More AI power locked in the hardware
Lion is a data processing unit for advanced operations with the use of artificial intelligence and on-board data processing. The Lion DPU is dedicated to micro and small satellites weighing between 50 and 500kg.
Lion is developed to process multi-dimensional and multi-sensor data in orbit and is composed of high-performance COTS components that satisfy the processing power, high reliability, and memory bandwidth demands for a wide range of missions. Combined with The Herd (our library of AI-powered on-board data processing algorithms), this technology will connect the eyes (sensors) with the brain (DPU), thus enabling artificial intelligence to ensure autonomous decision-making in situ.
Are you interested in on-board data processing?
Lion is built out of 3 key elements
Data Processing Unit
The DPU is equipped with specialised components it is able to perform continuous and dynamic correction of errors that may occur in space
Thermal Accumulation System
The system reduces the adverse effects of temperature cycling on the risk of failure and enables the averaging of temperatures and thus prolongs lifetime
Customised DPU management software
Smooth communication with other subsystems; telemetry data collection, monitoring and provision; management and running of data processing algorithms
It supports challenging activities allowing, for example, close-proximity operations through vision-based relative navigation between two spacecraft for active debris removal or in-orbit servicing.
The Lion DPU hardware platform is composed of the Kintex Ultrascale FPGA with an accompanying external supervisor which provides single-event effects (SEE) and single-event functional interrupt (SEFI) protections, including configuration memory scrubbing and specialized watchdogs.
Thanks to the built-in bootloader, the external supervisor can update itself and reprogram the Kintex Ultrascale FPGA in-flight. Lion is also equipped with up to 8 GiB of DDR4, up to 16 SLC NAND Flash, and up to 1 TiB of SSD storage. The developed thermal storage system can extend the on-orbit operation of the DPU to at least five years.
Lion is a part of Smart Mission Ecosystem – hardware, software and AI-powered algorithms designed to complete your mission.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
| PROCESSING CORES | Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA: KU035| KU060| KU095 |
|---|---|
| Kintex Ultrascale FPGA for custom function implementation | |
| Optional Microblaze soft-core running on Kintex equipped with an external 4 MiB of MRAM in which the application software may be loaded by an external supervisor | |
| 3x64 MiB of NOR Flash to store FPGA bitstreams | |
| Multiple FPGA bitstreams can be stored and selected for in-flight loading | |
| MEMORY | 2-8 GiB DDR4 providing with ECC |
| 4-16 GiB SLC flash-based file system storage (EDAC) | |
| Up to 4x256 GiB of SLC flash-based data storage (possible redundancy) | |
| INTERFACES | Exposed interfaces: CAN, LVDS, RS422/485, UART, GTH transceivers |
| Additional customisable interfaces upon request: SpaceWire Lite, SpaceWire RMAP, Gigabit Ethernet | |
| LVDS/RS422 interfaces compatible with X/S-Band radios | |
| CCSDS-compatible IP-cores for X/S/Ku-Band radios upon request | |
| SPECIFICATIONS | Up to 15W at the KU035 version with the option of scaling up for a more powerful FPGA |
| TID resistance - minimum 20kRad | |
| Embedded SEU and SEFI mitigation techniques – MRAM-equipped supervisor, Kintex’s CRAM scrubbing by external supervisor, SEFI detection, RAM scrubbing, etc. | |
| Thermal control system for SpaceVPX version heatsink with wedge locks that provide a thermal interface to a carrier box | |
| Client-driven customisation available upon request | |
| A PCM-based thermal control system available upon request | |
| SOFTWARE ECOSYSTEM | Both Supervisor and Microblaze can run FreeRTOS (default) or RTEMS |
| Linux support on Microblaze available upon request | |
| AI-based neural network engine running on Microblaze, accelerated by FPGA upon request | |
| OpenCV support available upon request | |
| Fully reconfigurable in orbit (Supervisor software and Kintex’s bitstreams can be uploaded from the ground station) | |
| REDUNDANCY | Possibility to introduce additional redundancy to each version |
| FORM-FACTOR | SpaceVPX 3U (mass up to 2.5 kg) or a custom form factor |