A remote control system for FPGA-embedded modules in radiation environments

A remote control system has been developed for versa module Eurocard (VME) modules located in a radiation environment. Two new VME modules-the remote controller (RC) and local interface modules-are introduced to mediate between the local host and remote slave modules. These two modules are connected with optical links and the local host can master the remote VME bus to access the slave modules through these intermediate modules. This control system can perform watchdog for field programmable gate array (FPGA)-embedded modules whose configuration data are susceptible to single event upsets (SEUs). The architectural study and first prototyping of this system are discussed.