Distributed Sample Processing System Using SpaceFibre for High Bandwidth Frontier Radio Applications

Demands on high-speed physical interconnects in space applications are on the rise. The end game: higher bandwidths, standard interface protocols, improved link Quality of Service (QoS), and link redundancy. The heritage Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Frontier Radio Software-defined radio (SDR) flown on Parker Solar Probe, Emirates Mars Mission, DART, and delivered to the Europa Clipper mission has featured a SpaceWire (SpW) host interface supporting user data rates up to 10 Mbps. Initial technology development and demonstration of a next-generation Wideband Multi-Lingual Frontier Radio (FRML) necessitated interface bandwidths of >1 Gbps to implement a distributed multi-board sample processing system. Given the short-term bandwidth needs, and with a strategic eye toward future host interface mission needs in space, the team selected SpaceFibre (SpFi) as a high-throughput data pipe in the distributed sample processing system. The goal: meet the short-term sample acquisition and processing needs while evaluating the merit of SpFi as a longer-term solution for space applications. This paper describes the distributed sample processing system built around the STAR-Dundee SpFi Node intellectual property (IP) for the FRML SDR, signal integrity considerations to target the protocol to custom RTG4 and PolarFire Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) hardware, outlines the various testing capabilities leveraged by integrating with commercially-available STAR-Dundee test equipment, and describes the results of some key tests in running a 2.5 Gbps SpFi link on both FPGA targets. Given the success and core role SpFi played in the initial FRML technology demonstration, we plan to use SpFi as a high-speed debug and testing interface for our next-generation SDRs, and look forward to considering SpFi as a flight avionics and payload interface to provide missions with higher-bandwidth RF links.