useful in preparation for future FC component SEE testing.