Cosmic Radiation Reliability Analysis for Aircraft Power Electronics

Cosmic ray (CR)-induced failures are a major concern for the electronic system reliability of airborne and space systems. Power system voltages on aerospace platforms are on a steady upward trend. High-voltage power converters suffer from single event burnout (SEB) failures caused by CRs. The established standards propose a scaling factor based on measured background galactic CRs (GCRs) intensity at operating altitude to apply de-rating factors. The radiation environment in the atmosphere can be increased due to the cascading of primary solar energetic particles (SEPs) during solar eruptions. In this work, the altitude profile of the radiation environment is simulated using a GEANT4 Monte Carlo code. The failure rates due to both background GCRs and SEPs are quantitatively evaluated. Further to the known influence of geomagnetic shielding of CRs, the geographical distribution of CRs at flight altitudes of 10 km is also presented. The estimated CR intensity can then be combined with experimentally measured failure rate data to predict the impact on the reliability of power converters, giving a new level of accuracy in the modeling of such failure mode in more electric aircraft (MEA) applications. It is shown for the first time in the scientific literature by using experimental data and state-of-the-art models, that the SEPs storms fluxes vastly exceed the recommended standard and constitute a risk for the power electronics reliability.